Monsanto Chemical Co. v. Jones

160 So. 2d 428, 1964 La. App. LEXIS 1296
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 9, 1964
DocketNo. 10085
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 160 So. 2d 428 (Monsanto Chemical Co. v. Jones) 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
Monsanto Chemical Co. v. Jones, 160 So. 2d 428, 1964 La. App. LEXIS 1296 (La. Ct. App. 1964).

Opinion

BOLIN, Judge.

Monsanto Chemical Company, lessee under an oil and gas lease, brought in a producing well in Lincoln Parish. Being unable to ascertain the proper parties to whom royalties from forty acres of the producing unit were payable, lessee deposited the money in the registry of the court and instituted -the present concursus proceedings.

At the time suit was filed there were several ancillary issues involved which have since been eliminated by the pleadings and the stipulations of counsel. There is now before this court only one dispute involving Jesse J. Goldsmith on the one hand as opposed to Eudoxie Jones and the heirs of Tobe Jones on the other hand. Counsel have, by stipulation, agreed as to the interests of all parties in any event, whether the court should rule in favor of Jesse J. Goldsmith or Eudoxie Jones and the heirs of Tobe Jones. The lower court ruled in favor of Eudoxie Jones and the heirs of Tobe Jones, and Jesse J. Goldsmith has appealed.

On November 6, 1926, T. J. Jones (also known as Tobe Jones) executed an authentic instrument, purporting to convey to his daughter, Martha Goldsmith, wife of J. J. Goldsmith, the property involved in this litigation. The consideration for the sale was stated therein to be $400.

In February, 1938, Martha Goldsmith and her husband, J. J. Goldsmith, borrowed some money from a local bank and jointly executed two promissory notes in connection therewith. Apparently the bank and other creditors were threatening foreclosure and Eudoxie Jones, in order to “save” the property, paid the obligations due. In return for the payment of these debts, Martha Goldsmith, on June 1, 1938, executed an authentic act of sale of the disputed property to Eudoxie Jones for the recited consideration of $275.12. Eudoxie says this was the amount of debts she paid for Martha and Jesse. Martha’s marital status was shown in the deed but her husband did not join her in the execution thereof.

It is the position of Jesse Goldsmith that the forty acres became a part of the community of acquets and gains when it was acquired by his wife from Tobe Jones and that the sale of the property from Martha Goldsmith to Eudoxie Jones is null and void since the wife alone could not convey the community property.

It is the position of Eudoxie Jones and the heirs of Tobe Jones that: (1) the purported act of sale from Tobe Jones to Martha Goldsmith was a simulated sale and was null and void since no consideration was paid; alternatively, (2) if the instrument dated November 6, 1926, transferred any title to the property it was a donation [430]*430and, accordingly, the property became the separate property of Martha Goldsmith, and she could and did convey the property to Eudoxie Jones by virtue of the instrument executed in June of 1938; also in the alternative, (3) that, even if the court should find the property belonged to the community of acquets and gains that existed between Martha Goldsmith and Jesse Goldsmith, any action by Jesse now to annul or set aside the deed or act of sale has prescribed under the provisions of Article 2221 of the Revised Civil Code; also in the alternative, (4) under the facts in the case, and having knowledge of the execution of the deed or act of sale to Eudoxie Jones, Jesse is now estopped from maintaining any action to set aside the deed from Martha Goldsmith to Eudoxie Jones or from asserting or claiming any interest in the property; and finally, (5) Eu-doxie Jones and the heirs of Tobe Jones plead the ten years acquisitive “good faith” possession provided for by Article 3479 of the LSA-Revised Civil Code.

The lower court found the transfer from Tobe Jones to his daughter was not a valid cash sale because no consideration was paid but concluded it was a valid donation; that as such the land was the separate and para-phernal property of Martha Goldsmith and therefore the subsequent transfer of the property by Martha to her mother was valid and binding. Having decided the case on this point the trial judge did not pass on the alternative pleas of prescription or es-toppel.

We think the lower court was in error when it concluded the cash consideration stated in the deed from Tobe Jones to Martha Goldsmith was not paid. In due deference to the esteemed trial judge, for whom this court has the utmost respect, we simply cannot find any evidence to substantiate his finding that at least a substantial portion of the $400 was not paid.

Jesse J. Goldsmith testified under cross-examination he paid Tobe Jones about $400 for this property at the time of the transaction ; that the money was paid in the pres-sence of the clerk of court and the clerk asked him to place the money on the table or some other type of platform; that the clerk counted the money out to Tobe Jones, and same was in denominations of $5’s, $10’s, $20’s, and $l’s.

There is no evidence in the record which contradicts the testimony of Jesse Goldsmith. Counsel for Eudoxie Jones and the heirs of Tobe Jones contend, and the trial court so held, that Martha Goldsmith testified there was no cash consideration paid for subject property. We have diligently searched this record and fail to find any such testimony by Martha Goldsmith. Her testimony under cross-examination was that she never paid Tobe Jones any money for the property. Nowhere in the record is there any testimony by Martha Goldsmith that Jesse J. Goldsmith did not pay any money to Tobe Jones for this property. Her testimony was always, throughout the trial, that she did not know what her husband did and that all she knew was she paid nothing for the property. Martha Goldsmith could not have known, of her own knowledge, whether her husband paid a cash consideration for the property for she was not present at the clerk’s office at the time the deed was actually signed.

Eudoxie Jones testified it was Tobe Jones’ intention to give the property in question to Martha Goldsmith, as it was said he had done for the other children. She admitted under cross-examination this was only her opinion. She did not know this of her own knowledge because she was not present at the time the deed was signed.

Immovable property acquired during the marriage is presumed to be community property (LSA-R.C.C. Art. 2402.) The burden was therefore upon Eudoxie Jones and the heirs of Tobe Jones to show the consideration stated in the authentic act of sale was not paid by either Martha or Jesse Goldsmith. We think they have signally failed in this respect. We conclude the deed from Tobe Jones to Martha Goldsmith, dated November 6, 1926, conveyed [431]*431the forty acres to the community of acquets and gains then existing between Martha and Jesse J. Goldsmith. Since Jesse Goldsmith did not join his wife in the conveyance to Eudoxie Jones on June 1, 1938, such transfer did not convey a good title. If Eudoxie Jones and the heirs of Tobe Jones are to prevail herein their title must rest upon one of their alternative pleas.

We next consider the plea of ten years acquisitive prescription under LSA-R.C.C. Art. 3479, which provides:

“To acquire the ownership of immov-ables by the species of prescription which forms the subject of the present paragraph, four conditions must concur:
“1. Good faith on the part of the possessor.
“2. A title which shall be legal, and sufficient to transfer the property.
“3. Possession during the time required by law, which possession must be accompanied by the incidents hereafter required.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Clifton v. Liner
552 So. 2d 407 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1989)
Allen v. Paggi Brothers Oil Company
244 So. 2d 116 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1971)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
160 So. 2d 428, 1964 La. App. LEXIS 1296, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/monsanto-chemical-co-v-jones-lactapp-1964.