Guillot v. Evans

728 So. 2d 1052, 1999 WL 95696
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 26, 1999
Docket31,591-CA to 31,594-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 728 So. 2d 1052 (Guillot v. Evans) 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
Guillot v. Evans, 728 So. 2d 1052, 1999 WL 95696 (La. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

728 So.2d 1052 (1999)

Ernest Rayford GUILLOT, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
Clyde EVANS, Defendant-Appellee.
Ernest Rayford Guillot, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
William-Ann Corporation, Defendant-Appellee.
Ernest Rayford Guillot, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
William Albert Evans, Defendant-Appellee.
Ernest Rayford Guillot, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
Charles Richard Hill, Defendant-Appellee.

Nos. 31,591-CA to 31,594-CA

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

February 26, 1999.
Rehearing Denied March 25, 1999.

*1053 Michael E. Kramer, Winnsboro, Counsel for Appellants.

Iley H. Evans, Eugene Allen, Columbia, Counsel for Appellee.

Before STEWART, PEATROSS and DREW, JJ.

STEWART, J.

This appeal stems from four separate boundary/ownership disputes between plaintiffs-appellants and defendants-appellees involving land located in rural Franklin Parish. After consolidating the four disputes for trial, the trial court rendered judgment in favor of the defendants and rejected the plaintiffs' claims of ownership of the disputed areas based on acquisitive prescription of thirty *1054 years. We find no error in the trial court's judgment and affirm.

FACTS

The plaintiffs, Ernest Rayford Guillot, Dorothy Guillot, and Gertie Guillot, own two contiguous tracts of land used for agricultural purposes. The plaintiffs' property was purchased in 1951 by Ernest Guillot, the deceased husband of Gertie Guillot and the father of Ernest Rayford Guillot and Dorothy Guillot. The defendants, Clyde Evans, the William-Ann Corporation ("William-Ann"), William Albert Evans, and Charles Richard Hill, each own separate tracts of land adjacent to the plaintiffs' land on three sides. In dispute are the boundaries between the plaintiffs' and the defendants' respective tracts of land.

The Guillots contend that their land is separated from the adjacent tracts by natural and visible barriers, including a turn row, a gum tree and ditch, a tree line with fence remnants, and a gravel road. A 1996 survey indicates that the actual boundaries between the Guillots' and the defendants' tracts of land fall within the area claimed by the Guillots. As such, ownership of the strips of land between the visible barriers described by the Guillots and the survey boundary line is in dispute. The Guillots do not challenge the accuracy of the survey, but assert that they have possessed as owners all the land up to the visible or natural barriers in excess of thirty years.

The Guillots initially filed four separate possessory actions which were consolidated for trial. After receiving a directed verdict in favor of William-Ann, the Guillots filed amended petitions in each suit and asserted claims of ownership of the disputed areas based on acquisitive prescription of thirty years. To establish the requisite thirty year period, testimony was limited to events from 1960 to the present. After listening to extensive testimony and reviewing numerous exhibits, the trial court found that the Guillots failed to establish their possession as owners of the disputed areas for the requisite thirty year period and denied their claims. The Guillots now appeal.

DISCUSSION

The essential issue in this matter is the determination of boundaries between the Guillots' tracts of land and the defendants' respective tracts of land based on the Guillots' claims of acquisitive prescription. The Guillots do not challenge the accuracy of the parties respective titles, nor do they challenge the correctness of the 1996 survey, which indicates the boundary lines according to titles and according to the Guillots' alleged possession. We therefore consider this to be a case of a titleholder who claims, by virtue of acquisitive prescription, more land than called for in his title.

By possessing for thirty years, within visible bounds and without interruption, more land than the title calls for, a titleholder may acquire the additional land through acquisitive prescription. La. C.C. art. 794; Fallin v. Pesnell, 27,814 (La.App. 2nd Cir. 1/24/96), 667 So.2d 581; Brown v. Wood, 451 So.2d 569 (La.App. 2nd Cir.1984), writ denied, 452 So.2d 1176 (La.1984). The party who seeks title to a tract of land through acquisitive prescription bears the burden of proof. Fallin v. Pesnell, supra; Owens v. Smith, 541 So.2d 950 (La.App. 2nd Cir.1989). The proof required under La. C.C. art. 794 is the same proof required to prove ownership in a petitory action based on a plea of thirty years acquisitive prescription. Hargis v. Verenco, Inc., 482 So.2d 1045 (La. App. 3rd Cir.1986).

To acquire property through acquisitive prescription, one must take corporeal possession of the thing and must intend to possess as owner. Corporeal possession is the exercise of physical acts of use, detention or enjoyment over a thing. La. C.C. arts. 3424 and 3425; Livingston v. Unopened Succession of Dixon, 589 So.2d 598 (La.App. 2nd Cir.1991).. Possession, for purposes of acquisitive prescription without title, extends only to that which has actually been possessed. La. C.C. art. 3487. Possession must be continuous, uninterrupted, peaceable, public, and unequivocal. Bennett v. Louisiana Pacific Corp., 29,598 (La.App. 2nd Cir. 5/9/97), 693 So.2d 1319, review denied, 97,1552 (La.10/3/97), 701 So.2d 199.

*1055 What constitutes adverse possession depends on the nature of the property and is a question which must be determined in each case on its own facts. Id. Generally, acts of possession required in the case of farm land must be of a greater quality than in the case of woodland. Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Landry, 558 So.2d 242 (La.1990). Whether one intends to possess as owner may also be inferred from the surrounding facts and circumstances in a case. Livingston v. Unopened Succession of Dixon, supra. Furthermore, whether a disputed property has been possessed for thirty years without interruption is a factual issue that will not be disturbed on appeal absent a showing of an abuse of discretion. Bennett v. Louisiana Pacific Corp., supra.

Guillot v. William-Ann Corp.

The Guillots claim ownership through possession in excess of thirty years of a strip of land up to a ditch and gum tree. The ditch and gum tree are the barriers which the Guillots claim delineate the boundary, based on possession, between their land and the land owned by William-Ann. The Guillots' tract of land is located north of the ditch and gum tree, and the record contains undisputed testimony that only the Guillots farmed north of the ditch and gum tree. According to the 1996 survey, a strip of land north of the ditch and gum tree is owned by William-Ann as titleholder.

The trial court denied the Guillots claim upon finding that the record owners of the William-Ann land did not have notice of possession adverse to their interests until 1985, when the Guillots changed the direction of their rows and plowed a portion of the turn row located adjacent to the ditch and gum tree. The trial court found that prior to 1985, both the Guillots and the owners and tenants of the William-Ann land used the turn row without exclusion and determined that common use of a turn row is not sufficient to establish adverse possession for purposes of acquisitive prescription. These factual findings are supported by the record.

According to testimony, the Guillots farmed in a north/south direction prior to 1985. During that time, a visible turn row existed north of the ditch and gum tree.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
728 So. 2d 1052, 1999 WL 95696, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/guillot-v-evans-lactapp-1999.