X-L Finance Co. v. Gregoire

217 So. 2d 463, 1968 La. App. LEXIS 4530
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 16, 1968
DocketNo. 7484
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 217 So. 2d 463 (X-L Finance Co. v. Gregoire) 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
X-L Finance Co. v. Gregoire, 217 So. 2d 463, 1968 La. App. LEXIS 4530 (La. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinion

BAILES, Judge.

This appeal arises from the consolidated judgment rendered below in this and the companion suit of X-L Finance Co., Inc. v. Wilson, 217 So.2d 467, No. 7485 on the docket of this Court. While the reasons for judgment are applicable to both suits, separate judgments will be rendered in each case.

In the instant suit brought against C. J. Gregoire, Kenneth D. Wilson and Lois Wilson on a note made by them payable to plaintiff in the amount of $1125.00, a default judgment was rendered against C. J. Gregoire and after trial judgment was rendered in favor of plaintiff and against the remaining defendants in the full amount of the note plus interest and attorney fees. The second suit, number 7485, on a note made by Kenneth D. Wilson in the amount of $3800.00, payable to plaintiff, was decided in favor of the defendant and the plaintiff was dismissed. Plaintiff appealed and assigned as error the refusal of the trial court to grant plaintiff judgment on the $3800.00 note and in condemning plaintiff to pay one-lialf the costs in both suits. Kenneth D. Wilson alone answered the appeal, urging that the trial court erred in finding for the plaintiff on the $1125.00 note in suit number 7484. Thus the only party defendant before us on this appeal is Kenneth D. Wilson. The judgment rendered below is affirmed insofar as it dismisses plaintiff’s demands against the defendant in suit number 7485 and it is reversed insofar as it was in favor of plaintiff and against Kenneth D. Wilson in suit number 7484. The judgment in number 7484 in favor of plaintiff and against Lois Wilson is not before us.

Prior to the time the notes in question were executed Kenneth D. Wilson and Lois Wilson were indebted to plaintiff, XL Finance Company, Inc., in the amount of several thousand dollars. One of the notes representing a portion of this debt was secured by a second mortgage on the Wilson house and lot. Finding himself in financial difficulty, Kenneth D. Wilson filed a petition in bankruptcy and included in his schedule of debts the above noted obligations. He was discharged as a bankrupt on March 25, 1964, but the house and lot were disclaimed or abandoned by the trustee because of the encumbrances. Wilson, in turn, abandoned the property to his mortgage creditors. In order to prevent foreclosure by the first mortgage holder [465]*465X-L undertook to rent the property or secure a purchaser for it and in the meantime met the installment notes secured by the first mortgage. They did not take title to the property because they did not wish to become liable for the first mortgage. On September 12, 1964, an agreement to purchase was signed by C. J. Gregoire and Kenneth Wilson conditioned upon the ability of Gregoire to obtain a loan. On October 29, 1964, Gregoire and Kenneth and Lois Wilson signed a single payment promissory note in the amount of $1125.00. This note was secured by the second mortgage previously executed. Thereafter, Kenneth D. Wilson executed the $3800.00 note, the amount being the sum of the balances of the debts due to X-L which were discharged in bankruptcy. Gregoire failed to obtain the loan with which to purchase the Wilson property and the first mortgage holder foreclosed, rendering X-L’s second mortgage valueless. These suits were brought on the two notes.

In the suit on the $1125.00 note the defendants Wilson answered admitting their signatures on the note but pleaded the defense of failure of consideration. A similar answer was made by Wilson to the suit on the $3800.00 note together with the additional plea that the debt was discharged in bankruptcy. The trial court concluded that the $1125.00 note was based on a valid consideration and therefore gave judgment against the Wilsons. The $3800.00 note was found unenforceable because, though the debts discharged in bankruptcy were adequate consideration for the execution of the new note, the promise to pay was not “direct, definite and unequivocal.”

At this point a recital of the circumstances immediately surrounding the execution of the two notes is required. After Wilson’s discharge in bankruptcy and disclaimer of his property to the mortgagees, plaintiff became concerned about the security furnished by its second mortgage. XL therefore devised a plan to prevent foreclosure. X-L paid the first mortgage installment notes as they became due, and in order to induce sale of the property certain repairs were made by X-L and, in addition, attempts were made by it to procure a purchaser. C. J. Gregoire indicated his desire to purchase the property and signed an agreement to that effect. Later the note for $1125.00 was executed by Gregoire and the Wilsons. Mr. James B. Tessier, manager of the X-L branch which handled the Wilson account, testified that the note represented the amounts paid by X-L on the first mortgage notes, costs of repairs to the property and incidental costs. Regarding the understanding between the parties to the note and X-L, Mr. Tessier testified on cross examination as follows:

“Q. You did have an agreement worked out with Mr. Gregoire and Mr. Wilson to prevent the first mortgage from foreclosing, isn’t that true?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And that’s the reason Mr. Gregoire and Mr. Wilson both signed the Eleven Hundred Dollar note, isn’t that true?
A. Yes.
Q. The expectation was that Mr. Greg-oire was going to assume the first mortgage and pay off both the Thirty Eight Hundred Dollar note ?
A. Yes, take the whole house.”

Mr. Wilson testified that he at first refused to sign this note until he had discussed it with his attorney but signed it [466]*466when “* * * Mr. Tessier told me at that time this note would be held, that it wouldn’t be run through until Mr. Greg-oire’s loan was assured, would pass, and he was going to get the house * *

Several weeks later, on November 17, 1964, Mr. Wilson signed the $3800.00 note. Simultaneously with his execution of this note, Mr. Tessier drafted the following statement:

“To whom it may concern this is to acknowledge that Kenneth D. Wilson has signed a note in the amount of 3,800.00 to the order of X-L Fin. Co. Inc. as a matter of convience (sic) that the property is to remain in Mr. Wilson name but will be rented, sold, and administered by X-L Fin. Co. & being understood that Wilson will sign any papers transferring as requested by said X-L Fin. Co. Inc.
X-L Fin. Co. Inc.
James B. Tessier
November 17, 1964”

His testimony with regard to the import of this statement and the understanding that it embodied was as follows:

“A. As I remember it was this, that the house, we were trying to sell Mr. Wilson’s house for him to satisfy this note.
BY THE COURT:
Q. In other words, if you sold the house you would apply the proceeds, if there was an equity, against the note, is that right ?
A. Right, that’s exactly right, that’s what it was designed' to do.
BY MR. COXE, JR.:
Q. What did it mean “as a matter of convenience” ?
A. That at this time we had had a purchase agreement signed by a — what we thought was a qualified party to buy this house as I remember it.”

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Related

Progressive State Bank & Trust Co. v. Stutts
516 So. 2d 1207 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1987)
Republic Finance of Gramercy, Inc. v. Davis
289 So. 2d 891 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1974)
Sciortino v. Leach
242 So. 2d 269 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1970)
X-L Finance Co. v. Wilson
217 So. 2d 467 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1968)

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Bluebook (online)
217 So. 2d 463, 1968 La. App. LEXIS 4530, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/x-l-finance-co-v-gregoire-lactapp-1968.