Louisiana Land Co. v. Blakewood

Supreme Court of Louisiana

Louisiana Land Co. v. Blakewood

59 So. 984, 131 La. 539, 1912 La. LEXIS 1149

CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana

DecidedMarch 11, 1912

DocketNo. 18,780

StatusPublished

Cited by18 cases

This text of 59 So. 984 (Louisiana Land Co. v. Blakewood) 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

Louisiana Land Co. v. Blakewood, 59 So. 984, 131 La. 539, 1912 La. LEXIS 1149 (La. 1912).

Pincite

Opinions

PROVOST?, J.

This is a petitory action. Plaintiff claims title to all of section 38, three-fourths undivided of section 39, and % undivided of section 40, township 1 N., range 7 E., parish of Avoyelles. The three sections front on, and are bounded on the east by, Old river, once a part of the Mississippi river, and now the connecting link between the Red river and the Atchafalaya. The relative positions of the sections are that section 39 is between the other two, section 38 is north of it, and section 40 is south of it. The front part of the sections is cleared along the river for a distance of about three acres back; but, -being outside of the levee system, and therefore subject to overflow, has. not been continuously under cultivation. There are two cabins on section 39 and the same on 40. The defendants to the suit are the heirs of Pierre Charrier, H. M. Carruth, J. R. Nagle, the heirs of Blakewood, aud the Louisiana Railway & Navigation Company, whose railroad traverses the three sections diagonally. The railroad called in warranty its vendors, namely, the heirs of Blakewood and H. M. Carruth.

[543]*543Plaintiff’s author in title acquired from the levee board in 1902, the levee board from the state in 1901, and the state at a tax sale, 1892, for taxes assessed to the original patentees from the United States — Jean Baptiste Verbois for section 38, Nicholas Verbois for section 39, and Francois Verbois for section 40.

The heirs of Pierre Oharrier claim title to the N. % of section 40 and to one-fourth undivided of section 39 ; to the former through a sale to their father in 1854 by Zach. Kim-ball, Jr., who had bought in 1852 from the heirs of Jean Baptiste Verbois, and to the latter through a sale to their father in 1852 by the heirs of the patentee, Nicholas Verbois.

H. M. Carruth claims title to the front part of the N. y2 of the S. y2 of section 40, containing 40 acres, from having bought same in 1897 of J. R. Nagle, who (through successive sales) traces title to T. H. Carruth, who acquired from Chas. Chalfant, who acquired in 1878, and, through successive sales, traces title to the heirs of Jean Baptiste Verbois.

J. R. Nagle claims title to the back part of the N. y2 of the S. y2 of section 40, containing 80 acres, relying upon the same chain of titles upon which Carruth, his vendee, relies for the front part. Nagle claims title also to the S. % of the S. y2 of section 40. To the front part of this tract, containing 40 acres, he traces title (through successive sales) to heirs of Jean Baptiste Verbois. To the back part, containing some 80 acres, he can trace title no further back than 1893, when the same was included in the description by which the Water Valley plantation was adjudicated to his authors in title.

The heirs of Blakewood claim title by prescription to sections 38 and 39, and the N. y2 of section 40; and they claim title by deed to the one-fourth undivided of section 39 and one-half undivided of section 40 — to the former through a tax sale to their father in 1868 under an assessment to Pierre Charrier, who had purchased from heirs of Nicholas Verbois, the patentee. The tax sale calls for two tracts of land: First, for the one-fourth undivided of section 39; and secondly for the undivided half of a second tract, described as being just below the mouth of Red river, fronting on Old river, bounded north by land of W. H. Bassett, and south by lands formerly belonging to Pierre Charrier and Verbois. This description fits exactly section 38, but not section 40; hence the said tax deed does not call for any part of section 40, and the heirs of Blakewood have no title to any part of section 40, unless by prescription.

By a strange mistake the heirs of Jean Baptiste Verbois, the patentee of section 38, undertook to sell section 40, and, vice versa, the heirs of Francois Verbois, the patentee of section 40, undertook to sell section 38; and the result is that the defendants can trace no title to these two sections. As to all three sections, however, they plead the prescriptions of 10 and 30 years acquirandi causa; and the railroad pleads the same prescription and also that of two years.

In stating the derivation of the titles relied upon by the defendants, we did not mention all the links, as these are so numerous that we thought the recital'of them would be confusing. We will now supplement our said statement by the subjoined sketch, which gives them in full, and which will aid, also, in forming a mental picture of the location of the several tracts and the derivation of the titles to them. The descriptions in most of these titles are more or less unsatisfactory, in some even inaccurate; but to one who has familiarized himself with them all, and carries in his mind a clear conception of the ownership of each tract at the date of each of the sales, it becomes possible to locate each tract with certainty, as done in this sketch:

[545]

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