Lattimer's Heirs v. Gulf Refining Co.

83 So. 543, 146 La. 249, 1919 La. LEXIS 1508
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedDecember 1, 1919
DocketNos. 22159, 22455
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 83 So. 543 (Lattimer's Heirs v. Gulf Refining Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lattimer's Heirs v. Gulf Refining Co., 83 So. 543, 146 La. 249, 1919 La. LEXIS 1508 (La. 1919).

Opinion

PROVOSTY, J.

This suit involves the ownership of 50 acres of land constituting the north part of the 80 acres which figure on the map of the United States surveys as the W. % of the S. W. Vi of section 1, township 12, range 12, parish of De Soto. The question is whether this W. % of the S. W., Vi of section 1, was included in a sale made by the administrator of the succession of Ramie De Soto in 1869 to Thomas Lat-timer, father of some of the plaintiffs and grandfather of the others, through whom the plaintiffs claim by inheritance. Some of the defendants claim by inheritance from Ramie De Soto, contending that the said W. % of S. W. Vi of section 1 was not included in the sale made to Thomas Lattimer.

The administrator of the succession of Ramie De Soto was Joseph Prudhomme, husband of Mary De Soto Prudhomme, only child and sole heir of Ramie De Soto. This administrator filed a petition, alleging that the succession was in debt, and that—

“There is a tract of land belonging to said succession, there being no other property, described as follows:

“N. E. Vi of .section 12; E. % of S. W. Vi and W. Vs of S. E. Vi of section 1; W. Vs of S. W. Vi of section 1; N. E. Vi of N. W. %; N. W. Vi of N. E. Vi of seqtion 12, township 12, range. 12, containing 349.70 acres.”

He prayed that this property be ordered to be sold, and the court made the following order:

“It is ordered that the property belonging to the succession of Ramie De Soto be sold ns prayed.”

It will be noted that the N. W. Vi of N. E. Vi of section 12 is mentioned twice in this de[251]*251scription. Eliminating this error, the description includes the quarter quarter sections, or 40-aere tracts, marked with an X on the subjoined plat:

It will be noted that the description includes 11 40’s, and that the area of these 11 40’s would he 440 acres instead of 349.70, as stated in the petition. The succession had title to but 9 40’s. The two to which the succession had no title are those constituting the S. % of the N. E. % of section 12, which are distinguished on the plat by-perpendicular lines. Whether these two quarter quarter sections were supposed to belong to the succession is not known.

The clerk of court, in making out. the commission to the administrator to make the sale, included these two quarter quarter sections, but left out the two quarter quarter sections constituting the W. % of the S. W. % of section 1, which are distinguished on the plat by horizontal lines, the land now in controversy. Whether this was done through error purely or designedly in order to bring down the area to a closer conformity with the acreage stated in the petition and order for sale — from 440 to 360 — is not known. The description thus contained in the commission to the administrator to make the sale — that is, with the W. % of S. W. % of section 1 left out, and the S. % of N. E. % of section 12 included — was repeated in the advertisement of the sale, in the appraisement made by the appraisers for the sale, in the deed which the administrator executed in favor of Thomas Lattimer for evidencing the sale, and finally in the report which the administrator made to the court of the manner in which he had executed the commission given him for making the sale. The advertisement as published was not produced on the trial, but the report of the administrator to the court recites that the land was advertised as described in the report. The land was sold in 40-acre tracts; in other words, each quarter quarter section was sold separately and at so much per acre, to wit, $2.

The contention of the plaintiffs is that the leaving out of the sale the 80 acres which did belong to the succession, and including 80 acres which did not belong, was through error; and they ask that this error be corrected, and that they be decreed to be the owners of the property.

[1-3] There can be no doubt that, where the thing intended to be sold and actually sold has not been described correctly, the [253]*253error may be corrected, and that even where the subject of the sale is real estate and the sale is a judicial sale such error may be shown by parol; but before a correction of this kind can be made the court must be entirely satisfied that the property involved in the alleged error was actually the subject of the sale.

[4] Ramie De Soto acquired in 1860, from the United States government, the W. y2 of S. W. % of section 1, and the N. E. of the S. W. % and the N. % of N. E. % of section 12. Now whether he ever acquired the rest of the land embraced in the sale to Lattimer is not shown by the record. Some of this land was cleared and in cultivation at the time of his death, and there was a house on it in which he lived. But not much of a house, we gather, as Lattimer, who had moved into this house after his purchase, proceeded soon afterwards to build himself another house to live in. This De Soto house was not on the W. % of S. W. % of section 1; nor, as we gather, was any part of the clearing. This absence of clearing we infer from the fact that when Eleck Jackson acquired the south 30 acres of this W. % of S. W. % of section 1, in 1883, he proceeded at once to clearing the land. We are mindful that the witness Wynn locates the De SJoto- house on this W. y2 of S. W. % of section 1, but on cross-examination he locates it “about half a mile or a little over” from the Mansfield road and to the east of that road, and this road, as shown by the plat offered in evidence by plaintiffs, passed slightly to the east of the center of the W. y2 of S. W. % of section 1. And we are mindful also that the witness Edwards locates the De Soto house on this W. y2 of S. W. % of section 1, but he does it simply because the witness Wynn located it there by making a mark on the plat just mentioned. He says:

“Independently of this map, I do not know anything about it.” And tó the question, “What direction was the old Lattimer house from the Eleck Jackson house?” he answered, “I am not sure about the direction.” And to the question as to tjie distance, he answered, “It seems to me it was about one-quarter from the old Jackson house.”

The house built by Lattimer was 'not on this W. y2 of S. W. % of section 1.

In 1871 the land thus acquired by Lattimer was assessed to him by a description, including this W. y2 of S. W. % of section 1, and not including the S. y2 of N. E. % of section 12. The record does not show whether the land, as a whole, was ever thereafter assessed to any one.

In March, 1877, Thomas Lattimer sold to Mary De Soto Prudhomme, daughter and sole heir of Ramie De Soto, and widow of the Joseph Prudhomme who had been the administrator of the succession of Ramie De Soto, and who, as spch, had made the sale to Thomas Lattimer, 150 acres, described in the deed of sale as the N. y2 of N. E. % and N. E. % of N. W. % of section 12, and the south 30 acres of the W. y2 of S. W. % of section 1. The price of this sale was $300 cash, and the sale included, as we gather, the house which Lattimer had built shortly after his acquisition from the succession of De Soto.

Between the date of this sale and April 1, 1879, Lattimer removed permanently to Texas.

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Bluebook (online)
83 So. 543, 146 La. 249, 1919 La. LEXIS 1508, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lattimers-heirs-v-gulf-refining-co-la-1919.