Biggs v. Hatter

91 So. 3d 1148, 2012 WL 1192132, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 509
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 11, 2012
DocketNo. 46,910-CW
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 91 So. 3d 1148 (Biggs v. Hatter) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Biggs v. Hatter, 91 So. 3d 1148, 2012 WL 1192132, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 509 (La. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

GASKINS, J.

liThe intervenors in this matter, Pearl Hatter Biggs, Dock R. Hatter, Jr., Josez-ette Josephine White, and Bobbie Jean Hatter Smith, filed an application for supervisory writs from a trial court decision denying their motion for summary judgment against Isaac Curtis Hatter, Jr., Carolyn Hatter Curry, and Steno Hatter Gillis, and their motion for summary judgment against Lewis Louisiana Properties, LLC (“LLP”). In their motions for summary judgment, the intervenors asserted that the judgment of possession in favor of Isaac Curtis Hatter, Jr., and Carolyn Hatter Curry concerning a disputed piece of property in Claiborne Parish should be declared an absolute nullity due to fraud and ill practices and the intervenors should be awarded attorney fees and costs. The intervenors also assert that they should be declared the owners of the property because they have better title than LLP. This court granted the writ application, ordered the lodging of the record and docketed the matter for decision. For the following reasons, we reverse the trial court judgment and remand to the trial court for further proceedings.

FACTS

The pertinent facts in this matter are found in the prior appeal, Biggs v. Hatter, 45,066 (La.App.2d Cir.3/3/10), 32 So.3d 355, and are set forth below:

Isaac Hatter, Sr. (Isaac Sr.) was married to Steno Hatter (Steno), now Gillis. They had two children, Isaac Hatter, Jr. (Isaac Jr.), and Carolyn Hatter Curry (Carolyn). Isaac Sr. and Steno were divorced in California on November 10, 1950. Isaac Sr. was living in California at the time of his death on April 21, 2003.
On May 7, 2003, Isaac Jr. opened an intestate succession for his father in California. However, Isaac Sr. had executed a will on December 20, 2002. Isaac Sr. appointed his brother, Dock Hatter, Jr. (Dock), and his sister, Pearl Hatter Biggs (Pearl), as his personal representatives. After payment of his debts, he left the money in his bank accounts to be distributed evenly between his son, Isaac Jr., phis daughter, Carolyn, and his living brother and sisters, Dock, Pearl, Bobbie Jean Hatter Smith, and Beulah Hatter Mouton. [Beulah Hatter Mouton died during the course of the proceedings. Josezette Josephine White was substituted for her.] He made dispositions of personal property and then made the following bequest concerning immovable property:
I direct all property owned by me, located in Homer, Louisiana, Claiborne parish [sic] known as the Wake Hatter Estate be divided equally between my living brother and sisters, Dock Hatter, Jr., Beulah Hatter Mouton, Pearl Hatter Biggs and Bobbie Jean Hatter Smith. I direct Dock R. Hatter, Jr., and Pearl Hatter Biggs to oversee and make all final decisions [1152]*1152concerning administration of this property. I direct one lot located in Pine Bluff, Arkansas to Dock R. Hatter, Jr.
On September 19, 2003, Pearl filed a petition in California to probate the will. On January 14, 2004, Isaac Jr. filed a contest to the will, claiming that it was procured by fraud. On November 5, 2004, Isaac Jr. was removed as administrator of his father’s succession and Pearl was named the executrix.
On December 28, 2005, Steno, Isaac Jr., and Carolyn filed a petition in Claiborne Parish for possession of Isaac Sr.’s immovable property, claiming that he died intestate and that his children were his only heirs. The only property listed as owned by the estate was that in Claiborne Parish and was described as follows:
Undivided interest in and to the SE 1/4 and the SE 1/4 of the NE 1/4, LESS & EXCEPT the North 13 1/3 acres of section 29, Township 23 North, Range 6 West, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, containing 183 and 2/3 acres, more or less, together with all and singular improvements thereon and all rights thereunto belonging.
An interest in and to the THE MINERAL LEASE in and to the TIG-NER# 1-1, the TIGNER # 2, and the TIGNER #3 situated on the above described property.
The court in Claiborne Parish signed a judgment of possession on January 31, 2006, putting Isaac Jr. and Carolyn in possession of the Claiborne Parish property. The judgment was filed the next day. Isaac Jr. and Carolyn sold their interest in the property to Lewis Louisiana Properties, LLC- (LLP) on October 23, 2006, for approximately $90,000.
|SLLP then sought to recover mineral royalty payments from Petro-Hunt LLC, claiming entitlement to a 58 percent undivided interest in the property. On June 27, 2007, in another proceeding not at issue here, Petro-Hunt filed a concursus petition to deposit into the registry of the court $200,503.75, payable to any or all of the defendants claiming entitlement to royalties from the property sold by Isaac Jr. and Carolyn to LLP. LLP filed a separate lawsuit for partition by licitation. Pearl, Dock, Josezette Josephine White, and Bobbie Jean Hatter Smith filed for an injunction in that case to bar the partition until their rights of ownership to the property, as opposed to those of LLP, could be determined.
On July 11, 2007, Pearl, on behalf of the succession of Isaac Sr., filed a petition for ancillary probate of a testament probated in another state. The court in Claiborne Parish ordered that Pearl be confirmed as the testamentary executrix after complying with the requirements provided by law.
Shortly thereafter, on July 30, 2007, Pearl filed the initial pleading in this case as executrix of her brother’s estate, concerning the immovable property at issue here. She asserted a petitory action and sought to annul the judgment of possession, to cancel the judgment of possession from the conveyance records, to cancel the cash sale deed, and to collect damages. This pleading alleged that the judgment of possession was obtained by fraud and ill practices under La. C.C.P. art. 2004. Isaac Jr., Carolyn, and LLP were named as defendants. A petition of intervention was filed on .October 24, 2007, by Pearl, in her individual capacity, Dock, Beulah Hatter Mouton, and Bobbie Jean Hatter Smith, expressing their desire to intervene and join the suit filed by Pearl on behalf of Isaac Sr.’s succession, demanding the [1153]*1153same relief against the same defendants. On April 14, 2008, the plaintiffs filed a second amended and supplemental petition making further allegations regarding fraudulent actions by the defendants.
On April 15, 2008, LLP filed an answer to the petitory action, claiming that it was an innocent third party that relied on the public records and is the rightful owner of the disputed Claiborne Parish property. [Footnotes omitted.]

A peremptory exception of prescription was filed by LLP on September 5, 2008, against Pearl, as executrix of the estate of Isaac Sr., asserting that under La. R.S. 9:5630, any action by a successor not recognized in a judgment of |4possession is prescribed two years after the judgment becomes final. LLP also argued that the petition of intervention filed by Pearl, Dock, Josezette Josephine White, and Bobbie Jean Hatter Smith was not a proper intervention because it did not assert ownership of the disputed property. LLP argued that this pleading did not interrupt prescription.

The trial court granted the exception of prescription. The succession and the in-tervenors appealed. This court reversed the trial court ruling. See Biggs v. Hatter, supra.

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91 So. 3d 1148, 2012 WL 1192132, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 509, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/biggs-v-hatter-lactapp-2012.