West v. Carbone

126 So. 2d 416, 1960 La. App. LEXIS 1355
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 19, 1960
DocketNo. 9368
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 126 So. 2d 416 (West v. Carbone) 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
West v. Carbone, 126 So. 2d 416, 1960 La. App. LEXIS 1355 (La. Ct. App. 1960).

Opinion

BOLIN, Judge.

This is an appeal from the action of the District Court of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, sustaining an exception of no cause or right of action filed by defendants and ordering the dismissal of plaintiff’s suit at his costs. The petition alleges that on and prior to November 27, 1957, petitioner, L. A. West, and defendant, M. J. Car-bone, were engaged in a commercial venture of constructing a Holiday Inn Motel on the Airline Plighway leading into New Orleans; that petitioner and defendant Carbone formed the defendant corporation, Carbone-West No. 1 Plotel Builders, Inc., for the purpose of constructing and operating the Holiday Inn Motel. It is further set forth by way of background information that these individuals desired to obtain other properties for an expansion of the motel business, as the Holiday Inn usually exceeded its capacity.

In connection with the proposed expansion of the motel operation, the petition alleges that “Rozal’s Motel” was situated in close proximity to, and immediately north of, the Holiday Inn Motel, and that West and Carbone decided to acquire the ownership of, or a leasehold interest in, the Rozal’s Motel in order that excess customers from the Holiday Inn might be diverted to the additional facility.

Subsequently, it is alleged that petitioner West entered into negotiations with Linro, Inc., the corporate owner of Rozal’s Motel, for the purchase and/or lease of that property; that all such negotiations and discussions between West and the said Linro, [418]*418Inc., were carried on and conducted with the knowledge, consent and permission of defendant Carbone and with his understanding that any lease or purchase agreement concluded by West would constitute the joint property of the said parties “and/or the property of the defendant corporation”.

As a result of the foregoing negotiations, West concluded a lease upon the Rozal’s Motel, which is referred to in plaintiff’s petition and is attached to defendants’ exception. This instrument was taken in the individual name of West and nowhere therein does the name of the defendants appear. It is averred,that following the execution and recordation of the said lease defendant Carbone was advised thereon and again consented to and acknowledged the proposed joint ownership and operation thereof by himself and West “and/or as a corporate asset” of Carbone-West No. 1 Hotel Builders, Inc. It is then alleged that a written assignment of an undivided one-half interest in the above-described lease was prepared and presented to defendant Carbone for execution, which he failed and refused to execute.

In order to show damages, the petition then sets forth that the said Holiday Inn Motel, formerly owned by defendant corporation has been sold and both defendants have continually refused to accept an interest in the leased premises. Petitioner alleges damages in the aggregate amount of $75,000, representing operating losses and lease cancellation penalties.

Having alleged that the lease was to be owned by either West and Carbone individually in equal parts “and/or the corporation”, petitioner then avers in Paragraph 14 affirmatively that the intention of himself and Carbone was to operate the premises as a joint partnership venture owned in the proportion of an undivided one-half interest each, and that Carbone, having repudiated his oral contract with petitioner, is indebted to petitioner in the amount of one-half of the loss suffered. Paragraph 15 alleges in the alternative, and should the court determine that the parties contemplated a corporated operation of Rozal’s Motel rather than a joint venture, that he is entitled to recover his full losses, damages and penalties from the said Carbone-West No. 1 Hotel Builders, Inc.

Defendants appeared and filed an exception of no cause or right of action which was in general form but apparently based on their contention that the plaintiff never alleged a meeting of the minds as to who would become the owner of the lease, and therefore there was never any consent by either defendant to be bound, thereby rendering the agreement sued upon null and void under Louisiana law.

Plaintiff’s cause of action seems to be predicated principally on Paragraph V of his petition, which is as follows:

“That the negotiations and discussions between West and the above-named Board of Directors were carried on with the full knowledge, consent and permission of defendant, Car-bone, and with his complete understanding that any lease or purchase agreement concluded by West would constitute the joint venture and property of the said parties and/or the property of the above-described defendant corporation for an expansion of the operations of the Holiday Inn Motel; that it was clearly and fully understood by both West and Carbone that any leasehold or property interest ultimately acquired would be owned operated and carried out by West and Carbone as equal partners therein as a joint venture between them, or as a corporate asset of Carbone-West No. 1 Hotel Builders, Inc. * * *” (Emphasis ours.)

In the concluding sentence of Paragraph VI of his petition plaintiff has this to say:

“West was acting for and on behalf of the partnership or joint venture [419]*419existing between him and Carbone and/or on behalf of the corporation, Ca-rbone-W est No. 1 Hotel Builders, Inc.” (Emphasis ours.)

A reasonable interpretation of the above allegations seems to us to be that the plaintiff entered into the written lease in his own name, but had an oral agreement that the lease in fact would become the property of a joint venture composed of West and Carbone; or of a corporation known as Carbone-West No. 1 Hotel Builders, Inc. He says his agreement as to ownership was with one of the two legal entities, but he does not aver which of the two was bound.

The law of Louisiana is clear that there must be at least two or more parties to an agreement, and each must consent to be bound thereby in order to have an enforceable agreement. This principle is universal in the law of contracts and our LSA-Civil Code contains a number of articles on this point.

Article 1766 is as follows:

“No contract is complete without the consent of both parties. In reciprocal contracts it must be expressed. In some unilateral contracts the law provides that under certain circumstances it shall be presumed.” (Emphasis ours.)

Article 1779 provides:

“Four requisites are necessary to the validity of a contract:
“1. Parties legally capable of contracting.
“2. Their consent legally given.
“3. A certain object, which forms the matter of agreement.
“4. A lawful purpose.” (Emphasis ours.)

Article 1798 contains perhaps the clearest explanation of all, which is as follows:

“As there must be two parties at least to every contract, so there must be something proposed by one and accepted and agreed to by another to form the matter of such contract; the will of both parties must imite on the same point.” (Emphasis ours.)

In the case of Martin Lumber Co. v. Saint Denis Securities Co., Inc., 1954, 225 La.

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Bluebook (online)
126 So. 2d 416, 1960 La. App. LEXIS 1355, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/west-v-carbone-lactapp-1960.