Garrett v. Ernest

369 So. 2d 713
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 11, 1979
Docket12414
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 369 So. 2d 713 (Garrett v. Ernest) 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
Garrett v. Ernest, 369 So. 2d 713 (La. Ct. App. 1979).

Opinion

369 So.2d 713 (1979)

William C. GARRETT et al.
v.
Anna ERNEST, wife of/and Gilbert Ernest and many others.

No. 12414.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

March 5, 1979.
Rehearing Denied April 16, 1979.
Writ Refused June 11, 1979.

*714 Charles E. McHale, Jr., New Orleans, for plaintiffs, appellants.

Larry J. Green, Philip E. Pfeffer, Covington, Richard L. Muller, Mandeville, James J. Whittenburg, Patrick J. Berrigan, G. Brice Jones, Slidell, for defendants, appellees.

Robert L. Bailey, III, Mandeville, for absent defendants, appellees.

Before ELLIS, BLANCHE and LOTTINGER, JJ.

BLANCHE, Judge.

This appeal arises out of a petitory action brought by William C. Garrett, Frank B. Wood, Sr., Frank B. Wood, Jr., and John D. Ponder, seeking to be declared owners of a certain tract of land located in St. Tammany Parish and to have cancelled certain deeds and mortgages filed in the Mortgage and Conveyance Records of that parish.

*715 An answer and reconventional demand was filed by some defendants which assailed plaintiffs' alleged title and claimed they were the lawful owners of the tract in question as shown by the public records and by virtue of the acquisitive prescription of ten and thirty years. From a judgment dismissing their claims, plaintiffs have appealed. We affirm.

The suit involves a tract of land containing 120 acres which was originally owned by Hamp Robinson by virtue of a patent from the United States dated November 23, 1892, and described as follows:

The southwest quarter of the northeast quarter and the north half of the southeast quarter of Section 34, Township 8 South, Range 14 East, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana.

The appellants pleaded their title as follows:

"(1) Patent by United States of America to Hamp Robinson, dated November 23, 1892, C.O.B. 43 folio 284.
"(2) Tax sale to George W. Gause for 1894 taxes in the name of Hamp Robinson, C.O.B. R, folio 48.
"(3) Tax Sale to Salmen Brick and Lumber Co. for 1931 taxes in the name of Hank Robinson, C.O.B. 121, folio 170.
"(4) Heirs of George W. Gause to William C. Garrett, Frank B. Wood, Sr., Frank B. Wood, Jr., and John D. Ponder, dated June 16, 1966, C.O.B. 425 folio 211.
"(5) Salmen Brick and Lumber Co. to William C. Garrett, Frank B. Wood, Sr., Frank B. Wood, Jr., and John D. Ponder, dated October 5, 1966, C.O.B. 438 folio 162.
"(6) Judgment William C. Garrett et als vs Hamp Robinson et als No. 26611, 22nd Judicial District Court of the Parish of St. Tammany, State of Louisiana, dated October 6, 1967, filed for record October 10, 1967, C.O.B. 475 folio 349." (Record, pp. 1, 2)

Defendants are numerous individuals who have held, or who now hold, various real interests in the property and whose interests were obtained, through mesne conveyances, from the original patentee, Hamp Robinson.

The trial judge found that Hamp Robinson lived on and farmed the property from the time he acquired it in 1892 until his death, the date of which is not in the record. During this period Robinson moved his house three or four times, and after he died, his widow continued to live on the property until her death. We note that the testimony of two witnesses also established that some of the grandchildren of Robinson still reside on parts of the tract. The evidence indicates, and the trial court found, that most of the defendants live on the tract in question. Having found the defendants to be in possession, the trial judge held plaintiffs must make out their title good against the world under Article 3653 of the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure.

Plaintiffs based their claim of ownership on two separate tax sales, one to George Gause (Gause deed) on June 23, 1895, and one to Salmen Brick and Lumber Company (Salmen deed) in 1932.

The Salmen deed was executed on December 10, 1932, for unpaid taxes assessed in the name of Hank Robinson on property described as:

"80 Acs. Sec. 33-9-14, situated in Ward 8, Parish of St. Tammany, Louisiana." (Exhibit "P-3")

The defendants objected to the admission of this tax deed on the grounds that on its face it bore no relation to the property in controversy since it described property apparently in another section and township and there was no proces-verbal to indicate an error had been committed. The trial judge postponed ruling on this objection and later found it unnecessary to do so in rendering his judgment.

The Gause deed was executed on June 22, 1895, after a sale for unpaid taxes for the year 1894 assessed in the name of "Hemp Robertson" on property described on the tax rolls as "120 [acres] Land & imp. T. 9. R. 14 E." The deed described the property *716 being sold on that day as belonging to Hamp Robinson and being:

"121 20/100 acres of land & improvements SW ¼ of NE ¼ N ½ of SE ¼ of Sec 34, To 8 R 14 E Parish of St. Tammany." (Exhibit "P-2")

Plaintiffs trace their title from this sale to a quitclaim deed executed by Gause's heirs to them in 1966. They also claim that this title is unassailable, based upon a judgment in an Action to Quiet Tax Title brought under LSA-R.S. 47:2228 (hereinafter referred to as "confirmation suit") entitled "William C. Garrett, Frank B. Wood, Sr., Frank B. Wood, Jr., and John D. Ponder vs. Hamp Robinson and Jane Scott Robinson and/or Their Heirs," No. 26,611, obtained in the Twenty-second Judicial District Court for the Parish of St. Tammany, which judgment is now final.

Defendants resisted plaintiffs' claim citing, inter alia, the following:

(1) It is not bound by the confirmation suit since none of the defendants were made parties thereto.
(2) Even if it were to be construed that they were bound, the judgment in the confirmation suit is, nevertheless,
(a) absolutely null for lack of service and citation under LSA-C.C.P. art. 2002.
(b) relatively null under LSA C.C.P. art. 2004 for fraud and ill practices

(3) It may attack the Gause deed because

(a) peremption of three and five years has been interrupted since Hamp Robinson's heirs and assigns have resided continuously on the property since 1894
(b) the defects of the tax sale are those which cannot be cured by peremption, i. e.:
1. that the property description in the assessment was so deficient as to constitute no assessment at all
2. that G. H. Gause was the tax assessor at the time of the sale which was and is contra bonos mores
(4) The judgments of possession in the Successions of Kate Gause and George Gause were inadmissible since not specifically pleaded in plaintiffs' chain of title and, hence, plaintiff could not show an unbroken chain of title back to the sovereign.

The trial judge held that the confirmation suit was an absolute nullity and that it was an essential link in plaintiffs' chain of title, and therefore, dismissed plaintiffs' claims since they were unable to show an unbroken chain of title back to the sovereign.

It is unclear whether the trial court declared the confirmation suit an absolute nullity under Article 2002 for lack of service and citation or a relative nullity under Article 2004 for fraud and ill practices.

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