Fletcher v. Wilson

804 So. 2d 756, 1 La.App. 3 Cir. 0282, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 3003, 2001 WL 1580508
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 12, 2001
DocketNo. 01-0282
StatusPublished

This text of 804 So. 2d 756 (Fletcher v. Wilson) 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
Fletcher v. Wilson, 804 So. 2d 756, 1 La.App. 3 Cir. 0282, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 3003, 2001 WL 1580508 (La. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

I ¶ JIMMIE C. PETERS, J.

This appeal arises from a petitory action filed by Kenneth Fletcher against Douglas Wilson wherein Fletcher sought to be declared owner of certain immovable property in Wilson’s possession. In a reconven-tional demand, Wilson claimed ownership of the disputed property by acquisitive prescription. Wilson appeals the trial court judgment rendered in favor of Fletcher.

There is little factual dispute in the record. Fletcher has record title to approximately twenty acres in Vernon Parish, Louisiana, described as the west half of the Southwest Quarter of the Northwest Quarter of Section 36, Township 1 North, Range 10 West. In May of 1999, Fletcher discovered that Wilson had constructed a fence across the south end of the property enclosing approximately three of the twenty acres and had erected “Posted” signs along the fence. When Wilson refused to remove the fence and vacate the property, Fletcher filed this petitory action. At trial, Fletcher admitted that Wilson was in possession of the disputed three acres. After trial, the trial court recognized Fletcher as owner of the disputed property and rejected Wilson’s acquisitive prescription claim.

In his appeal, Wilson asserts five assignments of error. In the first two assignments, he contends that the trial court erred in admitting an abstract of Fletcher’s property as proof of ownership and in concluding that Fletcher established ownership of the disputed property. He argues, in the third assignment of error, that the trial court erred in admitting a survey of the property prepared for Fletcher and in relying on that survey in reaching its factual conclusions. The final two assignments of error relate to Wilson’s reconven-tional demand. He asserts in these two assignments that the trial court erred in admitting certain hearsay statements regarding his adverse possession claim and in failing to recognize the validity of his boundary dispute claim. Because we find merit in the first assignment of error that requires a Lremand to the trial court, we find it unnecessary to consider the remaining assignments of error at this time.

The proper procedural vehicle for an individual to claim ownership of immovable property that he does not possess is the petitory action. La.Code Civ.P. art. 3651. For Fletcher to be successful in this peti-tory action, he must prove that “he has acquired ownership from a previous owner or by acquisitive prescription.” La.Code Civ.P. art. 3653(1). In describing the particulars of this burden, this court stated the following in Duck v. Guillory, 98-1387, pp. 2-3 (La.App. 3 Cir. 3/3/99), 737 So.2d 91, 93, writ denied, 99-0913 (La.4/30/99), 743 So.2d 210:

To satisfy [this] burden, the [plaintiff is] required to prove an unbroken chain of record title or that [he] acquired title by prescription. Such proof of title is sometimes referred to as “title good against the world.” Pure Oil Co. v. [758]*758Skinner, 294 So.2d 797, 799 (La.1974). The [plaintiff], however, [is] not obligated to prove a perfect title to the disputed property, just one “apparently good” which traces an unbroken record title to the sovereign. See Conway v. Crowell Land & Mineral Corp., 93-1158 (La.App. 3 Cir. 4/6/94), 635 So.2d 544 (citing Bickham, Inc. v. Graves, 457 So.2d 1210 (La.App. 3 Cir.1984)), writ denied, 94-1198 (La.7/1/94), 639 So.2d 1166.

In an effort to establish his “title good against the world,” Fletcher introduced the following documents as exhibits:

A certified copy of an act of partition between Lynwood Davis and Kenneth L. Fletcher, dated June 19, 1997, and recorded as Instrument Number 511736 in the Records of the Office of Clerk of Court of Vernon Parish, Louisiana.

This exhibit represents Fletcher’s deed of acquisition to the west half of the Southwest Quarter of the Northwest Quarter of Section 36, Township 1 North, Range 10 West:

Judgment of Possession of the Succession of Richard Myres Davis and Beckie Jane Davis, Docket Number 60,133, dated June 10, 1997, and recorded as Instrument Number 511377 in the Records of the Office of Clerk of Court of Vernon Parish, Louisiana.

This exhibit recognizes Lynwood Davis and Fletcher as the sole heirs of Richard and LBeckie Davis, and places them in possession, as co-owners, of the west half of the Southwest Quarter of the Northwest Quarter of Section 36, Township 1 North, Range 10 West, as well as other property belonging to the deceased couple.

Certified copy of a contract of sale between Llano del Rio Company of Nevada and Richard M. Davis, dated April 14, 1920, and recorded in Conveyance Book 54, Page 608, in the Records of the Office of Clerk of Court of Vernon Parish, Louisiana.

This exhibit represents the deed of acquisition of Richard M. Davis to the west half of the Southwest Quarter of the Northwest Quarter of Section 36, Township 1 North, Range 10 West.

Abstract of Vernon Abstract Company, Inc., dated March 22, 2000, purporting to be a title history of the west half of the Southwest Quarter of the Northwest Quarter of Section 36, Township 1 North, Range 10 West.

This exhibit purports to establish the remainder of Fletcher’s chain of title not established by the certified copies of the first three exhibits described herein.

Wilson disputes only the authenticity or correctness of the abstract exhibit. Thus, he acknowledges that Fletcher clearly established his record title to that portion of the twenty acres at issue in this litigation through April 14, 1920. However, he contends that the trial court erred in admitting the abstract exhibit and that, without that exhibit, Fletcher did not establish “an unbroken record title to the sovereign.” Duck, 737 So.2d at 93.

Fletcher testified that he requested the Vernon Abstract Company to prepare the abstract exhibit for use in this litigation and that Mary B. Sliman, an abstractor with the company, furnished him with the completed document. When offered into evidence, Wilson timely objected to its admissibility. On appeal, Wilson argues that the abstract exhibit is not truly an abstract, but a compilation of the work of three different individuals prepared at various times in history. He further asserts that, | ¿without testimony to establish the authenticity of the documents contained in the exhibit and the manner of its preparation, it is not admissible. In support of this assertion, he points out that the abstract exhibit does not contain certified [759]*759copies of all the documents in the chain of title, but contains the preparer’s notations interpreting documents not a part of the exhibit. In admitting the abstract over Wilson’s objection, the trial court stated that it was “admissible as to chain of title, but, not as to admissibility of any of the documents shown.”

Examination of the abstract exhibit reveals that it is actually three separate abstracts combined into one. Ms. Sliman certified the abstract exhibit on behalf of Vernon Abstract Company, Inc., but limited her certification to a period from November 26, 1940, through March 22, 2000, the day she signed the certification. She attached a second certification, dated November 26, 1940, to the abstract exhibit which purported to certify the abstract exhibit’s content from January 13, 1921, through November 26, 1940. S.M. Turner signed this certification on behalf of the abstract company. Ms.

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Related

Bickham, Inc. v. Graves
457 So. 2d 1210 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1984)
Conway v. Crowell Land & Mineral Corp.
635 So. 2d 544 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1994)
Duck v. Guillory
737 So. 2d 91 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1999)
Pure Oil Company v. Skinner
294 So. 2d 797 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1974)

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Bluebook (online)
804 So. 2d 756, 1 La.App. 3 Cir. 0282, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 3003, 2001 WL 1580508, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fletcher-v-wilson-lactapp-2001.