Bordes v. Bank of St. Bernard
Bordes v. Bank of St. Bernard
Opinion of the Court
Motion is made to dismiss this appeal on the following grounds:
“(1) That said appeal was not taken and filed within the required delay as fixed by law.
“(2) That the transcript herein filed is not complete, and does not contain all the documents pertaining to same.
, “(3) That all parties were not made and cited to this appeal.
“(4) That the certificate of the clerk is not such as the law requires, as it shows certain documents as not being included in the transcript.”
Tlie reason assigned by Bouziques in his exception why the petition showed no cause of action against him was that the petition did not deny that the garnishment had issued upon a judgment.
The minutes read that “the exception” was fixed for trial; that “the exception” was argued and submitted; and that the court rendered the following Judgment:
“It is ordered, adjudged and decreed that there be judgment herein in favor of defendant Bank of St. Bernard, and against plaintiff!, Joseph Bordes, sustaining the exception of no cause of action herein filed by defendant, and dismissing plaintiff’s suit at his costs.”
One day short of 12 months thereafter plaintiff filed a petition for appeal, in which he alleged and prayed as follows:
“That a judgment in favor of the Bank of St. Bernard, one of the defendants herein, was rendered and signed on December 15, 1918; that said judgment is contrary to the law and the evidence; and that 'petitioner is aggrieved thereby and desires to appeal therefrom devolutively to the honorable Supreme Court of the state of Louisiana.
“Wherefore petitioner prays that an order of appeal devolutive from said judgment, returnable, * * * and further prays that the Bank of St. Bernard be cited. * * * ”
The court made its order in conformity with this prayer; that is to say, granted the order of appeal and directed the Bank of St. Bernard to be cited.
The question presented is whether, under the foregoing circumstances, Bouziques was a necessary party to the appeal.
It will be noted that the minutes read that “the exception,” in the singular, not the exceptions, in the plural, was fixed for trial and tried; and that the judgment is in favor of “the defendant, Bank of St. Bernard,” with no mention of Bouziques.
According to this, Bouziques was no party to the judgment.
But it will be noted, on the other hand, that by the judgment the suit for plaintiff is dismissed with no reserve as to Bouziques; in other words, is dismissed as to both defendants, apparently.
The cause of action against the bank not having been the same as that against Bouziques, and the minutes and the judgment not showing positively that the cause of action as against Bouziques was passed on, we think that the situation must be taken to be that the judgment was only as between plaintiff and the bank, and that therefore Bouziques was not a party to it, and is not interested in its maintenance, and was properly left out of the appeal.
The motion to dismiss is therefore overruled.
Opinion on the Merits
On the Merits.
Plaintiff alleges that he and the defendant bank entered into an agreement in pursuance of which he placed in the hands of the bank a certain mortgage note, and the bank agreed to honor his checks up to the full amount of said note; and that a judgment having been obtained in another parish against him, and garnishment process having issued upon this judgment and been served upon the bank, the latter, by reason thereof, refused to honor his checks — to his 'damage, etc., for which he prays judgment
An exception of no cause of action was sustained, on the ground that, in view of the said garnishment, the bank was no longer bound to honor the checks.
Against that position the plaintiff contends that garnishment cannot issue from one parish to another upon a judgment; and that therefore the said garnishment was null, and could be, and should have been, disregarded by the bank.
The answer is threefold: (1) That the note would have had to be sold to satisfy this $500; (2) the bank was not bound to accept a joint tenure when it had bargained for a sole tenure; (3) it was not bound to bother itself with a litigation when nothing of that kind had entered into its bargain.
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- BORDES v. BANK OF ST. BERNARD
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- Syllabus
- (Syllabus by Editorial Staff.) 1. Appeal and Error &wkey;795(2) — Dismissal op Appeal — Grounds—Motion. Allegations in a motion to dismiss the appeal that it was not taken and filed within the required delay, that the transcript was not complete, and that the certificate of the clerk is not such as the law requires because it showed that certain documents were not included in the transcript, are too vague and general to be considered, and the first ground named does not raise the objection that the appeal bond was filed more than 12 months after the date of the judgment. [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Appeal and Error, Cent. Dig. § 3143.] 2. Appeal and Error &wkey;797(l) — Dismissal op Appeal — Motion—Time por Making— Irregularities. A motion to dismiss an appeal because of delay in filing the bond and of omissions from the transcript is based on mere irregularities, which cannot be considered, unless the court’s attention was called thereto within 3 days from the filing of the transcript. [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Appeal and Error, Cent. Dig. §§ 3149, 3150.] 3. Appeal and Error Where plaintiff brought suit against a bank in contract for refusal to honor his checks, and a suit in tort against one who has garnished the bank and thereby caused it to dishonor his checks, and both defendants filed exceptions to the petition, a judgment in favor of defendant bank and against plaintiff sustaining the exception of no cause of action filed by defendant and dismissing plaintiff’s suit at his cost is a judgment only between plaintiff and the bank, so that the other defendant is not a necessary party to an appeal therefrom. [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Appeal and Error, Cent. Dig. §§ 1795-1797.] On the Merits.. 4. Garnishment A bank is excused from performing its agreement to honor checks of a depositor to the amount of a note and mortgage delivered by him to the bank where the note and mortgage were garnished by another, even though the garnishment was void, since the bank would not have accepted the note subject to a void garnishment, and the depositor had therefore failed to perform his agreement. [Ed. Note. — Eor other cases, see Garnishment, Cent. Dig. §§ 435-444.] 5. Garnishment The fact that the garnishment was on a judgment for a sum less than the note and mortgage does not require the bank to honor the depositor’s checks up to the amount of the excess of the note over the garnishment, since the note would have had to be sold to satisfy the judgment, and the bank was not bound to accept a joint tenure when it had bargained for a sole tenure, nor bound to bother itself with a litigation. [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Garnishment, Cent. Dig. §§ 435-444.]