48 La. Ann. 946 | La. | 1896
The! opinion of the court was delivered by
This controversy is before us on the appeals of the syndic and of creditors of the insolvents from the judgment of the lower court on the opposition to the syndic’s account.
The property surrendered mainly consisted of the insolvent’s stock of goods, in leased premises, the leases having long periods to run, and the rents to become due under these leases exceeding the value of the stock. At the sale ordered by the court the lessors became the purchasers of the stock, retaining the amount of their bid on a'ccoünt of the rent due and to become due. Crediting these purchases there remained the liability for the unexpired portions of the
The leading proposition discussed is the effect of the purchase by the lessors of the right of occupancy of the leased premises. It will be readily understood that by the purchase of a lease by the lessor, he becomes lessor and lessee, and as he can not owe rent to himself, confusion takes place and the lease is extinguished. If the lessors in this case had bought the lease they could not have demanded rent from the syndic for the unexpired terms. Civil Code, Arts. 2217 et seq.; Bartels vs. Creditors, 11 An. 433. In this last case the lessor, ¡manifestly contemplating no such result as losing his rent of the premises leased to the insolvent, made an unqualified bid for the lease offered by the syndic for sale. The court held the purchase forfeited all claim of the lessor against the syndic of his lease for rent for the unexpired term, and the lessor owed his bid besides. This hard condition led to the dissent in that case, that the lessor did not lose the rent, because he had not by his purchase expressly assumed that rent. It is clear this decision has no application to this case, in which there has been no purchase of a lease, and no assumption of any rent, except to the extent to be noted further along, exerting no influence on the proposition of the opponents. Here, the purchase was simply and only of the right of occupancy subject to the rent unpaid, nine hundred and twenty-one dollars and one thousand and fifteen dollars. The Bartels case has been followed by other decisions, and these as well as other cases exhibiting phases of the question have had our attention. Thus it has been held that the lease is canceled when the premises are subsequently destroyed, or when by the act of the lessor the lessee is deprived of possession, and the effect of the purchase of the lease by the lessor has been considered and the same conclusion reached as in the earlier cases of Young and Bartels. Brinton vs. Bates, 17 An. 174; Lehman vs. Dreyfus, 37 An. 587; Schwartz vs. Saiter, 40 An. 267. But it seems to us that none of these decisions support the contention of the opponent, that the lessors by their purchase of the right of
Undoubtedly, the purchase subject to their own claim for unpaid rent canceled that demand. That effect was wrought both by the
We have stated our conclusions; the lessors owe to the syndic the amounts bid for the right of occupancy, that is, two hundred and ninety dollars and one hundred and sixty-four dollars. With this modification charging them with these amounts the judgment of the lower court, which includes the direction for a new account on the lines of the decision of the lower court and of this opinion, is affirmed.