Erskine v. Gardiner

110 So. 97, 162 La. 83, 1926 La. LEXIS 2205
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedOctober 5, 1926
DocketNo. 27802.
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 110 So. 97 (Erskine v. Gardiner) 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
Erskine v. Gardiner, 110 So. 97, 162 La. 83, 1926 La. LEXIS 2205 (La. 1926).

Opinion

BRUNOT, J.

This is a partition suit in which an injunction is also prayed for. The petition alleges that the plaintiffs are co-owners in indivisión with the defendant and the unknown heirs of George Urquhart and Mrs. George Urquhart, both deceased, of a certain described tract of land in Plaque-mines parish, La.; that plaintiffs are not willing to remain as co-owners in indivisión; that the property is not divisible in kind; and that a partition by licitation should be ordered. It is also alleged that the defendant has depredated upon the property, removed some timber therefrom, and, unless restrained by an injunction, will denude if of all the valuable timber remaining thereon. The prayer is for the appointment of a cura *85 tor to represent the unknown heirs, for citation upon the defendant and curator, for the issuance of a restraining order without notice, for a rule to show cause why an injunction should not issue, and, after trial, for a judgment perpetuating the injunction and ordering a partition of the property by Imitation. Plaintiffs also pray for a judgment ordering the defendant to account for the timber she is alleged to have removed from the property. The court issued the restraining order and a rule nisi to show cause why the injunction prayed for should not be granted. Defendant, in her return to the rule, excepts to the plaintiffs’ suit, upon several grounds, viz: Want of jurisdiction in the Twenty-Fifth judicial district court to try and determine the ease, nonjoinder of proper parties, no cause of action, and vagueness. The return denies that the plaintiffs own an interest in the property they seek to have partitioned ; it alleges the nullity of the judgment recognizing plaintiffs as the heirs of John Erskine, Jr., and the prescription. of 5, 10, and 30 years is pleaded therein. The return also sets forth the origin and chain of title under which respondent in rule and the defendant in this suit asserts ownership of the whole property.

By agreement of counsel, the exceptions and special pleas filed herein were, on the trial of the rule, referred to and considered with the merits. After the matter had been heard, argued, and submitted, all of the exceptions urged by defendant and the prescription of 30 years pleaded in the return were overruled. With respect to this plea the court held that the evidence offered in support of it did not show continuous possession of the property by respondent and by those through whom she acquired for 30 years; and the court declined to consider the alleged nullity of the judgment recognizing the plaintiffs as the heirs of the late John Erskine and Orsile Le Bceuf, because that judgment was only collaterally attacked herein, and its nullity had been alleged in a direct suit to annul it which defendant had filed in the succession proceedings in which it was rendered.

Defendant’s answer reiterates the exceptions, pleas, and averments contained in the return to the rule nisi; it alleges that plaintiffs are without right, title, or interest in the property described in their petition; and it concludes with a prayer for the rendition of a judgment reserving all rights of defendant to bring future suits for damages against them, for the dissolution of the injunction, and for the rejection of the plaintiffs’ demands. Defendant filed a supplemental answer in which it is alleged that the plaintiffs are impostors; that they are the descendants of one Juan Escanio, who was never a resident of Plaquemines parish, but who resided and died in Ascension parish. There is annexed to the supplemental answer, as part thereof, quitclaim deeds of record, from all of the alleged true heirs of John Erskine, ratifying and acknowledging defendant’s title and ownership of the property sought ta be partitioned.

The answer of the curator ad hoc, appointed to represent the unknown heirs of George Urquhart and Mrs. George Urquhart, deceased, merely requires proof of the allegations of the petition and joins the plaintiff in their prayer for an injunction and for a partition of the property by lieitation. Thereafter the curator, alleging that he had located the Urquhart heirs and had been retained by them as their' attorney, withdrew from the ease as curator ad hoc and intervened therein on behalf of his clients. The petition of intervention alleges that Fernando B. Puig', Ysabel Puig, Felix J. Puig, and Angele Puig are the sole heirs of George Urquhart, deceased; that George Urquhart died possessed of a one-fourth interest in the property sought to be partitioned; that de *87 fendant has title to one-fourth of said property, and that the heirs of William Erskine are owners of one-half thereof; that interveners, the defendant and the heirs of William Erskine are eo-owners of the whole property in the proportions named; that interveners are not willing to remain as owners in common; and that the property cannot be divided in kind. Interveners pray for service of the intervention upon plaintiffs and defendant through their counsel of record, for a judgment in their favor and against the defendant decreeing a partition by licitation, and ordering that the proceeds of the sale be deposited in the registry of the court for distribution among the rightful owners, including the proportionate share of .the proceeds claimed by them. In addition to the exceptions urged to the plaintiffs’ petition, defendant further excepted to the petition of intervention upon the ground that interveners did not pray for citation upon defendant, and that the citation which issued was not addressed to or served upon defendant; that interveners did not file their petition in this cause until after they had been served with a petition and had been cited to answer a demand for damages for slander of defendant’s title, in a suit filed by defendant against them, at their domicile, in the civil district court of Orleans parish, which court is, for that reason, the forum in which they must disclaim ownership of the property or assert any rights they may have thereto, and that the family tree annexed to interveners’ petition contradicts their alleged heirship. The record does not disclose that the foregoing exceptions were considered or passed upon by the trial judge except in so far as the judgment rendered on the merits may be held to have inferentially overruled them.

Defendant, in the answer to the intervention, denies that interveners are interested in the result of this suit or that they own any part of or have any interest in the property involved in the litigation. Interveners’ allegation that they are the only legal heirs of the late George Urquhart is also denied. It is alleged in the answer to the intervention that George Urquhart and his wife, Augustine Weyler, each owned an undivided one-quarter interest in the plantation of which the tract of land sought to be partitioned formed a part; that their interest in the plantation was mortgaged in excess of its value and to avoid foreclosure proceedings the co-owners obtained a consent decree of the court ordering the sale of the property to effect a partition; that the property was advertised and sold in execution of this judgment and it was adjudicated to iurs. J. A. Fernandez for its full value; that this sale was made with knowledge, acquiescence, and consent of all of the co-owners, and that they and their heirs are now estopped- from assailing the title conveyed by it.

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Bluebook (online)
110 So. 97, 162 La. 83, 1926 La. LEXIS 2205, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/erskine-v-gardiner-la-1926.