Sandel v. Douglas
Sandel v. Douglas
Opinion of the Court
This case is embraced in the record with the one of the same title just decided, the evidence by agreement in each being used in both, although the defendants are not all the same.
In this case the plaintiff sues the sheriff and the sureties on his official bond for five bales of cotton or their value, which he says belong to him, by having raised two and purchased the others, and which he charges were illegally and fraudulently seized by the sheriff, under writs of execution, in the suits of Francke & Danneel v. S. A.. Bell, and B. Selbornagh & Co. v. S. A. Bell, in the district court, and a writ of attachment in the suit of S. J. Putch v. William Henry, in the parish court. He also claims damages for attorney’s fees, trouble, expenses, etc., growing out of the taking of said cotton, and a further damage from a decline of two cents per pound in the value of the cotton. He made R. A. Phelps, the present sheriff, a party, on the allegation that two of said bales had been turned over to him by his predecessor, Douglas.
Douglas and his sureties excepted to the jurisdiction of the district, court, on the ground that by the allegations two bales of the cotton claimed had been delivered to the acting sheriff, and the value of the remainder is less than five hundred dollars, and the claim for damages is purely fictitious. This exception was properly overruled. The prayer is for the five bales, alleged to be worth over five hundred dollars, and the demand against Phelps is in the alternative. Douglas, and his sureties answered by a general denial, and averred that Douglas was acting in his official capacity under the writs described in the petition, and had seized the plantation of Mrs. Bell with the growing crop thereon, as he was expressly commanded in the writs, and therefore incurred no liability; that all the cotton seized and afterward
The evidence is satisfactory, that the three bales of cotton for which he obtained judgment were purchased by him from the laborers on tho plantation, and were a part of their compensation for their labor. The plaintiff was in possession when they were taken by Douglas, who was informed of the facts, but refused to return the said cotton. Under these circumstances the plaintiff is entitled to his cotton or its value at the time it was illegally taken from him, even though he may nob have been the lessee of the plantation on which it was raised. As to the two bales marked "Zone,” claimed as a part of plaiutiff’s crop, and the damages for attorney’s fees, trouble, etc., we think the record and tlie law sustain the judgment of the lower court. The evidence does not include the three recovered within the alleged agreement of counsel and parties to sell, the proceeds to abide the result of the litigation. But eight per cent, was erroneously allowed.
It is therefore ordered that the judgment appealed from herein (being suit No. 4927 in the lower court) be amended so as to reduce the interest from eight to five percent., and that as thus amended said judgment be affirmed, plaintiff to pay costs of appeal.
Rehearing refused.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- William Sandel v. D. B. Douglas, Sheriffs.
- Status
- Published