Louisiana Civil Code

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CHAPTER 8 - EVICTION

Art. 2500. The seller warrants the buyer against eviction, which is the buyer's loss of, or danger of losing, the whole or part of the thing sold because of a third person's right that existed at the time of the sale. The warranty also covers encumbrances on the thing that were not declared at the time of the sale, with the exception of apparent servitudes and natural and legal nonapparent servitudes, which need not be declared.

If the right of the third person is perfected only after the sale through the negligence of the buyer, though it arises from facts that took place before, the buyer has no claim in warranty. [Acts 1993, No. 841, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1995]

Art. 2501. [Reserved]

Art. 2502. A person may transfer to another whatever rights to a thing he may then have, without warranting the existence of any such rights. In such a case the transferor does not owe restitution of the price to the transferee in case of eviction, nor may that transfer be rescinded for lesion.

Such a transfer does not give rise to a presumption of bad faith on the part of the transferee and is a just title for the purposes of acquisitive prescription.

If the transferor acquires ownership of the thing after having transferred his rights to it, the after-acquired title of the transferor does not inure to the benefit of the transferee. [Acts 1993, No. 841, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1995]

Art. 2503. The warranty against eviction is implied in every sale. Nevertheless, the parties may agree to increase or to limit the warranty. They may also agree to an exclusion of the warranty, but even in that case the seller must return the price to the buyer if eviction occurs, unless it is clear that the buyer was aware of the danger of eviction, or the buyer has declared that he was buying at his peril and risk, or the seller's obligation of returning the price has been expressly excluded.

In all those cases the seller is liable for an eviction that is occasioned by his own act, and any agreement to the contrary is null.

The buyer is subrogated to the rights in warranty of the seller against other persons, even when the warranty is excluded. [Amended by Acts 1924, No. 116; Acts 1993, No. 841, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1995]

Art. 2504-2505. [Reserved]

Art. 2506. A buyer who avails himself of the warranty against eviction may recover from the seller the price he paid, the value of any fruits he had to return to the third person who evicted him, and also other damages sustained because of the eviction with the exception of any increase in value of the thing lost. [Acts 1993, No. 841, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1995]

Art. 2507. A seller liable for eviction must return the full price to the buyer even if, at the time of the eviction, the value of the thing has been diminished due to any cause including the buyer's neglect.

Nevertheless, if the buyer has benefited from a diminution in value caused by his own act, the amount of his benefit must be deducted from the total owed to him by the seller because of the eviction. [Acts 1993, No. 841, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1995]

Art. 2508. [Reserved]

Art. 2509. A seller liable for eviction must reimburse the buyer for the cost of useful improvements to the thing made by the buyer. If the seller knew at the time of the sale that the thing belonged to a third person, he must reimburse the buyer for the cost of all improvements. [Acts 1993, No. 841, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1995]

Art. 2510. [Reserved]

Art. 2511. When the buyer is evicted from only a part of the thing sold, he may obtain rescission of the sale if he would not have bought the thing without that part. If the sale is not rescinded, the buyer is entitled to a diminution of the price in the proportion that the value of the part lost bears to the value of the whole at the time of the sale. [Acts 1993, No. 841, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1995]

Art. 2512. The warranty against eviction extends also to those things that proceed from the thing sold. [Acts 1993, No. 841, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1995]

Art. 2513. In a sale of a right of succession, the warranty against eviction extends only to the right to succeed the decedent, which entitles the buyer to those things that are, in fact, a part of the estate, but it does not extend to any particular thing. [Acts 1993, No. 841, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1995]

Arts. 2514-2516. [Reserved]

Art. 2517. A buyer threatened with eviction must give timely notice of the threat to the seller. If a suit for eviction has been brought against the buyer, his calling in the seller to defend that suit amounts to such notice.

A buyer who elects to bring suit against a third person who disturbs his peaceful possession of the thing sold must give timely notice of that suit to the seller.

In either case, a buyer who fails to give such notice, or who fails to give it in time for the seller to defend himself, forfeits the warranty against eviction if the seller can show that, had he been notified in time, he would have been able to prove that the third person who sued the buyer had no right. [Acts 1993, No. 841, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1995]

Arts. 2518-2519. [Reserved]




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