Noel v. Jumonville Pipe & Machinery Co.

148 So. 2d 891, 1962 La. App. LEXIS 2713
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 29, 1962
DocketNo. 5586
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 148 So. 2d 891 (Noel v. Jumonville Pipe & Machinery 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
Noel v. Jumonville Pipe & Machinery Co., 148 So. 2d 891, 1962 La. App. LEXIS 2713 (La. Ct. App. 1962).

Opinions

LOTTINGER, Judge

This litigation originated in the form of a petitory action filed by the Jumonville Pipe and Machinery Company, Inc. against Frank S. Noel under Docket No. 8352 of the Court below. Subsequently, under Docket No. 8781 of the Lower Court, Frank S. Noel filed an action in jactitation against the Jumonville Pipe and Machinery Company, Inc. which the latter answered and converted to a petitory action. The actions were consolidated for trial following which judgment was rendered in favor of Frank S. Noel sustaining the plea of 30 year acquisitive prescription filed by him and ordering the cancellation of said timber sales and mineral leases executed by the Jumonville Pipe & Machinery Company, Inc. The latter has appealed.

The tract of land involved contains some 38.88 acres and is situated adjacent to what is known as the McManor Plantation in the Parish of Ascension owned by Frank S. Noel. In this opinion, the latter will be referred to as the plaintiff and the Jumon-ville Pipe and Machinery Company, Inc. as the defendant. Admittedly the defendant is the record title owner and the sole issue presented by the appeal is the validity of plaintiff’s plea of 30 year acquisitive prescription. In assailing the validity of the plea, the defendant-appellant contends, among others, that the record fails to show where the possession exercised by Noel and his authors was uninterrupted.

The record reflects that McManor plantation was subject to the following:

1. Acquisition by plaintiff’s father by act of sale in 1914
2. Sale by Mr. Noel to Dr. Isaac D. Benson in 1920
3. Sale by Dr. Benson to Mr. Noel in December, 1920
4. Judgment of possession in Succession of Robert E. Noel dated 1937
5. Donation of undivided interest by plaintiff’s mother to plaintiff and his brothers and sisters in 1945
6. Transfer by plaintiff’s mother and brothers and sisters to plaintiff of undivided interest in 1945
7. Sale by plaintiff of undivided interest to J. Meredith Noel in 1945
8. Sale by J. Meredith Noel of undivided 1/2 interest to plaintiff in 1953

The property which forms the subject matter of this lawsuit was not described in any of the transfers mentioned above. The Trial Judge held that because there was no privity of the contract between the plaintiff’s author and Dr. Benson, the former could not tack on to the latter possession but, in spite of this, held that the rule of privity was not applicable to the other six transactions.

[893]*893The rule with regard to privity with respect to 30 year acquisitive prescription has been set forth in the case of Sib-ley v. Pierson, 125 La. 478, 51 So. 502, as follows:

“There is no doubt that, where an heir (and the same may be said of a co-proprietor, other than an heir) has possessed the whole or part of an estate separately for 30 years, he may succcessfully oppose a suit for partition. Civ.Code, Arts. 1305, 3475. But he must have possessed uninterruptedly and in the same character during the entire period; and where a person, having acquired a particularly described tract of land, has taken possession of an adjoining tract, or, having acquired a specific interest in a particular tract, has taken possession of the whole, with a view of acquiring the additional tract, or interest, merely by holding possession of it under a claim of ownership, he does not convey such possession to a vendee, to whom he sells the tract or interest described, and such vendee cannot, for the purpose of aiding himself in the acquisition by prescription of property not included in his title, add his vendor’s possession to his own, there being no privity between him and his vendor in that respect.” (Emphasis supplied).

The latest expression that we can find on the subject is in the case of Stutson v. McGee, 241 La. 646, 130 So.2d 403, wherein the Supreme Court held as follows:

“Unquestionably a person may actually possess an immovable for 30 years without any title and, by that means, acquire ownership thereof. Revised Civil Code Articles 3499 and 3503. But if he had to add to his possession that of his vendor for effecting the accrual of such period he is governed by Revised Civil Code Articles 3493 and 3494, contained in that part of our Civil Code which deals with the ten year acquisitive prescription, and those provisions clearly disclose that they may be availed of only if the person seeking to ‘tack’ possessed under some kind of title. They read as follows:
“ ‘Art. 3493. The possessor is allowed to make the sum of possession necessary to prescribe, by adding to his. own possession that of his author, in whatever manner he may have succeeded him, whether by an universal or particular, a lucrative or an onerous-title. Art. 3494. By the word author in the preceding article, is understood the person from whom another derives-his right, whether by a universal title, as by succession, or by particular title, as by sale, by donation, or any other title, onerous or gratuitous.
“ ‘Thus, in every species of prescription, the possession of the heir may be joined to that of the ancestor, and the possession of the buyer to that of the seller.’ (Emphasis theirs).
******
“The defendant in this cause seeks-to distinguish the Sibley case, supra,, on the basis that the litigants therein were co-owners. However, the opinion of the court makes it clear that this' circumstance had no bearing on the-above mentioned holding respecting the question of prescription.
“The described holding in the Sibley case has been cited approvingly in subsequent decisions of this court, including Harang v. Golden Ranch Land & Drainage Company, 143 La. 982, 79 So. 768, Emmer v. Rector, 175 La. 82, 143 So. 11, and Buckley v. Catlett, 203. La. 54, 13 So.2d 384, 386.
“In the Buckley case, which involved facts similar to those found here, we said:
“ ‘Anent the pleaded acquisitive prescription of 30 years, it is not disputed by defendant that neither he nor any [894]*894one of his predecessors ever held possession of the contested part of Lot 4 for the required period of time. But he contends that by adding his possession to that of his authors, a prescriptive title has been acquired by him. On this subject, it is well established in ovvr jurisprudence that, for the purpose of claiming land under the prescription of 30 years, several successive possessors cannot be joined to show a continuous adverse possession, unless there is a privity of estate or contract between the occupants. The reason for this rule is that the several acts of adverse possession are construed as nothing more than a series of independent trespasses, and on the termination of each of those acts the possession returns by operation of law to the rightful owner of the immovable. * * *
“ ‘If it can be said that there was privity of estate between defendant and his wife, who formerly possessed the property, their combined possession was for less than 30 years.

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Related

Noel v. Jumonville Pipe and MacHinery Company
158 So. 2d 179 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1963)
Noel v. Jumonville Pipe & Machinery Co.
150 So. 2d 591 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1963)

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Bluebook (online)
148 So. 2d 891, 1962 La. App. LEXIS 2713, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/noel-v-jumonville-pipe-machinery-co-lactapp-1962.