Douglas v. Nicholson

74 So. 566, 140 La. 1098
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedDecember 11, 1916
DocketNo. 20772
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 74 So. 566 (Douglas v. Nicholson) 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
Douglas v. Nicholson, 74 So. 566, 140 La. 1098 (La. 1916).

Opinions

LAND, J.

This is a petitory action in which the plaintiffs in their original petition claimed to be the owners of an undivided half interest in the S. y¡, of S. E. % and the W. y¡t of the N. W. % section 22, township 8, range 3, situated in the parish of La Salle, containing 100 acres.

Plaintiff alleged that they acquired said property by inheritance from Joseph Tarpley, as the nearest of kin and sole heirs of said decedent, “that the said Joseph Tarpley was never married but once, and that there were never any issue from the marriage, the said marriage being with Jane Tarpley, who is now living,” and that the said Joseph Tarpley at the time of his death had no ascendants or descendants, or brothers or sisters, except the plaintiffs.

The petition further alleged that said Joseph Tarpley acquired the said land from the United States government by homestead entry, receiving his final receipt and patent about the years 1882 and 1890, respectively.

One of the plaintiffs, Sallie Douglas, claiming to be sister of the said Joseph Tarpley, also sued to annul a sale made by her4 in 1900 of her interest in said tract of land to one George R. Nicholson, on the ground that she was never authorized by her then husband, since deceased, or by any competent authority, to make said sale; that she received no consideration for said conveyance, and, being ignorant, did not know she was parting with her interest in said property.

[1101]*1101The other plaintiffs, James Douglas and Annah Griffin, alleged nephew and niece of Joseph Tarpley, deceased, claim by representation of their mother, alleged to have been a sister of the deceased.

The facts alleged in the petition were sworn to by Sallie Douglas, one of the. plaintiffs.

Defendants filed exceptions of vagueness and no cause or right of action, which were overruled.

Defendants then, on June 9, 1913, answered at great length, averring, inter alios, that after Joseph Tarpley made a homestead entry on the land in dispute, on December 5, 1882, he died, and that his wife, Jane Tarpley, completed the residence necessary to complete the entry, made the final payment, and procured patent to the land on February 26, 1897, but that said patent erroneously issued in the name of Joseph Tarpley.

The answer avers that the alleged conveyance from Sallie Douglas to G. R. Nicholson was a good, valid, and perfect deed and conveyed any interest that the said Sallie Douglas may have had in such land, and further avers that at the time she signed said deed she was a feme sole.

The answer denies the alleged heirship of James Douglas and Joe Tarpley.

The answer denies that the defendant Good Pine Lumber Company is claiming more than an undivided half interest in the lands in dispute, and avers that the whole tract belongs in indivisión to said company, and the Trout Creek Lumber Company.

The answer sets up the chain of title under which said defendant claims and pleads the prescription of ten years.

The answer denies that the said Joseph Tarpley ever had any interest in said land, for the reason that the patent issued after his death, and the title passed to his surviving widow.

The answer avers that Joe Tarpley, from whom plaintiffs claim to inherit, was the illegitimate son of Joe Tarpley, Sr., and that Sallie Douglas and Martha Douglas, or Tarpley, were the illegitimate sisters of Joe Tarpley, Sr., who had two natural sons duly acknowledged, Louis and George Tarpley, who would have inherited from him in preference to the plaintiffs, that Joe Tarpley had other illegitimate brothers, one of whom left issue, and that the said Martha had three other children, who would be entitled to share with the plaintiffs.

Further answering, the Good Pine Lumber Company reconvened, in the alternative, for $275, amount of taxes paid on the land, and for $185 for the price paid.

The plaintiffs on November 13, 1913, filed an amended petition, on leave granted ex parte, which the defendants moved to strike out, on the ground that the same made material alterations in the subject-matter of the suit after issue joined. This motion was overruled.

The .most material allegations of the amended petition are, in substance, that since the filing of the original petition they had learned that Joseph Tarpley was never married to Jane Tarpley, and that subsequently they were the owners of all of the land in dispute instead of one-half interest therein; and the plaintiffs amended and supplemented the allegations of their original petition accordingly.

Defendants answered denying the allegations of the amended petition; and the cause was in due course tried on its merits.

Judgment was rendered in favor of the plaintiffs, decreeing them to be owners in indivisión of the whole tract in dispute, and further declaring the said sale from Sallie Douglas et al. to George R. Nicholson to be null and void.

Judgment was rendered in favor of the defendants against the plaintiffs in solido for the sum of $185 and taxes from October 2, [1103]*11031900 to 1913, inclusive, with interest from judicial demand; defendants to pay all costs of suit.

[1,2] We are of opinion that plaintiffs’ amended petition should have been disallowed and stricken from the flies, because directly contradicting the sworn allegations of the original petition that Joseph Tarpley and Jane Tarpley were married, and that the land in dispute was acquired by Tarpley during the marriage, and that on his death the plaintiffs, as next of kin, inherited an undivided half interest therein, and because raising, four months after answer filed, a new issue, excluded by plaintiffs’ sworn allegation of the marriage of Joseph and Jane Tarpley, and defendants’ admission of their status as married people.

We note the allegation in the original petition that Sallie Douglas was induced to sign the deed to Nicholson “for the purpose of securing some money for her sister-in-law, Jane Tarpley.”

The amended petition does not disclose how, when, or where Sallie Douglas, after the institution of this suit, discovered that her brother, Joe, had never married her sister-in-law, .Jane. .

Solemn judicial admissions cannot be contradicted' or withdrawn, except perhaps in clear cases of error, shown by convincing proof of honest mistake in, and timely discovery of the falsity of, the admissions.'

No such case is here presented. It'is evi-dent" that the amended petition was • an attempt by the plaintiffs to shift their position to meet the averments of the defendants that Jane'Tarpley, as surviving widow,’ became the ownpv of the homestead.

A“ judicial admission cannot be refracted to the prejudice of the adverse party. Boatner v. Scott, 1 Rob. 546.

Any consent or admission in- the progress of a suit from which the other party may derive any legal right cannot be withdrawn without his consent; he being entitled to its full legal effect. Kohn v. Marsh, 3 Rob. 48.

A judicial admission solemnly made cannot be denied. Gridley v. Conner, 4 La. Ann. 416; Edson v. Freret, 11 La. Ann. 710.

■ A party cannot deny a judicial admission solemnly made, nor shift his position at will to a contradictory one in relation to the subject-matter of litigation to defeat the action of the law..upon it. Denton v. Erwin, 5 La. Ann. 18.

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Bluebook (online)
74 So. 566, 140 La. 1098, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/douglas-v-nicholson-la-1916.