Caddo Parish School Board v. Hardeman

162 So. 585, 1935 La. App. LEXIS 336
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 29, 1935
DocketNo. 5092.
StatusPublished

This text of 162 So. 585 (Caddo Parish School Board v. Hardeman) 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
Caddo Parish School Board v. Hardeman, 162 So. 585, 1935 La. App. LEXIS 336 (La. Ct. App. 1935).

Opinion

TALIAFERRO, Judge.

On December 18, 1898, James M. Floss conveyed to the Texarkana, Shreveport & Natchez Railroad Company, grantor of Texas & Pacific Railway Company, defendant herein, a strip of land 100 feet wide for right of way uses over lands owned by him in section 24, township 22 north, range IS west, Caddo parish, La., and in the same instrument he conveyed to the railway company one-half interest in a tract of 75.36 acres through which the right of way had been given. With respect to the conveyance of the interest in this tract, the deed contains the following stipulation:

“The interest in said 75.36 acres is conveyed with the understanding that a station and depot is to be placed on said land by said Railroad Company, and in the event of the failure of said company to do this within one year from this date, this land is to revert to the vendor, without any cost or payment of money by him to said Railroad Company.”

James M. Hoss died on May 27, 1898, leaving a widow in community and four children. Thereafter, the interest of the children in the land was adjudicated to their mother, and a goodly portion, if not all, of the tract was laid off in squares and lots for a townsite; a plat thereof made and recorded ; and on December 5, 1900, Mrs. Hoss and the railway company executed an instrument dedicating to public use the streets and alleys shown thereon. The new town was named “Hosston.” Lots were sold off to various persons and some mercantile establishments were opened, residences and churches built.

The school board of Caddo parish, having need for a site at Hosston on which to erect a new school building, decided to acquire a large number of the lots in the town owned by several different persons, and, being unable to reach an agreement with them, on January 30, 1931, instituted expropriation proceedings to have the lots adjudicated to it. In due time and course, there was judgment, based on a jury’s verdict, as prayed for. The value of the property, with regard to divisions and ownership, • was fixed by the jury and promptly paid by the school board into the court’s registry tb be distributed and paid out through the court to the persons entitled to it. The various owners were satisfied with the values fixed by the jury. *586 The owners of the lots, where no controversy existed as to the title thereto, were promptly paid the amounts due them.

The Texas & Pacific Railway Company, to whom had been transferred all the rights of the Texarkana, Shreveport & Natchez Railway Company under the deed from Hoss, was made a party to the expropriation proceedings, and set up claim of title to one-half interest in certain of the lots adjudicated to the school board, the value whereof was fixed at $1,575. The railway company based its title upon the transfer to its grantor by Hoss in 1898. Its asserted interest in the lots was challenged by those holding adverse record titles thereto, emanating from the widow and heirs of Hoss, and therefore its right to be paid the fund in the registry of the court was denied. The railway company was ruled into court by the adverse claimants to show cause why said fund should not be paid over to them. The position of these claimants is clearly disclosed from the following allegations of their application for the rule:

“XI. That petitioners acquired title to their respective properties as above described as heirs and descendants of the late James M. Hoss and his wife, Mrs. Emma Hoss.

“XII. Petitioners further show that the Texas & Pacific Railway Company claims title to an undivided half interest in and to the property hereinabove described as the vendees of the Texarkana, Shreveport & Natchez Railway Company, the Texas & Pacific Railway Company making the claim that they acquired a half interest in said property by virtue of a deed from James M. Hoss of date December 8, 1898.

“XIII. Petitioners further show the court that in the case No. 34,704 on the docket of 'the First District Court, entitled Receivers of T&P Railway Company v. Will R. Lloyd, the said deed of James M. PIoss to the TS&N Railway Company, of date December 8, 1898, relied on herein by the T&P Railway Company as the basis of their title, was declared null and void by this honorable court, which judgment was affirmed by the Court of Appeal, Second Circuit, said case being reported in 6 La. App. 755; that said suit was between the same parties and formed by them against each other in the same quality and involved the same thing and was formed on the same cause of action as the case at bar, namely the question of the validity of the deed of December 8, 1898, signed by James M. Hoss, which deed was declared a nullity by the First Judicial District Court, Caddo Parish, Louisiana, and affirmed on appeal.

“XIV. Petitioners therefore show the court that the said case No. 34,704, Receivers of the T&P Railway Company v. Will R. Lloyd et al., having held that the deed from James M. Hoss to the TS&N Railway Company, of date December 8, 1898, was a nullity for the reason that it was founded upon an illegal consideration; that said judgment is res judicata of the claim of title asserted by the T&P Railway Company in this case, and is hereby specially pleaded by your petitioners in bar of the right of the T&P Railway Company herein.

“XV. Petitioners further allege and in the alternative that the pretended contract of sale declared upon by the T&P Railway Company is illegal, null and void as being contrary to public policy for the reasons hereinafter more fully set forth.

“XVI. Petitioners deny that any legal or valid consideration was ever paid to their ancestor, J. M. Hoss, for the pretended act of sale of December 8, 1898, and aver that the only consideration for said tract of land described in said pretended deed was the understanding and agreement that a station and depot would be placed on said land by said railroad company, which stipulation, understanding and agreement was illegal, null and void as contrary to public policy as it was a stipulation and an attempt to transfer property to influence and control the railroad company in the location of its station and depot, which location the law required to be made to'the best interest of the railroad company and the service of the public uninfluenced by private considerations or inducements offered or paid by individuals.

“XVII. That said attempted transfer of said property for such illegal purpose was contrary to public policy and without lawful consideration and is null and void and should be so held by this court.

“XVIII. Further answering, and in the alternative, petitioners aver tliat if the court should find that said contract was not invalid because contrary to public policy, then and in that event they aver that said sale of said land to said railroad company was dependent upon the happening of a suspen-sive or precedent condition, that a station and depot were to be placed upon said land by said railroad company and in the event of the failure of said company to do this within one year from that date, the land was to revert to the vendor without any cost or *587 payment of money by him to the railroad company.

“XIX.

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Bluebook (online)
162 So. 585, 1935 La. App. LEXIS 336, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/caddo-parish-school-board-v-hardeman-lactapp-1935.