44 So. 734 | La. | 1907
Statement of the Case.
When this case was before the court on a previous occasion, it was held (quoting syllabus) that:
“The crop privilege, conferred by Civ. Code,' art. 3217, in so far as it relates to that subject, is intended to secure the reimbursement only of money which, having been advanced, is actually used, for the purchase of necessary supplies and the payment of necessary expenses for the farm or plantation, and it is for the person seeking to enforce the privilege to prove that the money claimed by him was so used; otherwise, no privilege can be recognized.”
It was also held that the privilege asserted by plaintiff, if established by proof of the necessary facts, would bear on certain cotton seed of which intervener had obtained possession; and the case was “remanded, for the purpose of further inquiry, the admission of further testimony, and further adjudication, as to the use made by defendant of the money advanced to him by plaintiff after the exhaustion of the proceeds of defendant’s two notes for $3,000 each, of date April 18, and May 31, 1904, respectively.” National Bank of Commerce v. Sullivan, 117 La. 163, 41 South. 480.
Intervener now appeals from a judgment recognizing the privilege asserted by plaintiff to the extent of the value of, and condemning it to produce, 544,695 pounds of cotton seed (upon which such privilege is said to bear), or, in default thereof, to pay $3,268.18, with interest; the learned judge a quo saying:
“I am of opinion that the proof shows that the money advanced by the plaintiff, after June 11, 1904 (the day when the notes above stated had been exhausted), used by the defendant in the purchase of necessary supplies and in defraying the necessary expenses in the cultivation and management of Dunbarton plantation,*937 was, in amount, considerably over and above the value of the cotton seed in the hands of the intervener as shown by the proof in the case; the said advance amounting to about $4,500.”
Opinion.
It is shown by the record (including the transcript brought up on the previous appeal) that, on June 11, 1904, defendant’s account with the plaintiff bank was overdrawn by $203.71, from which it follows that the proceeds of the notes referred to in our former decree were, at that time, exhausted. When this case was argued, the present writer entertained serious doubts as to whether plaintiff had succeeded in proving what proportion of the amount subsequently advanced by plaintiff was actually used for the purchase of necessary supplies and the payment of necessary expenses of Dunbarton plantation, in the making of the crop of 1904; but a careful consideration of the evidence adduced, and of the conditions to which it relates, has led to the conclusion that, for all the purposes of this case, the proof is sufficient. The trouble, such as there is, arises from the fact that defendant used his account in the plaintiff bank for other than plantation purposes— depositing to its credit other money than that advanced by plaintiff, and drawing against it for the payment of obligations of all kinds— and that he kept a general store, on his plantation, the stock of which was paid for by cheeks drawn on that account, and which stock, whilst used in supplying the plantation, was likewise sold to any one who chose to buy it. The money advanced by plaintiff therefore reached the plantation, mainly, through the store, and the fact that it did reach it, or, at least, that an amount was expended for necessary plantation supplies and expenses which exceeded the value of the cotton seed here in question, is arrived at partly by affirmative proof, and partly by deduction.
The plantation in question consists of some 1,500 acres of land, Of which about 1,000 acres were planted in cotton, and the rest in corn. The defendant was called as a witness for plaintiff, and intervener’s counsel indulges in some criticism on that account; but we are at a loss to know why, as the witness appeared to the trial judge, and appears to us, to have been far from willing, and gave as little information as he well could — in fact, seemed too much disgusted with the whole affair to care to tax his mind or memory for the benefit of either of the litigants.
Being asked:
. “Well, take it all around, whether you work it on shares, or wages, or both, how much does it usually cost to make a bale of cotton?”
He answered:
Sometimes, it would cost $15, $20, $22.50, |nd,aS the gentleman says, it sometimes costs
Being asked:
“What is the average, year in and year out?”
He replied:
“I do not know. You will have to find somebody better posted than I am to answer that question.”
Being asked:
“You made 470 bales. Do you think you made, or lost, money?”
His answer was:
“I don’t think much about it.”
Plaintiff then called two other witnesses, experienced cotton planters, from whose testimony, without going into the details, we are satisfied that the necessary expenses of Dunbarton plantation, from June 11th to the date at which the 472 bales of cotton, constituting the saved crop of 1904, were ready for market, could not have been less than, and in all probability exceeded, $9,000. Turning, then, to defendant’s bank account, through which all of his money is shown to have passed, we find, as we have stated, that on June 11th it was overdrawn to the extent of $203.71, and that the overdraft grew larger, until July 8th, when it amounted to $1,433.98. On July
From H. & O. Newman..........$3,336 36
From the store................... 450 52
From sale of cattle............... 785 02
Total ........................$4,571 90
Upon the other hand, the evidence shows that, during the period mentioned, he cultivated 1,000 acres in cotton and made a crop of which, 472 bales were saved, and, as some witnesses say, 75 bales were left in the field, and, presumably, a lot of corn, of which we have no account, a thing which, as we think, he could not have done with less than $9,000.
We are therefore of the opinion that the conclusion of the judge a quo, that about $4,-500 of plaintiff’s money was actually used for the purchase of necessary supplies and the payment of necessary expenses in the making of the crop in question, is fully sustained by the proof, and hence that plaintiff is entitled to recognition of its privilege upon that portion of the crop of which the intervener acquired possession.
It is said that there is error in the judgment appealed from, in that it allows $12 a ton for the seed, as in sacks, at Dunbarton; whereas, it should have allowed only for loose seed, at Dunbarton, the value of which, on the day of the trial, was $10.50 per ton. Mr. A. L. George testifies that the price of seed, in sacks, on the Mississippi river, on the day of trial, was $13, equal to $11.50 for loose seed, and that it was worth $1 less at Dunbarton.
From our understanding of the evidence, as to the places and conditions under which the seed was seized by plaintiff, and bonded by intervener, it seems not Improbable that it was bonded at Yidalia, and that some of it had been put in sacks by the sheriff. The details, however, are left in obscurity, and there is nothing in the record to justify us in holding that the judge a quo has committed any error in fixing the value of the seed.
The judgment appealed from is, accordingly, affirmed.