Frost Lumber Industries, Inc. v. Bluford

128 So. 711, 13 La. App. 686, 1930 La. App. LEXIS 219
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 2, 1930
DocketNo. 3803
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 128 So. 711 (Frost Lumber Industries, Inc. v. Bluford) 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
Frost Lumber Industries, Inc. v. Bluford, 128 So. 711, 13 La. App. 686, 1930 La. App. LEXIS 219 (La. Ct. App. 1930).

Opinion

DREW, J.

Plaintiff, claiming to be the owner of the following described lands situated in Union parish, La., viz: N. E. Vi of S. E. 14, section 34, and S. E. 14 of N. E. 14, section 34, and S. W. 14 of N. W. 14 and N. W. 14 of S. W. Vi, section 35, all in township 22 north, range 2 east, including all timber standing and growing thereon, sued defendant for damages resulting from the trespass of defendant upon said land and cutting timber thereon and removing it, in the sum of $250, with legal interest from judicial demand. It alleges that the act of cutting and removing the said timber by defendant was done willfully, maliciously, unlawfully, and against plaintiff’s consent, permission, or approval.

Plaintiff further alleges that • defendant has gone upon said land of plaintiff and fenced part of it described as N. W. Vi of S. W. Vi, section 35, township 22 north, range 2 east, and is engaged in farming and cultivating it; and that defendant has also taken possession, fenced, and is cultivating a portion of said N. E. Vi of S. E. Vi, section 34, same township and range, which land so possessed, fenced, and used, is worth $400. All of the alleged acts of trespass, plaintiff alleges, have damaged it in the sum of $250, for which it prays for judgment, with legal interest from judicial demand. It also prays to be declared the owner of all the above-described land and to be restored to possession of that portion which defendant has in possession.

Defendant admits that.he has cut timber on the N. E. Vi of S. E. Vi of section 34, township 22 north, range 2 east, which forty acres he claims to own and to have been in possession of “continuously, physically, uninterruptedly, peaceably, undisturbed, publicly, undisputed, notoriously and unequivocably’’ for a period of thirty years; that his possession has been in good faith and under the bona fide belief that he was the owner and possessor by legal title of the said forty acres of land, and pleads his said possession in bar of plaintiff’s action; he denies all the other allegations of plaintiff’s petition specifically.

The learned judge of the lower court has rendered a well-prepared, written opinion in this case, and, in so far as it applies to the timber cut on the three 40’s not claimed by defendant, we adopt it as the opinion of this court:

“According to plaintiff’s estimate of the timber cut on the entire tract of one hundred and sixty acres of land, as per testimony of plaintiff’s witnesses, the quantity in foot measurement is fixed at forty-eight thousand feet, or the equivalent of nine hundred and sixty-four cross-ties. And according to the testimony of plaintiff’s witnesses, the forty acres claimed by defendant has eleven and a half acres in timber, which is not fenced in, and the remainder of the forty is under fence and in cultivation, or a portion of it in cultivation. The timber was cut on the part not under fence. Further testimony for plaintiff shows that one hundred and fifty-one trees were cut on the N. E. Vi of S. E. Vi, Sec. 34 (the forty acres claimed by defendant as owner) cut in 1925 and 1926, and thirty-nine trees cut in 1928; on S. E. Vi of N. E. Vi, Sec. 34, twenty trees were cut in 1925 and 1926, and ten trees cut in 1928; on S. W. Vi of N. W. Vi, Sec. 35, ten trees were cut in 1925 and 1926; and on N. W. Vi of S. W. Vi, Sec. 35, ten trees were cut in 1925 and 1926. Plaintiff first learned of the cutting of said timber about two months before this suit was filed.

“Plaintiff’s witnesses estimate that the part in cultivation of the land claimed by defendant had been farmed sixty or seventy-five years ago, but no sign of fence or enclosure within the last fifty years. The testimony of plaintiff’s witnesses shows conclusively that quite a lot of timber had been cut on the one hundred and sixty acres [688]*688described, in the forties adjoining the forty claimed to be owned by defendant and very close to it; but the serious difficulty encountered in considering the said testimony is, who cut the timber? Defendant admits cutting the timber on the forty acres claimed by him, but denies that he cut any timber on any of the other forties. Plaintiff’s witness, W. P. Addison, testified that John Bluford, defendant, admitted to witness that he (Bluford) cut the timber, but Bluford denies this on the witness stand, stating that he admitted cutting the timber on the forty acres claimed by him, and that only. No other witness testifies to Bluford having admitted cutting the timber on the other three adjoining forties. Bluford admits on the witness stand that he cut the timber on the forty claimed by him, but denies cutting any of the timber cut on either of the other forties. And that is the way the evidence stands on the question of who cut the timber.

“With the evidence standing this way, it is impossible to determine with any degree of certainty who cut this timber on the three forties adjoining the forty claimed by Bluford. It may be true, as contended by plaintiff, that Bluford cut it; and it is a very suspicious fact supporting that conclusion that the timber claimed to have been cut on these three forties was cut right up against the lines of the forty Bluford claims to own, and, apparently, not very far from Bluford’s house, from which it would appear that he would know who did cut it, if he did not himself do it; but he testifies most emphatically that he neither cut it himself, nor knows who did it. Of course, it is possible for him to be telling the truth in this statement. His manner of testifying did not convince the court that he was lying, and the court would be stretching its discretionary authority to so conclude, and, hence, declines to do so.

“The law imposes the burden upon the plaintiff of making his case certain by the introduction of competent, sufficient and satisfactory testimony, or evidence. A probable case will not suffice. Plaintiff has not done this, insofar as proving who it was that c.ut and removed plaintiff’s timber from the three forties adjoining the forty claimed by defendant. The fact of the cutting and removal and the consequent damage to plaintiff is fairiy well established, though not with the certainty, in dollars and cents, that could have and should have been done, considering the fact that the court is expected to render judgment for a definite and fixed sum, if for anything at all. This, of course, is intended to apply to the trespass upon the timber cut and removed from the three forties not claimed by defendant: the forty claimed by defendant is a different proposition, and calls for a different solution, as to timber as well as land.’’

The N. E. % of S. E. % of section 34 is claimed by defendant as owner, pleading as a basis of his title possession as owner for more than thirty years. Plaintiff has shown by deeds translative of property title back for many years, but has not shown any acts of. possession. Defendant did not offer in evidence or claim to have any paper title to said 40 acres, relying solely on his actual corporeal, uninterrupted, and unequivocal possession as owner for more than thirty years.

Twenty-eight and one-half acres of the said 40 is under fence and is being cultivated by defendant. All of the testimony shows that defendant has had actual corporeal possession as owner of this part under inclosure for more than forty years; that his possession has been undisputed and undisturbed during that time. His plea of prescription of thirty years as to that part of the N. E. % of S. E.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
128 So. 711, 13 La. App. 686, 1930 La. App. LEXIS 219, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/frost-lumber-industries-inc-v-bluford-lactapp-1930.