Jones v. Pringle

226 So. 2d 592
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 26, 1969
DocketNo. 11246
StatusPublished

This text of 226 So. 2d 592 (Jones v. Pringle) 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
Jones v. Pringle, 226 So. 2d 592 (La. Ct. App. 1969).

Opinion

PRICE, Judge.

William J. Jones and the major children of his marriage with Hattie Jones, deceased, brought this possessory action seeking to have the undisturbed possession of a 3.10 acre tract of land in Union Parish restored against an alleged disturbance by defendant, A. W. Pringle.

[593]*593It is alleged that plaintiffs have had the peaceable and uninterrupted possession of the property from about 1906 until the disturbance by defendant, which occurred between May 15th and June 30, 1966. Defendant is accused of disturbing plaintiffs’ possession by going upon the property, tearing down and removing old fences and constructing new fences thereon. In their petition filed on May 5, 1967, plaintiffs also claim damages amounting to $850.00 because of the alleged trespass by defendant.

In answer to plaintiffs’ petition defendant admitted the construction of new fences on the property but asserted that the fences were being constructed on property belonging to him. Defendant filed a reconventional demand in which he alleges he has been in undisturbed possession of the subject property for more than a year prior to the filing of plaintiffs’ suit, and that the filing of this action by plaintiffs constitutes a disturbance in law of his possession, and seeks, by means of a possessory action, to be maintained in his possession as against the disturbance by plaintiffs. Monetary damages are also claimed in the petition in reconvention in the sum of $15,000.00.

Prior to trial, William J. Jones passed away and the remaining plaintiffs were recognized as the sole necessary parties plaintiff as his only heirs.

After trial on the merits, the district court found for the plaintiffs and rendered judgment maintaining them in possession of the property. The court ordered defendant to assert any adverse claim of ownership within sixty days or be forever precluded from asserting any claim of ownership to the property. The court also awarded nominal damages of $250.00 and rejected the demands in reconvention.

From this adverse judgment the defendant has perfected this suspensive appeal. Defendant contends that the trial judge erred in finding that the plaintiffs bore the burden required of them by law to establish that they were in possession of the disputed property and that the action was brought within one year of the alleged disturbance as required by Article 3658 of the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure. Defendant further contends the trial court erred in not finding that he had possession of the property for more than a year and refusing to maintain the possessory action asserted in his behalf in the reconventional demand.

Although the testimony of the witnesses is contradictory as to the extent or duration of the possession by the Jones family, we find the evidence to fairly establish the following:

In the year 1906 William J. Jones, who owned and resided on adjacent lands, began possessing this tract by the growing of crops. This continued until Jones became too old to farm, sometime around the year 1955. During the period he used the property he fenced it to prevent cattle from destroying his crops. Apparently a flood in 1945 did considerable damage to the fences and they were gradually allowed to deteriorate and never repaired. After William J. Jones became unable to farm, his son, Ed Jones, cultivated the property for three or four years. Thereafter a daughter and her husband grazed cattle on the land. At the time A. W. Pringle began to fence the tract, the land was lying fallow and only the vestiges of the old fences remained.

The district judge in his reasons for judgment found that the plaintiffs had sufficiently borne the burden required of them by the provisions of Article 3658 of the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure, which reads as follows:

“To maintain the possessory action the possessor must allege and prove that:
(1) He had possession of the immovable property or real right at the time the disturbance occurred;
(2) He and his ancestors in title had such possession quietly and without in[594]*594terruption for more than a year immediately prior to the disturbance, unless evicted by force or fraud;
(3) The disturbance was one in fact or in law, as defined in Article 3659; and
(4) The possessory action was instituted within a year of the disturbance.”

The most serious question raised by appellant is whether or not the evidence warranted the trial court’s conclusion that the requirements of paragraphs (1) and (4) of this Article had been met, entitling plaintiffs to a possessory action.

There is no doubt from the evidence that William J. Jones began possessing the property around 1906 and continued his possession by farming until 1955. Appellant contends that from this time on there is not sufficient evidence to prove that the Jones children continued this possession to within one year of the disturbance by defendant. It is appellant’s position that the most the evidence shows is the grazing of cattle belonging to a daughter and her husband on the land and that this alone is not sufficient to continue possession.

The first paragraph of Article 3660 of the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure provides :

“A person is in possession of immovable property or of a real right, within the intendment of the articles of this Chapter, when he has the corporeal possession thereof, or civil possession thereof preceded by corporeal possession by him or his ancestors in title, and possesses for himself, whether in good or bad faith, or even as a usurper.”

In the case of Hill v. Richey, 221 La. 402, 59 So.2d 434 (1952), decided prior to the adoption of the present Code of Civil Procedure, the Supreme Court interpreted the requirements of possession as set forth in Article 49 of the Louisiana Code of Practice, which then provided for the possessory action. That article provided that a party must show real and actual possession at the instant the disturbance occurred and mere civil or legal possession were not sufficient. The court in the Richey case cited and accepted the civil concept of possession and possessory action as discussed by Saunders in his Lectures on the Civil Code, as follows :

“When the possession has once been acquired it may be maintained without the actual physical presence of the possessor on the lands; it is maintained in the extent to which it was acquired, and to the extent to which the acts of ownership were exercised by the possessor. The Code tells you that this possession is attributed to the possessor who has once been on the place and controlled it, as long as there are any vestiges on the land indicating the ownership by the possessor (3501); for example, ruins of his house, though the ruins may be such as would scarcely indicate what the house was.
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“Of course, this attributed possession ceases in the face of exclusive opposing possession. If A has been in physical possession of a tract of land and then leaves the land, but leaves evidence of intention to keep it as his own, he will be deemed to be still in possession until somebody else takes actual possession but his attributed possession ceases in face of actual possession.

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Related

Hill v. Richey
59 So. 2d 434 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1952)
Leader Realty Co. v. Taylor
84 So. 648 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1920)

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Bluebook (online)
226 So. 2d 592, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-pringle-lactapp-1969.