Title: Holmes Company v. Foret
Citation: 229 La. 360, 86 So. 2d 66
Docket Number: N/A
State: Louisiana
Issuer: Louisiana Supreme Court
Date: February 20, 1956

86 So. 2d 66 (1956) 229 La. 360 HOLMES COMPANY v. Dillard FORET. No. 42446. Supreme Court of Louisiana. February 20, 1956. Earl Edwards, Marksville, for plaintiff-appellant. Edwin L. Lafargue, Baton Rouge, for defendant-appellee. MOISE, Justice. Plaintiff, Holmes Company, appeals from a judgment of the trial court, which decreed the manner in which an amount deposited by the defendant in the registry of the court should be distributed between plaintiff and defendant. Defendant, Dillard Foret, asks this Court to affirm the judgment in all respects, with the exception of the allowance of attorney's fees to plaintiff. As a predicate in this suit we adopt the following well-stabilized jurisprudence of this Court that where the trial judge has seen, heard, and observed the witnesses and the many things that transpire in the courtroom that are not susceptible to being taken down by a stenographer, his judgment on a question of fact will not be disturbed unless manifestly erroneous. Olivier v. Abunza, 226 La. 456, 76 So. 2d 528; Nalty v. Nalty, 222 La. 911, 64 So. 2d 216; Rosenthal v. Gauthier, 224 La. 341, 69 So. 2d 367. Since this case presents a matter of fact, we adopt the following reasons of the trial judge in full: "This action is in the nature of an accounting between plaintiff and defendant, growing out of a rice farming venture engaged in by the parties. In the year 1952, the parties entered into a verbal agreement whereby plaintiff was to furnish the land, seed rice and water for the crop, and defendant was to plant, raise and harvest the rice crop. Proceeds from the sale of the rice were to be divided equally between them. In addition, however, and in order to permit defendant to carry on in their venture, plaintiff agreed and did, from time to time, make cash advances or loans to defendant; and, on December 9, 1952, defendant executed a promissory note secured by chattel mortgage and delivered it to plaintiff to be used as collateral security for the loans made to him. Under this arrangement, *67 the parties proceeded to raise rice crops during each of the years 1952, 1953 and 1954. "The issues involved in this cause are primarily questions of fact, the solution to which must be found in a verbal agreement between the parties. In view, however, of the hopeless conflict apparent in the testimony of plaintiff and defendant as to what was and was not agreed upon, the court will treat each item separately and in light of the evidence adduced concerning it. "Again in this instance, the checks upon which plaintiff bases its claim are not made payable to defendant, as was the normal manner of making advances to him. However, across the face of each of the checks is the notation "For Dillard Foret", the defendant. Plaintiff's witness Hubert Holmes, a partner in the plaintiff company, testified that the notations were placed upon the checks at the time that he drew and handed them to defendant. Under careful cross examination, and after having been warned by counsel for defendant that the bank upon which the checks were drawn would undoubtedly have a picture of them at the time they were paid, this witness unqualifiedly stated that he was positive he placed the notations on the checks at the time he drew them. After this case was closed, however, it was subsequently reopened by agreement of counsel, and a joint stipulation of fact was filed herein by counsel for plaintiff and defendant, wherein it is *69 stated that notwithstanding the testimony of plaintiff's witness Hubert Holmes, at the time the checks in question were paid by the bank upon which they were drawn the notations "For Dillard Foret" did not appear on either of the checks. In view of this extraordinary development, the court cannot help but interpret the testimony of the witness as a deliberate attempt to distort the facts and mislead the court in reaching its decision. If the plaintiff thought so little of its claim that it felt it necessary to resort to such tactics, then the court is at a loss to understand how plaintiff could expect the court to loan the claim much credence."[1] "One other question arises in this issue, which is due to the fact that when the check was introduced in evidence it bore the notation `Loan' written across its face. Plaintiff Hubert Holmes testified that he had written the check, and that he wrote the word loan across its face at the time he gave it to defendant. The witness made that statement at the same time he testified about the notations present on the two checks was unquestionably false, the court can find no reason to give credence to his testimony in this instance. In his brief, however, learned counsel for plaintiff contends that inasmuch as defendant and his counsel went to the bank to ascertain whether or not the three checks had the notations written upon them at the time they were paid, and the stipulation *70 subsequently filed made no mention of the $50.00 check, then the court must assume that the word `loan' was written on the check when it was paid. Apparently learned counsel for plaintiff overlooks the fact that he himself was a party to that stipulation, and that he too went to the bank to inspect the pictures of the checks, and if the bank had a picture of the check with the word `loan' written on it, it is inconceivable that counsel would have failed to make that fact known in the stipulation which he signed. The only assumption the court can draw from the stipulation is that the bank did not have any information at all concerning the $50.00 check in question. Therefore, notwithstanding the notation written on the check, the court is satisfied that a preponderance of the evidence is in favor of the defendant. "The court does not find anything inconsistent in the two statements presented; if plaintiff had been misled, it is due to the fact that he lost the *71 first sheet of his statement. When the statement is read as a whole, it is obvious that it reflects the tractor was used a total of 355 hours and 40 minutes, and there is nothing in the record to seriously dispute that fact. "In an effort to avoid the payment of attorney's fees called for in the note plaintiff sued upon, defendant attempted to show on the trial that he had made a tender of the amounts due plaintiff on the note, prior to the institution of this suit. The evidence presented on that score is rather vague, but the court is convinced that defendant did not make a legal tender, as prescribed by law, and should therefore be cast for 10% attorney's fees called for in the note." We have reviewed the jurisprudence with respect to tender, LSA-Revised Civil Code, Article 2168, Code of Practice, Article 155, and we agree with the trial judge that in the instant case a valid tender was not made. For the reasons assigned, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed; plaintiff to pay all costs. [1] The tactics resorted to are shown in the reasons of the trial judge which we have adopted in full.