Gaylord Container Corp. v. Stilley

79 So. 2d 109, 1955 La. App. LEXIS 690
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 25, 1955
DocketNo. 3964
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 79 So. 2d 109 (Gaylord Container Corp. v. Stilley) 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
Gaylord Container Corp. v. Stilley, 79 So. 2d 109, 1955 La. App. LEXIS 690 (La. Ct. App. 1955).

Opinion

TATE, Judge.

Plaintiff-corporation (hereinafter denoted as “Gaylord”) appealed from, judgment dismissing its suit filed April 7, 1953, for recognition of its ownership of 154 acres of land in Livingston Parish, being Lot No. 4 (120 acres) and Lot No. 5 (34 acres).per plat of survey of L. Q. Huey in 1908. Defendant-appellee filed in this court exceptions of no right and cause of action; and also moved to dismiss the appeal, alleging by affidavit of counsel that the value of the property in question ' far exceeds :$2,000, this Court’s jurisdictional limit.

1. Motion to Dismiss the Appeal.

Until the very recent past, when the record as here was silent as to the value or amount in controversy, the. affidavit' of a party filed in, the appellate court was considered in determining whether there was •appellate jurisdiction in the court in question, see cases cited, New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad Company v. Redmann, 210 La. 525, 27 So.2d 321, at page 324; Frierson v. Cooper, 196 La. 450, 199 So. 388; Id., La.App., 196 So. 75.

However, commencing with Louisiana Board of Pharmacy v. Smith, 221 La. 1026, 61 So.2d 513, for the reasons set forth in Succession of Wesley, 222 La. 411, 62 So.2d 625, 'and followed in numerous cases thereafter, our- Supreme Court has refused to consider affidavits filed in the appellate court for purposes of establishing jurisdictional amount on thé ' ground that the Supreme Court has only appellate and not original jurisdiction, and therefore cannot consider evidence first filed before it. It has also held that the parties cannot confer appellate jurisdiction by stipulation, either after judgment as in Adger v. Oliver, 222 La. 793, 64 So.2d 6, or apparently even before judgment, as in Martin v. Carroll, 220 La. 481, 56 So.2d 843. Jurisdiction not affirmatively appearing by sworn testimony that the value in controversy exceeds $2,000, the Supreme Court has transferred the case to the appropriate Court of Appeal.

In two cases just published in the advance sheets, the Supreme Court has further held that the Courts of Appeal cannot remand an appeal to the district court for purposes of fixing appellate jurisdiction, Beene v. Pardue, 226 La. 606, 76 So.2d 902; Ilardo v. Agurs, 226 La. 613, 76 So.2d 904; even though, as in the Beene case, all parties thereto had agreed both by stipulation in the District Court and by affidavits earlier filed in the Supreme Court, 223 La. 417, 65 So.2d 897, that the value in dispute was at least $2,500.

Under these recent cages, the Courts of Appeal as courts of general appellate jurisdiction must accept jurisdiction of all appeals unless the record affirmatively shows appellate jurisdiction in the Su•preme Court by proof deemed competent by ■the Supreme Court. The present record is devoid of evidence as- to value of the land in controversy.

[111]*111Defendant-appellee’s motion to dismiss is denied.

2. Exception of No Right and Cause of Action.

Defendant-appellee Stilley filed in this Court an exception of no right and cause of action, since allegedly because of certain deficiencies and inconsistencies the petition fails to state a cause of action under the technical requirements of the pe-titory or any other real action. This contention was raised for the first time in this court. The suit was tried and the evidence admitted without objection, each party claiming possession as well as ownership, and each attempting to establish title to the land in question. This exception is therefore overruled.

3. On the Merits.

The District Court’s judgment dismissed plaintiff’s suit and recognized defendant, Ernest Stilley, as the owner of the property described in defendant’s Exhibit 1 (D-l) as follows:

“'A certain piece of land lying in the Fourth Ward of the Parish of Livingston, and being all that portion of Headright Section Forty-four and Forty-five TSR6&T 5 R 5 E, lying West of the public Road that leads from the E. B. Starns Bridge to Independence and said land is lying within the following boundaries, Bounded •North by John F. Starns, East by the Public Road that leads from E. B. Starns Bridge to Independence, South by E. F. Stilley, and West by Tickfaw River, said public road is to be the foundational line on the East side of the within described land, being the same land acquired by this vendor from John W. Stilley as per act of before J. W. Whitehead, North Public of date June 16th, 1906, and recorded in Book 16, page 423 & 430.”

This is the description contained in a conveyance from Burlin Starns to Edward F. Stilley, dated December 5, 1906, recorded COB 17, p. 203, Livingston Parish, introduced in evidence (P-11, D-8) as the common origin of title of both parties’ claim to any portion of Lot No. 5, the 34-acre tract lying south and west of the Stilley home place. It is unnecessary to deraign title back of the title of the common author, since neither party can, attack the title of their common author, Pecot v. Prevost, 117 La. 765, 42 So. 263; Brown v. Mayfield, La.App., 45 So.2d 912.

The above tract was described as bounded “North by John F. Starns”, referring to a 120-acre tract across the northern end of the Stilley headright (homestead) which was subsequently sold by John F. Starns to Burlin Starns on May 15, 1907, recorded COB 18, p. 143, Livingston Parish (P-13). This is the Lot No. 4 north of the Stilley home place, and defendant in his testimony did not contest Gaylord’s title thereto or possession thereof.

The learned trial judge failed to assign any reasons for his judgment recognizing Stilley as owner of Lot No. 5.

He either overlooked or refused to consider as a valid conveyance the re sale by Edward F. Stilley' (defendant’s father and ancestor in title) to Burlin Starns (defendant’s ancestor in title) of a portion of this tract on January 6, 1908, by Cash Sale recorded at COB 23, p. 252, Livingston Parish (P-14), described as follows:

Beginning at South East corner of- Thirty Nine Acres. Cornering on Public Road, being the South East corner of said tract. Thence with traverse of Public Road in a Northerly direction to a corner 317 links North 'of First corner described in road. Thence South 39 deg. 45' West 26' 28 chains to a comer. Thence North 21-22 chains to corner. Thence South 39 deg. 45' West. 4-60 chains to corner on River. Thence with Trayers.e of Tickfaw River down stream on left bank to the South line previously established containing 39 acres more or less in Headright Section 45, Forty-five, Township 5 Five, Range 5 and 6 East, Greensburg Land District of Louisiana, known as the Michael Stilley Head-right. (Italics ours.)

[112]*112This' was the property subsequently designated as Lot No. 5, of the L. Q. Huey survey of 1908 on said survey.

Because the L. Q. Huey survey indicates that the correct description should he “South 89 degrees 45 minutes west” (instead of “South 39 degrees 45' west”, see italicized portions of description), defendant-appellee urges it is impossible from the deed itself to locate the property therein described. Counsel concludes that “Therefore, no chain of title can be established [by plaintiff] back to Edward F.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
79 So. 2d 109, 1955 La. App. LEXIS 690, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gaylord-container-corp-v-stilley-lactapp-1955.