Morein v. Acme Land Co.

166 So. 3d 1227, 15 La.App. 3 Cir. 135, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 1159, 2015 WL 3536713
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 3, 2015
DocketNo. 15-135
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 166 So. 3d 1227 (Morein v. Acme Land 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
Morein v. Acme Land Co., 166 So. 3d 1227, 15 La.App. 3 Cir. 135, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 1159, 2015 WL 3536713 (La. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

PETERS, J.

1!Acme Land Company, appeals the trial court’s grant of summary judgment recognizing Todd Morein and Sandra Stagg Morein as owners of a disputed tract of immovable property in Evangeline Parish, Louisiana, based on ten years acquisitive prescription. For the following reasons, we reverse the grant of summary judgment in favor of the Moreins, render judgment granting the motion for partial summary judgment in favor of Acme Land Company, vacate the judgment denying Acme Land Company a right of way across the Moreins’ immovable property, and remand this matter to the trial court for further proceedings.

DISCUSSION OF THE RECORD

This litigation involves a dispute over the title to twenty-one arpents (eighteen acres) in a twenty-seven arpent (twenty-three acre)1 tract of immovable property situated partially in Section 49, Township 3 South, Range 2 East, and partially in Section 104, Township 3 South, Range 3 East, Evangeline Parish, Louisiana. Acme Land Company (Acme) purchased the full twenty-seven arpents on January 11, 1910. The cash sale deed wherein Acme acquired ownership of the full twenty-seven arpents describes it and other immovable property purchased at the same time as follows (with the twenty-seven arpent tract being set out in italics):

A certain tract of prairie land situated at Grand Prairie in St. Landry Parish, containing thirty (30) arpents, bounded on the North by E.J. Conway, South by Public Road, East by E.J. Conway and West by Public Road, (a) Another tract of prairie land, situated as the above, and containing sixty-eight (68) arpents, bounded on the North by tract (c) hereinafter described, on the South by Edward Daire, on the East by tract (b) hereinafter described and on the West by John Elie.
l2(b) Another tract of prairie land containing twenty-seven (27) arpents, situated as the above, and bounded on the North and South by Jean Bte. F. Fontenot, on the East by Mde. Hildevert Deshotel, and on the West by tract (a) above described.
(c) A certain tract of woodland, situated as the above, containing twenty-five (25) arpents, bounded North by Onezime Brignac, East by Joseph David, South by tract (a) above described, and West by Samuel Haas.
(d) All the ginning machinery and out fit situated on the hereinabove described property. All the above being the same property acquired by H. Lichtenstein & Son by Sheriff Sale from Onezime Brig-nac, on Sept. 23, 1906, recorded in Conveyance Book 1-4, page 243, in Mort[1230]*1230gage Book 46, page 15 et seq. and in Sheriff Deed Book H. page 98, parish of St. Landry.

In 1910, the property purchased by Acme was located in what was then St. Landry Parish. Subsequently, that particular area was carved out with other immovable property to establish what is today Evangeline Parish, and the deed of acquisition is duly recorded in the conveyance records of Evangeline Parish.

From the time of its acquisition of the twenty-seven arpents, through the trial on the motions now before this court, Acme annually paid the property taxes but did little else with the immovable property until 1975, when it granted Louisiana Intrastate Gas Company (Louisiana Gas) a pipeline right-of-way across the tract. In 1990, Acme leased the twenty-seven ar-pents to Devco Exploration, Inc. for oil, gas, and mineral exploration; and between 1997 and 2011, entered into hunting leases covering the tract on at least five occasions. At some time during Acme’s ownership of the immovable property, someone constructed a fence traversing the tract from east to west along the northernmost portion of the tract. The twenty-one arpents at issue in this litigation lie to the south of this fence.

Todd Morein and Sandra Stagg Morein are husband and wife, who began possessing the twenty-one arpents in 1998, after they purchased a twenty-seven |sarpent tract of immovable property, shaped similarly to that owned by Acme and lying immediately to the south and east of the Acme property.2 The cash sale deed was recorded in the Evangeline Parish conveyance records on February 13, 1998, and describes the purchased property as follows: 3

A certain tract or parcel of land together with all buildings and improvements thereon and thereto appertaining, if any, containing twenty-seven (27) arpents, more or less, located in Section 49, T-3S, R-2-E and Section 104, T-3-S, R-3E, in the Tate Cove area, Parish of Evangeline, Louisiana, and being bounded, now, or formerly, on the north by Leonard Ardoin, South by J.E. Ortego and the estate of Sam Haas or assigns[,] East by J.E. Vidrine, and West by H. Lichtenstein and Sons and the estate of Sam Haas or assigns.
Being the same property acquired by Shirley Fontenot Soileau, et al from Stella Deshotel Fontenot by Cash Sale dated July 2, 1986, bearing Original Act No. 433608, recorded in Conveyance Book C-124 at page 342; and by Jack Henry Deshotels from Henry Clay Des-hotels, et al. by Donation dated February 25, 1994, recorded in Conveyance Book C-196 at page 379 bearing Original Act No. 479179; and by Judgment of Possession dated September 20, 1993 in the Succession of Hubert Lee Deshotels bearing Probate Docket No. 8434, on the Docket of the 13th Judicial District Court in and for Evangeline Parish, Louisiana and recorded in Conveyance Book C-192 at page 449, all records of Evangeline Parish, Louisiana.

[1231]*1231The Moreins acknowledge that their title does not encompass the twenty-one ar-pents at issue, but assert that Mr. Morein walked across both tracts before he purchased their twenty-seven arpents, and he assumed the fence line on the northern portion of the Acme property would be his northern property line if he made the purchase. Since 1998, they have exercised physical possession of the 14twenty-one ar-pents by constructing a small lake4 with a camp house on its northern-most shore, and by constructing a tower5 immediately above the boundary between the two tracts. Although they claim to have paid property taxes on the entire forty-eight arpents since 1998, the receipt from the Evangeline Parish Tax Assessor filed in support of this assertion reflect that they are assessed only with twenty-seven ar-pents.

Sometime in the summer of 2013, Acme became aware of the fact that the Moreins were possessing part of Acme’s twenty-seven arpents. On August 8, 2013, James R. Morton, Acme’s president and an attorney with the New Orleans, Louisiana firm of Taggart Morton, forwarded a letter to Mr. Morein, which read in pertinent part:6

We are the attorneys for Acme Land Company. Acme is the owner of the above captioned property and additional property that is contiguous to this tract to the north and east. You appear to own an adjacent 27 arpent tract, which is to the south and east of Acme’s property. It has recently come to Acme’s attention that you have constructed structures on the property owned by Acme. These structures include a cell tower, a building that may best be described as an outdoor kitchen, and a lake. None of these structures were constructed with Acme’s permission or with its knowledge.

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Related

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
166 So. 3d 1227, 15 La.App. 3 Cir. 135, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 1159, 2015 WL 3536713, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morein-v-acme-land-co-lactapp-2015.