Braden Jones VS Kelly Sills
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NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION STATE OF LOUISIANA COURT OF APPEAL FIRST CIRCUIT 2010 CA 0020 BRADENJONES VERSUS KELLY SILLS Judgment Rendered JUN 11 2010 om On Appeal from the Nineteenth Judicial District Court In and for the East Baton Rouge State of Louisiana Docket No 565832 Honorable Janice Clark Judge Presiding G Thomas Arbour Baton Rouge Louisiana Neal R Elliott Jr Baton Rouge Louisiana Counsel for Defendant Appellant Kelly Sills Counsel for PlaintiffAppellee Braden Jones BEFORE DOWNING GAIDRY AND McCLENDON 33 McCLENDON J This is an appeal by the defendant Kelly Sills from a judgment in favor of the plaintiff Braden Jones awarding the plaintiff 5 for breach of 00 000 contract The plaintiff answered the appeal For the following reasons we amend and affirm the judgment FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY This litigation arises out of the purchase of two motorcycles Plaintiff filed a petition for breach of contract on April 8 2008 asserting that he loaned defendant 5 toward the purchase of the two motorcycles 00 000 Plaintiff further alleged that he and defendant entered into an oral contract wherein plaintiff would be reimbursed 1 for expenses he incurred in traveling 00 120 from Baton Rouge to Daytona Beach Florida to pick up the two motorcycles and for the costs of 321 for a starter and 1 for a fourday trailer rental 55 00 400 Plaintiff asserted that although defendant agreed to pay said amounts defendant has not repaid the monies owed to him Accordingly plaintiff prayed for a money judgment in the amount of 7together with legal interest from 55 841 judicial demand and costs Following a trial on July 9 2009 the trial court rendered judgment on August 31 2009 in favor of the plaintiff in the amount of 5 The court 00 000 further determined that defendant owned the two motorcycles through his company that maintained the title for each The trial court also dismissed all other claims and ordered that each party bear their own costs Defendant appealed the judgment asserting that the trial erred in ruling that defendant as opposed to his company was the owner of the two motorcycles and that he was personally liable for the 5 00 000 Plaintiff answered the appeal contending that the trial court erred in not awarding him 00 400 1 for trailer rental fees and 1 for travel expenses 00 120 Plaintiff s Defendant company is Fidelity Motor Company LLC and the name in which the motorcycles were titled at the time of their purchase 2 further alleged that the trial court erred in failing to award interest and costs as prayed for in his petition DISCUSSION A contract is an agreement by two or more parties whereby obligations are created modified or extinguished LSAC art 1906 Ricky Diesel C s Service Inc v Pinell 040202 p 4 La 1 Cir 2 906 So 536 App 05 11 2d 538 A party claiming the existence of a contract has the burden of proving that the contract was perfected between himself and his opponent LSAC art C 1831 Pennington Construction Inc v R A Eagle Corporation 940575 p 5 La 1 Cir 3 652 So 637 639 App 95 2d A contract is formed by consent of the parties established through offer and acceptance LSAC art C 1927 Imperial Chemicals Limited v PKB Scania USA Inc 04 2742 p 7 La 1 Cir 2929 So 84 90 writ denied 060665 La 5 App 06 22 2d 06 26 930 So 31 2d Moreover Louisiana Civil Code article 1846 provides When a writing is not required by law a contract not reduced to writing for a price or in the absence of a price for a value not in excess of five hundred dollars may be proved by competent evidence If the price or value is in excess of five hundred dollars the contract must be proved by at least one witness and other corroborating circumstances To meet the burden of proving an oral contract by a witness and other corroborating circumstances a party may serve as his own witness and the other corroborating circumstances may be general and need not prove every detail of the plaintiff case However the corroborating circumstances that are s required must come from a source other than the plaintiff Pennington Construction Inc 940575 at p 5 652 So at 639 2d Furthermore the existence or non existence of a contract is a question of fact and the trial court determination of this issue will not be disturbed unless s manifestly erroneous or clearly wrong Townsend v Urie 000730 p 6 App La 1 Cir 5 800 So 11 15 writ denied 01 1678 La 9 01 11 2d 01 21 3 797 So 2d 674 Similarly the issue of whether there were corroborating circumstances sufficient to establish an oral contract is a question of fact Pennington Construction Inc 94 0575 at p 5 652 So at 639 2d Moreover when evaluating the evidence needed to establish the existence or non existence of a contract determinations the trial court is allowed to make credibility Imperial Chemicals Limited 042742 at p 12 929 So at 2d 93 At the trial of this matter plaintiff testified that he agreed to loan defendant 5toward the purchase price of the motorcycles and obtained 00 000 a cashier check in that amount made payable to the vendor Chopper Nation s He stated that he and his girlfriend picked up the motorcycles on March 10 2007 in Daytona Beach He also delivered to Chopper Nation a cashier scheck in the amount of 37 from defendant 00 250 scompany Plaintiff further stated that there was an agreement that he would be paid for time and travel and for the trailer rental Copies of the cashier checks and invoices as well as the registration certificate for one of the motorcycles in the name of Fidelity Motors Inc were introduced into evidence Also a copy of the invoice of the trailer rental to plaintiff and a copy of an invoice for 1prepared by plaintiff was 00 120 introduced In contrast defendant testified that he and plaintiff each agreed to buy a motorcycle and the 5 paid by plaintiff was towards the purchase of 00 000 s plaintiff motorcycle Defendant also stated that he never agreed to pay plaintiff for a trailer rental or for expenses for plaintiff time and travel s Following a thorough review of the record we conclude that there is sufficient evidence to support the trial court conclusion that plaintiff carried his s burden of proving an oral contract between himself and defendant for the loan of 00 000 5 to the defendant In dismissing plaintiff sother claims the trial court must have also concluded that the evidence was not sufficient to establish an oral contract for the 1 in travel expenses 1 for the trailer 00 120 00 400 rd rental or 321 for the starter We find no clear error in our review of these 55 factual conclusions Further we note that the ownership of the motorcycles was immaterial in this breach of contract suit Whether defendant personally or his company owned the motorcycles was not an issue with regard to the oral contract entered into between plaintiff and defendant regarding the 5loan 00 000 Plaintiff argues that the trial court erred in failing to include legal interest in its judgment as prayed for in accordance with LSAC art 1921 P C We agree Louisiana Code of Civil procedure article 1921 provides that t court he shall award interest in the judgment as prayed for or as provided by law Emphasis added Despite a prayer for legal interest in plaintiffs petition the trial court failed to make such an award in its judgment Thus the judgment will be amended accordingly to reflect an award of interest See Bickham v Bickham 02 1307 p 5 La 1 Cir 5 849 So 707 71011 App 03 9 2d Guidroz v State Through Dept of Transp and Development 940253 p 17 La 1 Cir 12 648 So 1361 1371 App 94 22 2d CONCLUSION For the foregoing reasons the judgment of the trial court is amended to award legal interest in favor of plaintiff and against defendant in accordance with law In all other respects the judgment is affirmed Costs of this appeal are assessed against defendant AMENDED AND AS AMENDED AFFIRMED Z We also find no merit in plaintiff scontention that the trial court failed to address costs as the judgment clearly states that each party was to bear their own costs E
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