Thornton v. Beeson

135 So. 283, 17 La. App. 37, 1931 La. App. LEXIS 736
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 16, 1931
DocketNo. 793
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 135 So. 283 (Thornton v. Beeson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thornton v. Beeson, 135 So. 283, 17 La. App. 37, 1931 La. App. LEXIS 736 (La. Ct. App. 1931).

Opinion

ELLIOTT, J.

William A. Thornton claims of John J. Beeson the sum of $1,-350, with interest and attorney’s fees, thereon, as the balance due on the purchase price of the S. E. % of S. E. % of section 25, T. 1 S., R. 6 E., containing 40 acres of land situated in the parish of Vernon, sold by Thornton to Beeson.

He alleges +hat said sale was for .the price of $1,600, of which $200 was paid in cash at the time, $50 at a subsequent time; the balance, to-,ñt, $1,350, was paid in notes, as to which there has been a failure of consideration.

That the statement in the act of sale, that the $1,600 was paid in cash, is erroneous and incorrect.

He avers that $1,400 of the purchase price was paid with 28 notes signed by Amy Hoglan and C. F. Hoglan, her husband, for $50 each, drawn payable to J. J. Beeson and purporting to be secured by the first mortgage on lot 9, block 4, of the town of Pitkin, La. That one of the notes was paid, leaving $1,350 of the price unpaid.

That said notes in the First State Bank & Trust Co. of Pitkin, at .the time of the sale were produced by Beeson, placed in an envelope, without indorsement, petitioner’s, name written on the envelope; the officer of the bank told that they belonged to plaintiff and to credit the payment of same to him; that he accepted the notes believing them to be good bona fide mortgage notes; that said notes, not being paid, said Beeson, proposing to force the collection for the account of petitioner, took them from the bank, and, posing as the owner, foreclosed the mortgage securing same, bought in the property in his own name [38]*38for $200, but refuses to pay petitioner tbe balance due on account of said land.

He álleges that the notes were worthless. That the property securing same was at the time of the sale and is, at the present time, covered by mortgages, priming the mortgage which secured the notes in question.

That the makers, of the notes were insolvent at the time of the sale and are so at the present time.

Alleging the existence in his favor of a vendor’s privilege on the land, and that defendant would sell or mortgage same priding the trial, he caused a writ of sequestration to issue, under which the 40 acres of land was seized and taken into custody by the sheriff.

His prayer is for judgment against Bee-son for $1,350, with interest and attorney’s, fees thereon. That a vendor’s privilege be recognized as existing in his favor on said. land, that his seizure be maintained, and the property ordered sold and the proceeds applied to the payment of the amount due him, with the preference due to his privilege; and for general relief in the premises.

The defendant Beeson, after bonding the property, set forth as an exception of no cause or right of action, that no parol evidence was admissible to show any other consideration than as stated in the deed; that the petition does not allege that the notes given as a consideration of the sale, and not indorsed by defendant, had been guaranteed by the plaintiff; that it does not appear from the petition that plaintiff made effort to collect the notes, and it is not alleged that they cannot be collected;, that recorded mortgage must be supposed to have been known to plaintiff at the time, etc.

The exception was overruled, and defendant then answered at length.

A number of plaintiff’s averments are admitted, others partly admitted. The answer sets- out that the act whereby the 40 acres of land was sold to defendant, in stating that the price was $1,600 cash, is the language and statement which they purposely and understandingly wrote into the act; that no error exists; that the statement expresses their agreement on the subject correctly; that pursuant to their agreement he paid $1,400 of the price by transferring and delivering to the plaintiff 28 notes, each for $50, payable to the order of John J. Beeson, executed and signed by Mrs. Amy Hogland, who was plaintiff’s daughter, and C. F. Hogland, her husband; that pursuant to their agreement the notes were not indorsed by him; that they were good and valid; that the mortgage granted on the property in the town of Pitkin for the purpose of securing them was the first mortgage on said property; that said notes, not being paid and as he himself held at the time 13 of the same series of notes of the same date, each -for an amount same as the plaintiff’s, all executed at the same time by Mrs. Hogland and her husband, and secured by the same mortgage, acting and proceeding at the request of the plaintiff, he foreclosed on all the notes in his own name in the samé suit, and bought in the property for $200, incurring expenses amounting to $204.90.

His answer contains further statements and explanations not necessary to mention in the present case, but according to which he does not owe the plaintiff the sum claimed.

He denies owing the plaintiff anything, prays that his demand be rejected, and for general relief in the premises.

There was judgment in favor of the [39]*39plaintiff and against the defendant for $150, with interest, subject to a credit of $204.90, reserving to plaintiff the right to thereafter sue Mrs. Amy Hogland and J. J. Beeson, defendant, on the 27 notes given him in part payment of the 40 acres of land, and to claim vendor’s privilege thereon, if any exists in his favor under the law. The sequestration was. dissolved and defendant condemned to pay the cost. The plaintiff has appealed.

The defendant urges that his exception of no right or cause of 'action should have been sustained.

Taking the petition of the plaintiff to be ■ true, the gravamen of his complaint is that the notes transferred to him were, worthless, which, if true, rendered the sale without consideration to the extent that the notes constituted the price. Such a fact, if true, was susceptible of proof by parol evidence.

The exception was properly overruled; but the evidence received on the trial does not satisfactorily establish that the notes were worthless, nor that Mrs. Amy Hogland and C. F. Hogland are insolvent. It may be true, but the evidence leaves the matter in doubt.

The evidence shows that there were originally 40 of these notes, but about 4 of them have been paid. They formed the price of the 40 acres of land, to the extent of $1,400. They were transferred and delivered to plaintiff pursuant to the agreement of the parties, without being indorsed by Beeson. It is further satisfactorily established that Beeson took them out of the bank under agreement with the,, plaintiff and foreclosed on them, together with those held by himself, as though he was the owner of all the notes, and, no one else bidding, he bid in the property for $200.

As for plaintiff’s averment that lot 9 in block 4 of the town of Pitkin was covered by mortgages against Mi;s. Amy Hogland at the time of the) sale, priming the mortgage which was granted to secure the notes in question, he is mistaken. The mortgage certificate, under which .the sale was made, shows that the mortgage which secured :the notes was the first mortgage on the property.

As. for the value of the mortgaged property, the evidence shows that the notes were executed by Mrs. Hogland and her husband for the purpose of paying for a building erected on the lot, which cost $2,000. • Notes, in number 36, and in amount $1,800, were unpaid at the time of the' foreclosure. The notes in question would no doubt have been paid, but subsequent mortgages would then have come in ,for payment.

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Related

Thornton v. Beeson
149 So. 117 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1933)

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Bluebook (online)
135 So. 283, 17 La. App. 37, 1931 La. App. LEXIS 736, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thornton-v-beeson-lactapp-1931.