Collier v. Marks

57 So. 2d 43, 220 La. 522
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedJanuary 14, 1952
DocketNo. 40058
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 57 So. 2d 43 (Collier v. Marks) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Collier v. Marks, 57 So. 2d 43, 220 La. 522 (La. 1952).

Opinion

HAWTHORNE, Justice.

Plaintiff, C. C. Collier, has appealed to this court from a judgment of the Sixth Judicial District Court, Parish of Tensas; sustaining an exception of no right of action and pleas of peremption, in bar, and of res adjudicata filed by the defendant, Henry M. Marks, and dismissing plaintiff’s suit.1

Plaintiff instituted this suit pursuant to a judgment of the Sixth Judicial District Court, Parish of Tensas, dated June 10, 1948, rendered in a jactitation or slander of title suit bearing No. 8930 on the docket of that court, in which Henry M.' Marks, the defendant herein, was plaintiff and Charles C. Collier, plaintiff here, and others were defendants. The judgment in that suit ordered the defendants therein to disclaim title to certain lands described in the judgment or to assert such title or right as they might have to the lands by petitory action against Henry M. Marks within a delay of 60 days from the date of the judgment (June 10, 1948), and ordered that,’in the event of their failure so to do, they should be forever barred from claiming or asserting title to the lands. From this judgment defendants applied for, and were granted, a suspensive appeal to this court. On June 30, 1949,' this court affirmed the judgment appealed from, and an application for rehearing, timely filed, was denied on November 7, 1949. See Marks v. Collier et al., 216 La. 1, 43 So.2d 16. The clerk of this court mailed to the clerk of the Sixth Judicial District Court for Tensas Parish a certified copy of the opinion and decree of this court, and the clerk of that court endorsed such judgment as filed on December 2, 1949. The transcript of the case now before us does not disclose that this judgment was ever recorded in the records of the inferior court.

On January 7, 1950, the petition in the instant case was filed by plaintiff-appellant, C. C. Collier, who asserted title to, and claimed ownership of, the property de[526]*526scribed in the above judgment. Citation and service of this suit was made on the defendant, a nonresident of the State of Louisiana, by the sheriff of Adams County, Mississippi. Defendant filed an exception to such extra-territorial service and citation, which was sustained. Plaintiff then by amended petition had an attorney appointed to represent the nonresident defendant, upon whom service and citation was made on March 10, 1950.

It is to be observed from these facts that plaintiff’s petition in this case was not filed, and the defendant was not legally cited and served with the petition, within 60 days from the date of the judgment of the lower court or from the date the rehearing was denied by this court in the suit of Marks v. Collier et al., supra.

In dismissing the instant suit, the lower court held that the 60-day period began to run from November 7, 1949, the date the rehearing was denied, and in so holding the court was correct.

Appellant in his first assignment of error set out in brief filed in this court contends that the delay fixed as “60 days from the date of this judgment” expired long before the case was heard in the Supreme Court, and as a result there was no judgment by the district court fixing the time in which the petitory action was to be filed, and that this court in affirming the judgment appealed from failed and neglected to fix any delay within which a petitory action was to be filed by plaintiff herein, and that consequently there is no judgment fixing the delay for the filing of the suit, and, this being so, appellant should not now be deprived of his right to assert title to the lands.

As heretofore set out, the judgment pursuant to which this suit was brought provided that the defendants in that suit should disclaim title to the lands or assert such title or rights as they might have to the lands by petitory action ‘against plaintiff within 60 days from the date of the judgment (June 10, 1948). • In the absence of a suspensive appeal the 60-day period set in the judgment would have expired 60 days from the date of the judgment, but by taking a suspensive appeal appellants suspended the effect of the district court’s judgment until such time as a judgment of this court on appeal might become final. The statement “60 days from the date of this judgment” under the law could mean only “60 days from the date this judgment becomes final”. Under this interpretation plaintiff Collier had to assert his rights within 60 days from the date of the judgment in the event no suspensive appeal was taken or, if such an appeal was taken, within 60 days from the time the judgment became final in this court.

Since a suspensive appeal was taken, there is no merit in the argument that the 60-day period began to run from the date of the judgment. By such a holding the appellant would have lost his right to institute his action while the suspensive appeal was [528]*528pending because the appeal was not acted upon within 60 days.

Appellant is in error in his conclusion that, when the decree of this court became final, there was no judgment of the lower court fixing the delay for the filing of his petitory action. If his argument were correct, the taking of a suspensive appeal in the instant case would have had the effect of voiding entirely that portion of the judgment of the district court setting the 60-day period for bringing the petitory action. His suspensive appeal certainly could not have this effect; it simply stayed in its entirety the judgment rendered by the lower court, including that portion setting the 60-day period, until the matter could be finally disposed of by this court. Moreover, we do not think there was any duty on this court in affirming the judgment to fix a time within which the petitory action was to be filed, because that portion of the judgment of the district court fixing the 60-day period simply remained in abeyance until final action by this court, at which time it became fully effective.

Appellant in his next assignment of error contends that, since the judgment and decree of this court in the slander of- title suit, with the notation of the refusal of the rehearing, was never recorded in the records of the Sixth Judicial District Court for Tensas Parish, the district court erred in holding that the time for filing the petitory action commenced to run, or the judgment in the slander of title suit became executory, before the return of the judgment and decree of the Supreme Court and its recordation in the records of the Sixth Judicial District Court for Tensas Parish.

He argues in brief that, until the judgment of this court rendered in the slander of title suit “was returned and made of record in the lower court there was no decree fixing the date on which the plaintiff in the slander of title suit could require action, nor was there any judgment fixing a date binding on the appellant herein”, and, further, that, even if this court should decide that the 60-day period ran from the refusal of the rehearing by this court in that suit, “then, until the decree showing the refusal and the date thereof by the Supreme Court had been filed and made of record in the District Court, there could be no decree nor [or] delay fixed”.

In support of this assignment of error appellant cites Code of Practice, Articles 617 et seq., and the cases of Thomas v. Goodwin et al., 120 La. 504, 45 So. 406; State ex rel. Parish Board School Directors v. City of Monroe et al., 133 La. 1045, 63 So. 513, and Larcade et al. v. Iseringhausen et al., 150 La. 1044, 91 So. 505.

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Collier v. Marks
57 So. 2d 43 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1952)

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Bluebook (online)
57 So. 2d 43, 220 La. 522, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/collier-v-marks-la-1952.