Case Name: Wendy Pistorious ANNINA v. Roy & Eva Lynn ESCHETTE
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 2001-11-21
Citations: 814 So. 2d 13
Docket Number: No. 2000 CA 1892
Parties: Wendy Pistorious ANNINA v. Roy & Eva Lynn ESCHETTE
Judges: Before: GONZALES, KUHN, CIACCIO, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 814
Pages: 13–20

Head Matter:
Wendy Pistorious ANNINA v. Roy & Eva Lynn ESCHETTE
No. 2000 CA 1892.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.
Nov. 21, 2001.
Writ Denied March 8, 2002.
Nita R. Gorrell, Hammond, for Plaintiff, Appellee Wendy Pistorious Annina.
Duncan S. Kemp, III, Hammond, for Defendants, Appellants Roy and Eva Lynn Eschette.
Before: GONZALES, KUHN, CIACCIO, JJ.
. The Honorable Philip C. Ciaccio, Judge, retired from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal, is serving as judge pro tempore by special appointment of the Louisiana Supreme Court.

Opinion:
ECIACCIO, J.
This appeal arises following a judgment in favor of plaintiff-lessee, ordering defendants-lessors to reimburse her for amounts expended on improvements to the leased property.
FACTS
Wendy Annina and her late husband George leased a tract of land in Tangipa-hoa Parish from Roy and Eva Lynn Es-chette. The Anninas initially planned to purchase the land through a lease-purchase arrangement with the Eschettes, but details of the lease-purchase agreement were never documented and the parties never finalized the purchase. Based on a verbal agreement with the Eschettes, the Anninas leased the property for $100 per month.
In February 1995, the Anninas moved their mobile home onto the Eschettes property. Prior to that time, they installed a septic tank on the property and brought in loads of dirt to build up the area where their mobile home would sit and to fill in any low areas. When conflict arose between the Anninas and their neighbors over use of an existing driveway, the Eschettes paid for materials to build a new driveway. The Anninas then reimbursed the Eschettes for their expense. The Anninas also filled a ditch to prevent the neighbors' effluent from flow ing onto the leased property and built a fence to keep the neighbors' geese from coming into their yard.
Mr. Annina died in February 1998 and that October, the Eschettes evicted Mrs. Annina for failure to pay rent. When Mrs. Annina vacated the property, she took only her mobile home. She did not remove the improvements that she and her husband had made to the leased premises. The Eschettes then leased the property to Mrs. Eschette's sister.
|3In March 1999, Mrs. Annina filed suit individually and as administratrix of her husband's estate seeking reimbursement for $8,287.07 in expenses incurred in making improvements to the property, specifically the fence, driveway, septic system and fill dirt. Just before trial, defendants demanded that Mrs. Annina remove the improvements from the property, but she took no action to comply.
In his reasons for judgment, the trial judge found that under LSA-C.C. art. 465, the fill dirt, septic system and materials used to construct the driveway were "[t]hings incorporated into a tract of land . so as to become an integral part of it" and thus component parts of the land. Applying LSA-C.C. art. 495, the trial court determined that defendants initially could have demanded that plaintiff remove the improvements, but lost that right after renting the property to Mrs. Esehette's sister and therefore making personal use of those improvements.
The court further found that re-leasing the property constituted an election by defendants to keep the improvements. Thus, defendants were obligated to pay to plaintiff either the current value of the materials and workmanship or the enhanced value of the immovable. The court determined that the cost of the driveway, septic tank and fill dirt was $7,582.50, but that the property's enhanced value was only $4,200 as a result of these improvements. Thus, the court ruled that defendants should pay the lesser of these amounts plus $2,000 in court costs. The court refused to classify the fence as an improvement, stating that "under the circumstances in this case[,] it is not necessary."
Defendants appeal the trial court's judgment, alleging that the trial court erred: 1) in failing to maintain the exception of no cause of action; 2) in failing to properly apply LSA-C.C. art. 495; 3) in holding that renting the | ¿property after plaintiffs eviction barred defendants from demanding removal of the improvements; 4) in finding that defendants elected to keep the improvements by renting the property to a new tenant; and 5) in relying on plaintiffs property valuation expert and in assessing costs related to his testimony and preparation for trial.
Exception of No Cause of Action
Defendants contend that the trial court erred in denying their peremptory exception raising the objection of no cause of action. This exception questions "whether the law extends a remedy to anyone under the factual allegations of the petition." McElwee v. State Through the Department of Transportation and Development, 98-0223 (La.App. 1 Cir. 2/19/99), 729 So.2d 695. Its purpose is to determine the legal sufficiency of the petition. In other words, the court must determine whether the law affords plaintiff a remedy under the facts pleaded in the petition. Id., at 697. When considering the exception, the court must accept the facts pleaded in the petition as true. Id.
When a petition states a cause of action as to any ground or portion of the demand, an exception raising the objection of no cause of action must be overruled. Any doubts are resolved in favor of the sufficiency of the petition. Id.
According to plaintiffs petition, she and her husband rented property from defendants and incurred expenses associated with making improvements to that property. Plaintiff seeks reimbursement in accordance with LSA-C.C. arts. 498 through 497.
Article 493. Ownership of improvements
Buildings, other constructions permanently attached to the ground, and plantings made on the land of another with his consent belong to him who made them. They belong to the owner of the ground when they are made without his consent.
| BWhen the owner of the buildings, other constructions permanently attached to the ground, or plantings no longer has the right to keep them on the land of another, he may remove them subject to his obligation to restore the property to its former condition. If he does not remove them within 90 days after written demand, the owner of the land acquires ownership of the improvements and owes nothing to their former owner.
Article 493.2. Loss of ownership by accession; claims of former owner
One who has lost the ownership of a thing to the owner of an immovable may have a claim against him or against a third person in accordance with the following provisions.
Article 495. Things incorporated in, or attached to, an immovable with the consent of the owner of the immovable
One who incorporates in, or attaches to, the immovable of another, with his consent, things that become component parts of the immovable under Article 465 and 466, may, in the absence of other provisions of law or juridical acts, remove them subject to his obligation of restoring the property to its former condition.
If he does not remove them after demand, the owner of the immovable may have them removed at the expense of the person who made them or elect to keep them and pay, at his option, the current value of the materials and of the workmanship or the enhanced value of the immovable.
Defendants contend that plaintiff had no cause of action until they demanded removal of the improvements. Such a finding would be ludicrous and would hold future similarly-situated plaintiffs in limbo. Plaintiff made improvements to defendants' tract of land. The improvements enhanced the value of the property. Thus, plaintiff may be entitled to reimbursement and therefore had a valid cause of action in accordance with LSA-C.C. art. 495.
LSA-C.C. art. 495
Defendants do not argue that LSA-C.C. art. 495 is inapplicable to this case, but merely that the trial court erred in applying the provisions of this article. Defendants, as owners of the tract of land, had the option of Neither retaining the improvements or demanding their removal at plaintiffs expense.
Defendants rely on prior jurisprudence in support of their contention that using the improvements does not necessarily constitute an election to "keep and pay" for the improvements. But each case relied upon by defendants is easily distinguishable. This court, in Taylor Lumber Company, Inc. v. Fuller, 292 So.2d 878 (La.App. 1st Cir.), writ denied, 294 So.2d 889 (La.1974), noted the significance of the lessor not being the owner of the premises. Thus, at the end of his lease, the lessor could be faced with a demand to remove the improvement at his expense. In the case now before us, defendants/lessors own the property and face no such future penalty.
Likewise, in Riggs v. Lawton, 231 La. 1019, 93 So.2d 543 (1957), there was no evidence that the owner had made use of the improvements. And Pylate v. Inabnet, 458 So.2d 1378 (La.App. 2d Cir.1984) presented a factual scenario in which the lessor was opposed to cosmetic improvements that he found unnecessary. In the instant case, defendants consented, even participated, in constructing the improvements to the property.
Whether a lessor's acts constitute an election to keep and pay for improvements left by a lessee is a factual determination to be made in fight of the circumstances of each case. Taylor Lumber Company, Inc. v. Fuller, 292 So.2d at 883. Thus, although defendants attempt to phrase this assignment of error as a legal question, the issue before us is actually factual.
A trial court's findings of fact may not be reversed absent manifest error or unless clearly wrong. Stobart v. State of Louisiana through DOTD, 617 So.2d 880 (La.1993). Furthermore, the appellate court should not disturb a trial court's reasonable inferences of fact upon review. Id., at 882. The appellate court must review the entire record to determine whether the trial court's conclusions were reasonable. If the findings were "reasonable in fight of the record reviewed in its entirety, the court of appeal may not reverse, even if convinced that had it been sitting as the trier of fact, it would have weighed the evidence differently." Id., at 882-883.
Plaintiff testified that when evicted, Mrs. Eschette told her that she could not take anything with her except the mobile home. Mr. Eschette testified that he never told plaintiff that she could not remove the improvements, but he did not know what his wife may have told her. The trial court evidently weighed the evidence and decided that defendants' actions constituted a decision to keep and pay for the improvements made by the Anninas to this tract of land. We can not say that this finding was clearly wrong; thus, this assignment of error has no merit.
Two days before trial, defendants sent plaintiff a letter demanding that she remove the improvements. We will not consider this specious attempt to influence the outcome of this case.
Expert Testimony
Defendants' final contention is that the trial court erred in relying on the valuation testimony of plaintiffs expert. The trial court has great discretion in whether to qualify an expert witness and has wide latitude in determining whether that expert has the competence, background and experience to qualify. Posecai v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 98-1013 (La.App. 5 Cir. 3/30/99), 731 So.2d 438, reversed on other grounds, 99-1222 (La.App.11/30/99), 752 So.2d 762. Once the expert is allowed to testify, .the trier of fact has great discretion in assessing his credibility and accepting or rejecting his opinion. LSA-C.E. art. 702. Included in the credibility determination is the method by which the expert reached his conclusions. Posecai v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 731 So.2d at 443.
[sHere, the trial court considered all of the evidence and apparently accepted the valuation testimony of plaintiffs expert. After our review, we can not say that the trial court was clearly wrong in giving weight to the expert testimony. Thus, this assignment of error has no merit.
CONCLUSION
For the reasons noted above, we affirm the trial court's judgment ordering defendants to pay $4,200 to plaintiff for improvements to the property plus $2,000 for court costs. All costs of this appeal are assessed to defendants.
AFFIRMED.
KUHN, J., dissents & assigns reasons.
. In its reasons for judgment, the trial court noted that Mrs. Annina understood that the verbal lease-purchase agreement was legally unenforceable and that she made no attempt to enforce it.
. Mrs. Annina also sought compensation for disturbance of peaceable possession, but later waived this claim.
. Defendants failed to brief their argument regarding the assessment of costs. We therefore consider the issue abandoned. See Uniform Rules, Courts of Appeal, Rule 2-12.4.