Malabar Corp. v. Warren Realty Co.

209 So. 2d 145, 1968 La. App. LEXIS 5071
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 8, 1968
DocketNo. 2965
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 209 So. 2d 145 (Malabar Corp. v. Warren Realty Co.) 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
Malabar Corp. v. Warren Realty Co., 209 So. 2d 145, 1968 La. App. LEXIS 5071 (La. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinion

BARNETTE, Judge.

The plaintiff, Malabar Corporation, claiming the ownership of a certain described lot in the City of New Orleans, ob[146]*146tained a judgment against the defendant, Warren Realty Company, Inc., cancelling and annulling an affidavit of ownership which defendant had caused to be made, filed and recorded in the conveyance records of Orleans Parish, adversely claiming ownership of the lot in question. The judgment also enjoins and prohibits defendant from asserting any right, title or interest in the described lot. From this judgment defendant has appealed suspensively.

Plaintiff claims the ownership of the vacant lot in question by virtue of a patent issued by the Register of the State Land Office, July 20, 1964, following an adjudication to plaintiff of the lot by the Civil Sheriff for the Parish of Orleans on June 26, 1964, all pursuant to the provisions of LSA-R.S. 47:2189. (Act 11 of 1964 amending LSA-R.S. 47:2189 did not become effective until after this adjudication.) It is agreed that neither plaintiff nor defendant is or has been in possession of the lot.

According to pleadings in suit No. 432-720 on the docket of the Civil District Court entitled “Malabar Corporation v. Philip Anthony Luizza et als,” which record is filed in evidence in this proceeding, the lot in question was acquired by Marie Guilhemat by purchase in 1896. She died in 1910 and after succession proceedings of Marie Guil-hemat and Bertha Guilhemat in 1927, seven persons were recognized as the owners of the lot and were placed in possession in the proportions of an undivided one-seventh each. The lot was adjudicated to the State in 1935 for unpaid taxes for the year 1933 assessed in the name of Marie Guilhemat.

Prior to June 26, 1964, the plaintiff purchased the undivided one-seventh interest of one of the co-owners. Two additional one-sevenths were subsequently acquired by deed or quitclaim from two other alleged prior co-owners.

Pursuant to the provisions of LSA-R.S. 47:2189 the lot was advertised for sale at public auction on June 26, 1964. The plaintiff and defendant were competitive bidders and after bids had been made but before adjudication, the sheriff called off the auction upon payment by plaintiff of the taxes due plus 20 percent and all interest and costs; and the adjudication was made to plaintiff, all under the authority of LSA-R.S. 47:2189, the pertinent part of which is as follows:

“If at any moment before the actual adjudication takes place the tax debtor, his heir, administrator, executor, assign or successor, shall pay to the sheriff all taxes and interest due upon the property to the state, the parish and municipality in which it is situated, as well as all such taxes as may be due thereon to any levee, drainage, road or school district and other public instrumentality, as well as twenty per centum (20%) thereof added thereto and all interest and costs, then the adjudication shall be made by said sheriff to the tax debtor, his heir, administrator, executor, assign or successor, as the case may be, by preference over all other bidders even though they have bid larger sums.
“The sheriff making the sale shall deliver to the purchaser who has complied with his bid by paying the price of the adjudication to him a procés verbal of the sale and, upon the surrender thereof to the Register of the State Land Office, the purchaser shall be entitled to a patent signed by the Register of the State Land Office and by the governor.”

The defendant bid the sum of $1,300 for the lot, which was the highest bid made and in excess of the amount actually paid by plaintiff under the provisions of the statute. From this fact the defendant contends the lot should have been adjudicated to it, and on this premise it filed an affidavit claiming ownership. The affidavit recorded in the conveyance records, July 2, 1964, in Conveyance Office Book 661, Folio 214, purports to be a declaration of ownership made and signed by Warren A. Doll, as vice president acting for and on behalf of Warren Realty Company, Inc.

[147]*147As stated above, prior to June 26, 1964, Malabar Corporation acquired from one of the co-owners an undivided one-seventh interest in the subject lot, and it was this interest which it claimed as an assign of one of the co-tax-debtors. On August 18 and 25, 1964, respectively, it acquired from two other alleged co-owners their respective undivided one-seventh interests. On February 19, 1965, Malabar brought suit against the remaining alleged co-owners under the provisions of LSA-R.S. 47:2228.1 to quiet its title acquired by the adjudication of June 26, 1964, and the subsequent patent issued by the Register of the State Land Office, pursuant to LSA-R.S. 47:2189. Judgment was rendered as prayed, and was signed and filed March 24, 1965. No appeal was taken and that judgment is now final. The entire record in that proceeding, No. 432-720 on the docket of the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans, entitled “Malabar Corporation v. Philip Anthony Liuzza et als,” was filed in evidence in the instant case and is a part of the record before us on this appeal.

On September 9, 1965, plaintiff filed this suit which it labeled “Petitory Action” claiming ownership of the lot and praying for a decree recognizing its sole ownership and cancelling and annulling the affidavit in Conveyance Office Book 661, Folio 214, and enjoining defendant from asserting claims of right, title or interest in the subject property. Plaintiff also prayed for certain alleged damages but this demand was abandoned during trial and is not an issue in the case.

The judgment orders the cancellation and annulment of the affidavit of ownership and enjoins the defendant from further asserting claims of right, title or interest in the lot which it described with particularity. The judgment does not decree nor does it contain any reference to the prayer for recognition of plaintiff’s sole ownership of the lot. The plaintiff did not appeal nor did it answer the appeal in this court, therefore, the only question before us for consideration is the correctness of the judgment only insofar as it orders the cancellation of the affidavit of ownership and enjoins defendant from asserting adverse claims.

The defendant attempts to make an issue of the fact that at the time of the adjudication on June 26, 1964, plaintiff falsely represented to the sheriff that it was the owner, by assignment, of two-sevenths undivided interest, instead of a one-seventh. This is entirely without merit. The amount of Malabar’s undivided interest was immaterial to its right to avail itself of the provisions of LSA-R.S. 47:2189.

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243 So. 2d 329 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1971)

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Bluebook (online)
209 So. 2d 145, 1968 La. App. LEXIS 5071, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/malabar-corp-v-warren-realty-co-lactapp-1968.