Opinion ID: 1619040
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Heading: the limited protection afforded a lessor under article 2703

Text: To prevent their misapplication, the articles of the Civil Code must not be read in isolation. See LSA-C.C. art. 13. Codal articles must be read together, as an integrated whole. See Reynolds v. Egan, 123 La. 294, 48 So. 940, 946 (1908). The lessor's duties ex contractu are set forth in the parties' contract of lease; in Title IX of the Civil Code, Of Lease, art. 2669 et seq.; and in Title III of the Civil Code, Obligations in General, art. 1756 et seq. The lessor's duties ex delicto are also provided by the Civil Code. For example, LSA-C.C. arts. 670, 2315, 2316, 2317, 2332. As a result, the duties of a lessor may have more than one source, as in the case of a negligent breach of a contractual obligation, in which case causes of action lie for both the breach and the negligence. Gray & Co., Inc. v. Ranger Ins. Co., 292 So.2d 829, 830 (La.App. 1st Cir.1974). The existence of the lessor/lessee relationship and contractual remedies, therefore, does not preclude lessor liability for breach of duties ex delicto. Bunge Corp. v. GATX Corp., 557 So.2d 1376 (La. 1990), reh'g den.; Federal Ins. Co. v. Insurance Co. of N. America, 262 La. 509, 263 So.2d 871 (1972); Thompson v. Cane Gardens Apts., 442 So.2d 1296 (La.App. 3d Cir.1983). Under the rules Of Lease, a lease is a bilateral contract by which one party binds himself to grant to the other the enjoyment of a thing during a certain time, for a certain stipulated price which the other party binds himself to pay. LSA-C.C. arts. 2669, 2674. From the nature of the contract of lease, the lessor is bound, without any clause to that effect, to maintain the thing in a condition such as to serve the use for which it was hired and to cause the lessee to be in peaceable possession of the thing during the continuation of the lease. LSA-C.C. art. 2692. [4] These are warranties implied in every contract of lease. [5] Failure of the lessor to fulfill either of these obligations is a breach of contract and may cause a finding of constructive eviction of the lessee. Comment, The Louisiana Law of Lease, 39 Tul. L.Rev. 798, 821 (1965); Cf. Keenan v. Flanigan, 157 La. 749, 103 So. 30 (1925); Gayle v. Auto-Lec Stores, 174 La. 1044, 142 So. 258 (1932); Credithrift of America, Inc. v. Sinclair, 430 So.2d 822 (La. App. 5th Cir. 1983). Even though the nature of the lease contract binds the lessor to maintain the lessee in peaceable possession of the thing during the continuation of the lease via article 2692, there: might well be that in some given case the lessor would be unable to comply with his obligations and yet be free from fault. The law, therefore, deals equitably with both parties under special circumstances. Under some circumstances it limits the relief of the lessee to a reduction of rent; ... under others, absolving the lessor of all blame, it requires the lessee to bring his action against third parties troubling or disturbing his rights. Where the rights of the lessee are disturbed by third parties not claiming any right to the premises, and under circumstances which bring the case under the provisions of article 2703, the lessor is protected from attack by the lessee under its express terms. Reynolds v. Egan, 48 So. at 946-947. (emphasis added) Thus, to protect the lessor when he is free from fault, article 2703 provides that the lessor is not bound to guarantee the lessee against disturbances caused by persons not claiming any right to the premises [6] ; but in that case the lessee has a right of action for damages sustained against the person occasioning the disturbance. Dixie Homestead Ass'n v. Intravia, 145 So. 561 (La.App.Orl.1933); Robicheaux v. Roy, 352 So.2d 766, 767 (La.App. 3d Cir. 1977), writ den., 354 So.2d 207 (La.1978). Simply stated, the lessor's implied warranty of peaceful possession does not extend to disturbances by third persons not claiming any right to the leasehold. Dixie Homestead Ass'n v. Intravia, supra ; Keenan v. Flanigan, 157 La. 749, 103 So. 30, 37 (1925) [a lessor is not bound to warrant his lessee against a disturbance caused by a person who does not claim under covenant with lessor, a right to be in a position to carry on the disturbance; e.g., a lessor is not responsible for a disturbance inflicted upon his lessee by a trespasser]; see also Credithrift of America, Inc. v. Sinclair, supra . This principle is clarified by article 2704 which sets forth that, if the persons by whom those acts of disturbance have been committed, pretend to have a right to the thing leased, the lessee shall call his lessor in warranty. LSA-C.C. art. 2704 [7] ; Bright v. Bell, 113 La. 1078, 37 So. 976, 980 (1905) [It is true that the lessor is not bound to guaranty the lessee against disturbances caused by persons not claiming any right to the premises, but he is bound to protect the lessee in quiet enjoyment of the property leased as against persons who set up such claims; and in either case the possession of the lessee being possession of the lessor, the disturbance of one is necessarily the disturbance of the other.]; see 1 Aubry & Rau, Civil Law Translations § 310, Obligations (6th ed. 1965). Disturbances as used in articles 2703 and 2704, then, refers to disturbances of the lessee's possession by third persons in the context of the lessor's implied contractual warranties of article 2692. [8] See Cornelius v. Housing Authority of New Orleans, 539 So.2d 1250, 1251 (La.App. 4th Cir.1989), writ den., 544 So.2d 404 (La. 1989). The lessee's right to seek redress from his lessor on claims that the lessor breached obligations ex contractu and ex delicto, therefore, are unaffected by the provisions of article 2703. Cf. Day v. Castilow, 407 So.2d 510 (La.App. 4th Cir. 1981). [9] Article 2703 does not impede the lessee's action for breach of contract against his lessor when the lessor is charged with fault. Reynolds v. Egan, 123 La. 294, 48 So. 940, 948 (1908); Comments, Landlord LiabilityObligation to Maintain Adequate SecurityA Comparative Study, 59 Tul.L.Rev. 701, 729-731 (1985). Nor does article 2703 preclude the lessee's tort action against the lessor for injuries he sustained from intervening acts of a third person when the lessor's negligence or breach of other tort duties was a cause in fact and a legal cause of the lessee's injuries. Case law to the contrary maintaining article 2703 absolves the lessor from liability for the lessee's damages when a third person not claiming any right to the premises commits an intentional tort against the lessee, notwithstanding a breach of contract or tort fault by the lessor, inaccurately overstates the legal consequences of article 2703. For example, Gant v. Flint-Goodridge Hospital of Dillard University, 359 So.2d 279 (La.App. 4th Cir.1978), writ not consid., 362 So.2d 581 (La.1978); Reilly v. Fairway View II Assoc. Ltd. Partnership, 544 So.2d 73 (La.App. 1st Cir.1989). As a matter of law, article 2703 merely limits the lessor's warranty of peaceful possession, when the lessor is free from fault, excusing him from guaranteeing the lessee against disturbances caused by third persons not claiming any right to the premises. Parenthetically, by implication it applies only to the property leased to lessee and not to common areas or areas to which the lessee has only access, but not a possessory right. In the instant case, plaintiff's right to proceed is not based upon the efficacy or ineffectiveness of article 2703. Jurisprudence which gives to article 2703 a meaning of absolute immunity is overreaching and overbroad. If plaintiff is able to establish facts sufficient to evoke the principles enumerated heretofore, she has a remedy at law.