Flanagan v. Elder

90 So. 2d 540, 1956 La. App. LEXIS 886
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 25, 1956
DocketNo. 8573
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 90 So. 2d 540 (Flanagan v. Elder) 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
Flanagan v. Elder, 90 So. 2d 540, 1956 La. App. LEXIS 886 (La. Ct. App. 1956).

Opinion

AYRES, Judge.

This is an action in boundary. Plaintiff and defendant own contiguous lots in the townsite of Mooringsport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana. Plaintiff alleges that the defendant has encroached upon his property and constructed a garage and/or other structure located in part upon property owned by him; that a controversy exists between them as to the precise location of the boundary between their respective properties; that defendant refuses to have the matter of the boundary fixed and determined in an amicable manner, insisting that the improvements rest solely on his own property, and that, therefore, it is necessary that said boundary be fixed judicially. For that purpose, it was alleged that a surveyor should be appointed to make a survey and ascertain the correct limits of their respective properties.

A surveyor was appointed, a stirvey was made and a proces verbal thereof returned into court. Defendant opposed the survey upon the grounds and for the same reasons urged in his answer, wherein he alleged that surveys had theretofore been made by George E. Dutton, the court-appointed surveyor, and Van A. Barnett, also a registered surveyor and civil engineer; that the survey of George E. Dutton, the court-appointed surveyor, was in error as being based on the southwest corner of Section 25, Township 25 North, Range 16 West for a starting point, and that of Van A. Barnett, whose starting point is based upon the intersection of the west right of way line of the K. C. S. & [541]*541G. Railroad and the south line of the aforesaid section, is correct and should be accepted and approved as the correct boundary line between their properties.

The matter was tried upon a stipulation and an agreed statement of facts, which recited chains of title of their respective properties, beginning with the title of their common author, and to which stipulation was attached the proces verbal, blue prints, surveys of the aforesaid civil engineers, and a copy of the assessor’s plat of that part of the aforesaid section in which these properties lie.

After trial there was judgment rejecting plaintiff’s demands, from which he appealed.

As stated aforesaid, plaintiff and defendant derived their titles from a common author. The common author was Leroy Hagin, who acquired the whole of these properties from the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation under date of July 24, 1940. Defendant, under date of December 4, 1950, acquired from Felton C. Milford, who had acquired from Frederick C. Smith March 7, 1946, as per deed recorded in Book 517, Page 272 of the Conveyance Records of Caddo Parish, Louisiana, and who in turn had purchased on January 10, 1946, from Leroy Hagin, the following described property:

“Begin at a point 264 feet North of a point 341 feet West of the intersection of the West line of the K. C. S. & G. right of way and the South line of Section 25-T20N-R16W, Cad-do Parish, La., thence West 83 feet, thence South 150 feet, thence East 83 feet, thence North 150 feet to the point of beginning, thus forming a rectangle 83 feet East & West by 150 feet North & South in the NE corner of tract #25 of Assessor’s Country Plat #1703, together with all buildings & improvements thereon, & being the same land purchased by vendor herein from Frederick C. Smith on March 6, 1946.”

The descriptions in the several conveyances were identical except in the deed from Hagin to Smith there appeared, following the aforesaid description, the additional :

“Said tract '#25 of Assessor’s Country Plat #1703 is also described as that certain tract of land in Section 25-T20N-R16W, Caddo Parish, La., described as follows: Take as starting point 21 chains & 72 links (1433.52') East from SW corner Sec. 25, thence run East 2 chains and 28 links (150.48') thence run North 4 chains & 4 links (266.64'), thence run West 2 chains & 28 links (150.48') thence run to starting point.”

Plaintiff, by deed of May 11, 1954, likewise acquired from Hagin the following described property:

“A parcel of land in Section 25-T20N-R16W, Caddo Parish, La., more particularly described as follows; take as starting point 21 chains 72 links (1433.52') East of SW corner said Section 25, run thence East 2 chains 28 links (150.48') run thence North 4 chains 4 links (266.64') run thence West 2 chains 28 links (150.48') thence run to starting point, less, however, that portion of said described parcel of property sold by this vendor to Frederick C. Smith January 2, 1946, as per deed book 517, page 272 of Caddo Parish records. It is understood between the parties that vendor does not convey by this instrument any portion of a lawfully dedicated road or street.”

That portion of the above described tract which is contiguous to and lies west of defendant’s property plaintiff still owns. It is between this property and defendant’s property that the establishment of the boundary is sought. These conveyances were all duly recorded.

A mere reference to these deeds shows that defendant has the most ancient title [542]*542emanating from a common author of both plaintiff and defendant. In that title of the Civil Code pertaining to the Fixing of Limits and of Surveying of Lands, LSA-C.C. Art. 847, concerning conflicting titles from the same author, it is provided:

“Art. 847. If the parties claim under simple acts of sale or other acts which can transfer property, without béing supported by any anterior concessions, and if they, or the persons from whom they acquired their estates, have acquired them from one common proprietor, the preference shall be given to him whose title is ,of the most ancient date, unless an adverse possession, for a time sufficient to establish prescription, has produced a difference in the situation of the parties.”

The jurisprudence uniformly follows this Codal provision.

It was stated in Hughes v. Palmer, La.App., 47 So.2d 483, 487:

“Plaintiff and defendant’s title are both based on deeds conveying property by metes and bounds and not by deeds conveying specified acreage. Both claim property which was derived from a common author in title, the defendant’s claim being based on a deed executed by said common author in title in 1917, and the plaintiff’s by deed executed by said common author in title in 1944. Since the deed which was executed by Ronaldson-Puckett Company to defendant’s author in title was prior to that deed executed by Ronaldson-Puckett Company to plaintiff, naturally this prior deed governs.”

In Dupont v. Percy, La.App., 28 So.2d 359, 362, which was a suit more in the nature of an action in boundary than one for the correction of deeds, it was stated:

“The two property owners derive their title from a common author. Plaintiff, having purchased first, is entitled to have his title satisfied, and-defendant Bergeron takes the remainder.”

To the same effect is the ruling in Bankston v. Gill, 153 La. 234, 239, 95 So. 701, 703, wherein we find this expression:

“The sale to Mixon, under which plaintiffs claim title, was the first sale by the grantee out of his grant, and therefore requires that the area called for therein be satisfied by preference and priority over all others. The real issue in this case is to determine the boundaries of the land called for in this first deed.” (Emphasis supplied.)

In Bergeron v.

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Bluebook (online)
90 So. 2d 540, 1956 La. App. LEXIS 886, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/flanagan-v-elder-lactapp-1956.