Norman v. Guarisco

116 So. 2d 872, 1959 La. App. LEXIS 1123
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 21, 1959
DocketNo. 4919
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 116 So. 2d 872 (Norman v. Guarisco) 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
Norman v. Guarisco, 116 So. 2d 872, 1959 La. App. LEXIS 1123 (La. Ct. App. 1959).

Opinion

ELLIS, Judge.

This is an action in jactitation or slander of title suit which was consolidated for the purpose of trial with the case of Morgan City Company, Inc. v. Guarisco, La.App., 116 So.2d 864.

To the plaintiffs’ petition the defendant filed an exception of improper cumulation of actions, on October 1, 1957. After being heard this exception was overruled by the District Court. On October 25, 1957 the defendant then filed an exception of possession in which he denied the plaintiffs as being in possession of the land disputed at the time of the filing of the cause of action, and, second, that the defendant and the Tiger Island Development Corporation of Gretna were in actual physical possession of the premises. Defendant also filed an answer at this time. The plaintiffs moved to dismiss the exception of want of possession on the ground that it came too late, that is, after joinder of issue, contending that the exception of improper cumulation of actions effected a joinder of issue which precluded the right of defendant to interpose any other dilatory exceptions.

In a well written opinion on the motion to dismiss the exception of want of possession, the District Judge maintained the motion and ordered the defendant’s exception of want of possession dismissed. The plaintiffs then filed a rule for the defendant to show cause why they should not be granted a judgment on the face of the pleadings, or, in the alternative, why defendant’s answer should not be treated as a claim of title, and ordered to stand as a petition in a petitory action. The District Judge with written reasons held that although defendant had waived his right to question plaintiffs’ possession by failing to file the exception of want of possession in limine litus or before issue was joined that the answer denied every allegation of plaintiffs’ petition including the allegation that the defendant had slandered plaintiffs’ title, and which the district judge correctly held raised the issue on one of the two cardinal points involved in the action, the other being possession, and therefore held that the plaintiff, before it could obtain judgment, had to show that the defendant had disturbed them in their possession and therefore refused the motion for judgment on the face of the pleadings. The alternative plea to have the defendant’s answer treated as a claim of title was also dismissed, with written reasons.

The case came up on the merits and in accordance with the prior ruling of the district judge, the only question at issue was the alleged disturbance or slander which the defendant had denied, and the plea of estoppel he had tendered in his answer. The lower court in its written reasons held that the defendant, while on' the witness stand, admitted the slander and that the defendant had not pointed out any facts or [874]*874law upon which he based his plea of es-toppel and the court stated it was unable to find anything in the record to justify the maintenance of such a plea and therefore it was overruled. The District Court further held that the only defense tendered by the defendant, viz., that the action should be dismissed because it was not brought within the year in which the disturbance took place, as was required by Article 49 of the Code of Practice and under the authority of Dixon v. American Liberty Oil Company, 226 La. 911, 77 So.2d 533, in which the Supreme Court held that the recordation of an instrument in the public records, based on a claim of title adverse to another, constituted a continuing slander of the other’s title, as long as the instrument remained of record, that the contention was not well taken, and awarded a judgment on the merits to the plaintiffs. The pertinent portion of the judgment and its wording has been quoted in the consolidated and companion case of Morgan City Company, Inc. v. Guarisco, 116 So.2d 864.

The defendant took a devolutive appeal which is now before this court. The plaintiffs have filed a motion to dismiss the pertinent part reading as follows:

“1. The above matter is a devolu-tive appeal from a judgment of the Sixteenth Judicial District Court for the Parish of St. Mary in favor of plaintiff-appellees in a slander of title suit, whereby defendant Phillip Guaris-co was ordered to either disclaim all right, title or interest in and into the slandered property or to institute a petitory action against plaintiff-appel-lees within 30 days from the date the judgment should become final, and in default of suit being instituted within such time that said defendant-appellant be forever thereafter barred and that plaintiff-appellees be thereupon empowered to cause the Clerk of Court to cancel and erase from the Conveyance Recoi'ds of St. Mary Parish the instruments slanderous of plaintiff-ap-pellees’ title.
“2. Plaintiff-appellees show that more than 30 days have elapsed from the date the said judgment has become final; that defendant-appellant, Phillip Guarisco, did not institute a petitory action within said period and the slanderous instruments have accordingly been canceled and erased from the Conveyance Records by the Clerk of Court in accordance with said judgment, insofar as the said instruments covered and affected the property of plaintiffs, as shown by a certified copy of judgment rendered on rule nisi directed to the Clerk of Court, dated September 8, 1959, attached hereto and made part hereof.
“3. Plaintiff-appellees accordingly show that this appeal should be dismissed for the reason that the judgment of the District Court has been fully executed and the issues presented by this appeal are now moot.
“Wherefore, plaintiff-appellees pray that after due proceedings had, the appeal taken herein by defendant-appellant, Phillip Guarisco, be dismissed and set aside.”

In view of the fact that the defendant did not file a petitory action within the decreed period of thirty days, the plaintiffs in accordance with that portion of the judgment which empowered them to “cause the Clerk of Court of the parish of St. Mary, to cancel and erase from the Conveyance records of said parish, the instruments * * * ” which slandered their title, obtained a rule nisi1 and cleared the public [875]*875records of the instruments slanderous of plaintiffs’ title.

Based upon the above facts counsel for plaintiffs in their brief take the position, to-wit:

“ * * * All issues in this slander of title suit, as in the Morgan City-Company, Inc., case, are now moot. Defendant’s devolutive appeal can avail him nothing.
“Again, we are favored with direct authority of our Supreme Court on this point. In the case of Collier v. Marks, 220 La. 521, 57 So.2d 43; the judgment ordered the defendant to disclaim title or to assert title by petitory action ‘within a delay of 60 days from the date of judgment.’ Defendant there took a suspensive appeal. The plaintiff-appellee moved to dismiss the appeal on the grounds that the 60 day period had expired without the institution of a petitory action, and that defendant-appellant’s rights were foreclosed. This argument was answered by the court as follows:
“ ‘In the absence of a suspensive appeal the 60 day period set in the judgment would have expired 60 days from the date of the judgment, but by taking a suspensive appeal appellants suspended the effect of the district court’s judgment until such time as a judgment of this court on appeal might become final.

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Bluebook (online)
116 So. 2d 872, 1959 La. App. LEXIS 1123, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/norman-v-guarisco-lactapp-1959.