Wunderlich v. Palmisano

177 So. 843
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 10, 1938
DocketNo. 16618.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 177 So. 843 (Wunderlich v. Palmisano) 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
Wunderlich v. Palmisano, 177 So. 843 (La. Ct. App. 1938).

Opinion

JANVIER, Judge.

This litigation results from an attempt by Edward Wunderlich to execute a judgment obtained by him against certain of the comakers of a promissory note of which he himself was one of the makers and which he had been required by the holder to pay. The comakers who, with Wunderlich, executed the note were Michael Wohlert, Miss Rosa Palmisano, and Paul John Grethel. Wunderlich, alleging that he had been required to pay the holder of the note the sum of $303.50, sought and obtained soli-dary judgment against the other said comakers for the said amount, with legal interest from judicial demand and with 20 per cent, on the whole as attorney’s fees, as provided for in the note, which he alleged that he had paid. He was unable to cite Grethel, but obtained domiciliary service on Wohlert and personal service on Miss Rosa Palmisano. Neither of the two last-named defendants appeared within the time provided by law and, accordingly, on October 26, 1933, Wunderlich obtained judgment against them solidarity as prayed for. This judgment was duty signed and was then recorded in the mortgage office of the parish of Orleans. At that time Miss Rosa Palmisano was the'owner of a certain piece of real estate situated in the parish of Orleans identified by the municipal numbers 7309-11 Cohn street. On May 23, 1934, Miss Rosa Palmisano executed a notarial act purporting to transfer the said property to her brother, Peter B. Palmisano. On September 24, 1934, Wunderlich, finding that the said act of transfer had been executed by his judgment debtor, filed an hy-pothecary action in which he prayed that Peter B. Palmisano, the transferee, be ordered to pay the judgment rendered against his pretended vendor, or surrender the said property to the civil sheriff in order that it might be subjected to the judgment against Miss Rosa Palmisano.

In the meantime Miss Palmisano died. The exact date of her death is not shown, but it appears that on September 11, 1934, Peter B. Palmisano qualified as administrator of her estate. On October 23, 1934, Palmisano, in his individual capacity and also as administrator of the estate of Miss ■Rosa Palmisano, filed, in the original suit in which Wunderlich had obtained the soli-dary judgment, a petition in which he, Pal-misano, prayed that the said judgment be annulled and set aside. He alleged two grounds of nullity.

First, that the name “Edward Wunder-lich” had been stricken out as a comaker of the note and as a coindorser thereof and that thereby, because of the provisions of section 48 of the Negotiable Instruments Law of Louisiana, Act No. 64 of 1904, the other comakers and coindorsers had been released. That section reads as follows:

“The holder may at any time strike out any indorsement which is not necessary to his title. The indorser whose indorsement is struck out, and all indorsers subsequent to him, are thereby relieved from liability on the instrument.”

The second ground of nullity urged by Palmisano was that, as a matter of law, Wunderlich, having paid the note, was not entitled to a solidary judgment against his comakers, but, at best, might have obtained against each, judgment only for the virile share of each, and that, therefore, the soli-dary judgment against all should be annulled.

To this petition to annul the judgment, Wunderlich, after certain preliminary pleas and exceptions, filed answer in which he alleged that all of the facts set forth in the petition to annul were well known to the said Rosa Palmisano when the said judgment was rendered, could have been availed of on appeal, and, therefore, could not form the basis of a judgment of nullity.

Shortly thereafter Wunderlich filed a re-mittitur in which he agreed to the reduction of the judgment which he held to the virile share of the defendant and in which he also agreed to the elimination of the attorney’s fees which had been awarded in the judgment.

The suit to annul and the hypothecary action were, by consent, tried together and a judgment was rendered in favor of Wunder-lich on both issues involved. In other words, the prayer for the annulment of the judgment was denied and the transfer of the real estate to Palmisano was held to be in violation of' the rights of Wunderlich and Palmisano was ordered to pay the judgment, or to surrender the property to the civil sheriff. The amount of the judgment was reduced in accordance with the remittitur filed by Wunderlich, but all of his rights resulting from the recordation of the original judgment were reserved. From this *845 judgment, Palmisano has appealed and directs his attack at the admission by Wund-erlich that the original judgment should have been a joint one against the comakers —each only for a virile share — instead of a solidary one against each for the whole.

We shall first consider that issue which is presented by the suit to annul.

It is conceded that, as a matter of law, a comaker who pays the whole amount of a note is not entitled to a solidary judgment against his comakers. R.C.C. art. 2104.

But the mere fact that a judgment is rendered for an incorrect amount does not give rise to an action of nullity. If an error of law or fact was made by the court, it was made after the interested parties had been personally cited and it could have been corrected on appeal. There was no fraud involved; the plaintiff made an error of law in praying for a solidary judgment and the court unwittingly erred in granting that judgment. But the fact that a judgment is erroneous, as we have said, does not give rise to an action of nullity.

In Mercantile Adjustment Company v. Powers et al., 5 La.App. 534, there was involved an effort to annul a judgment. This court said:

‘Where one personally cited, with full knowledge of matters afterwards urged for an injunction, allows a default to be made final against him without interposing any plea or applying for further time to answer or for a continuance, or suggesting an inability to make at the time a proper defense, he cannot enjoin and annul the judgment; it would be a-premium for neglect. Art. 607 C.P. does not apply to such a case.’ McRae v. Purvis, Gladden & Co., 12 La. Ann. 85; Succession of Lebrew, 31 La.Ann. 212; Perry v. Rue, 31 La.Ann. 287; Hood v. Frellsen, 31 La.Ann. [577], 582; Baham v. Stewart Bros. & Co., 109 La. 999, 34 So. 54; Lazarus v. McGuirk, 42 La.Ann. [194], 201, 8 So. 253; Cockerham v. Perot, 48 La. Ann. [209], 213, 19 So. 122; Lindquist v. Maurepas Land & Lumber Co., 112 La. 1030, 36 So. 843.”

In Succession of Lebrew, 31 La.Ann. 212, 214, the Supreme Court of Louisiana, through Mr. Justice Edward Douglas White, said:

“If any thing is settled in our .jurisprudence, it is that one can not be heard by way of action in nullity to destroy a judgment for matters known and in existence at the time of the institution of the suit in which the judgment 'was rendered, even though by some neglect they may not have been pleaded. (Chinn v. First Municipality of City of New Orleans), 1 Rob. 523; (Derbigny v. Peirce), 18 La. 551; (Norris v. Fristol), 3 La.Ann. 646; (Swain v. Sampson), 6 La.Ann. 799.”

In Conery v. His Creditors, 118 La. 864, 43 So. 530, 532, the Supreme Court said:

“If the court erred in its judgment, it was a matter for review on appeal. It presents no issue which can be decided in proceedings to annul the judgment.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

FIDELITY AND CASUALTY COMPANY OF NY v. Clemmons
198 So. 2d 695 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1967)
Thompson v. Bland Produce Co.
144 So. 2d 769 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1962)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
177 So. 843, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wunderlich-v-palmisano-lactapp-1938.