Conlay v. Grillette

70 So. 2d 139, 1954 La. App. LEXIS 584
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 26, 1954
DocketNo. 8074
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 70 So. 2d 139 (Conlay v. Grillette) 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
Conlay v. Grillette, 70 So. 2d 139, 1954 La. App. LEXIS 584 (La. Ct. App. 1954).

Opinion

GLADNEY, Justice.

This appeal presents an action seeking judicial determination of the boundary between the contiguous properties of plaintiffs and defendants. The trial court upon application by plaintiffs caused a survey of the land in controversy to be made and in due course Louis Daigre, Jr., surveyor, filed a plat with procés verbal setting forth his findings. The homologation of the surveyor’s report was opposed by defendants and after trial the court sustained the contentions of defendants holding that an established fence constituted the proper dividing line between the separate ownerships.

In order to better understand the relative positions of the two estates there is attached a reproduction of the plat filed with the surveyor’s report. The letters “A” and “B” were placed thereon by instruction of the [140]*140court for the purpose of designating the two ends of the fence which the judgment held to be the boundary between the lands of the parties.

[141]*141Prior to May 18, 1944, and for many years prior thereto, the' defendants, C. C. Grillette and his wife owned a triangular strip of land lying north of the intersection and between U. S. Highway No. 71 and the Campti-Creston Road in the Town of Camp-ti. >On the above date defendants sold to their granddaughter, Mrs. Dorothy Gril-lette Ettredge, a plot of land constituting the apex of the triangle with the following description:

“That certain lot of ground with all improvements and buildings thereon located, situated in the upper end of the Town of Campti in Natchitoches Parish, .Louisiana, in the intersection of the Paved Highway No. 71 and the gravel .road running from Campti tp Crestón and described as beginning in the intersection of the two roads and from this point of beginning run North along the East side of the paved road a distance of 250 feet, thence at right angles across to the west side of the gravel road running from Campti to Crestón, and thence along the "west side of said gravel road to the point of beginning, being the filling, station property lately'known as. Stovall’s Place.”

. After passing through several ownerships appellants acquired the above property by deed dated March 26, 1947. On April IS, and July 21, 1947 Mr. Grillette and Mrs. Grillette, by separate acts sold to ■ Stanley W. Franks, their step-grandson, a lot-immediately north of the property they had previously sold their granddaughter, described as: '

“That certain lot of ground located just above the corporate limits of the Town of Campti in Natchitoches Parish, ’'’Louisiana, lying between the •Campti-Creston Highway and Highway Number 71, just above the Conlay Filling Station property; and described as ■ commencing at the "upper corner of the Conlay Filling Station property (acquired from O’Quinn Walker) on the Campti-Creston Road, and from this point of beginning run on up the road a distance of 54% yards, thence across to Highway Number 71 at" a point 65% yards above the upper corner of tbe Conlay Filling Station property on -that road, íhetícé down that road towards Campti to the corner of "the Conlay Filling Station property,, thence along .the line of this property and filling -station property, over to the Campti-Cres-ton Road and the point of beginning. Acquired by Stanley- W. Franks from C. C. and Lula Grillette.”

Within a short time thereafter, on July 26, 1947, Franks conveyed the identical property so acquired to Doyle E. Conlay, who, in turn, deeded one-half interest therein to Floyd Conlay. The consideration recited was $3,470.

During the trial defendants were permitted over objection by "counsel for plaintiffs to present parol evidence of an agreement between the defendants and Franks and a siinilar understanding between Franks and the Conlays that the ’fence above • referred - -to; would constitute the south boundary of the property retained by the Grilléttes. ■ The ' evidence establishes the fact that the fene-e runs in an east and west direction pássing" between the" Grillette home -and a water well drilled by Franks. Certainly, we can assume Franks had no intention of buying the Grillette home, nor did he-intend to include his grandfather’s house-in the sale'to Conlay. It is further indicated in -the following testimony by Floyd Conlay that the Conlays- in acquiring from Franks did not intend to -purchase north of the well:

“Q. When you bought the half interest your brother had acquired from Stanley Franks, did you have any intention of buying anything north of that, fence? A. Our deed calls only for a deep water well.
“Q. You all specified that in the deed, didn’t you ?' A. It specifies that in the deed today.
“Q.- Did you have any intention of buying Mr. Grillette’s house ? A. We were only expecting the deep, water well.
[142]*142“Q. If the line went slightly beyond the deep water well, you got, roughly, what you expected to get, didn’t you? A. I couldn’t say about that because his line chained it up.
“Q. You intended to. get property with no improvements on it, didn’t you ? A. The deep water well; That was our transaction with Mr. Franks and not Mr. Grillette.”

The surveyor’s report finds the Grillette house to lie within the property called for in the Conlays’ deeds. Plaintiffs testified, as qualified by the above quoted testimony, that they intended to acquire all the property called for by their deed and they disclaimed knowledge of the fence as the northern boundary to their property. The trial court rejected this testimony and we think rightly so. ■ The record leaves no doubt that both of plaintiffs lived for about five years within a few hundred feet of the Grillette home. They purchased within a few months after the defendants had sold to Franks, paying a very substantial consideration for the small lot purchased from Franks. It is not reasonable to infer from these circumstances they had no knowledge as to the exact location of the new or north line of their holdings.

According to the testimony of C. C. Grillette and Franks, measurements used in the description recited in the two acts in which Grillette was the vendor, were arrived at by Grillette stepping off the distance. Grillette is reflected as a man of little education. The dimensions then were brought to the notary who drew the deed. We can easily conclude such measurements were susceptible of error, but there can hardly be any doubt that all of the parties intended the line between Franks and Gril-lette to be south of the Grillette house.

Counsel for appellants argues tiiat the court a quo erred in admitting the oral testimony upon which its judgment is largely predicated. This court decided to the contrary in Selfe v. Travis, La.App.1947, 29 So.2d 786, 790:

"Lastly, plaintiff contends and argues that parol testimony was inadmissible to prove that which the public records do not disclose. He invokes the provisions of Articles Nos. 2266 and 2276 of the Revised Civil Code, which read as follows:
‘“All sales, contracts and judgments affecting immovable property, which shall not be so recorded, shall be utterly null and void, except between the parties thereto. The recording may be made at any time, but shall only affect third persons from the time of the recording.

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Bluebook (online)
70 So. 2d 139, 1954 La. App. LEXIS 584, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/conlay-v-grillette-lactapp-1954.