Patin v. Dow Chemical Co.

546 So. 2d 1277, 1989 La. App. LEXIS 1278, 1989 WL 70414
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 20, 1989
DocketNo. CA 87 0739
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 546 So. 2d 1277 (Patin v. Dow Chemical 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
Patin v. Dow Chemical Co., 546 So. 2d 1277, 1989 La. App. LEXIS 1278, 1989 WL 70414 (La. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

COVINGTON, Chief Judge.

Plaintiffs appeal the judgment of the trial court directing a verdict in defendants’ favor, dismissing their suit against Dow Chemical Company and the State of Louisiana. Plaintiffs filed a petitory action, claiming ownership of two tracts of land situated in Iberville and St. Martin Parishes amounting to hundreds of acres by virtue of thirty years’ acquisitive prescription. Trial was had on the issue of ownership of only one of the tracts of land, situated in Iberville Parish. At the close of plaintiffs’ presentation, the trial judge granted a joint motion by Dow and the State1 for a directed verdict dismissing plaintiffs’ claims on the grounds that plaintiffs’ activities and occupation of the land did not constitute sufficient notice of accrual of plaintiffs’ [1278]*1278alleged 30 years of adverse possession to defendant Dow, the owner of record at the time. Because we find this decision was erroneous, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.

The land in question is located along the Whiskey Bay Pilot Channel in the Atchafa-laya River Basin, and is a combination of marsh, swamp, forest, and dredge spoil which resulted from the construction of the Pilot Channel by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers prior to 1936. The testimony of plaintiff Dewey Patín and his witnesses was unrebutted that in 1936 he moved a house by raft onto some high ground built up by the dredging near the mouth of a body of water called Pat’s Throat, where it empties from the east into the bottom of the Channel. Due to erosion and flooding in the area, the house was moved to three different locations through the years and even rebuilt, but was nevertheless maintained from 1936 through 1973 in the same general vicinity as the original site. The tract is a roughly wedge-shaped, three-sided area, bounded on the west-southwest by the Whiskey Bay Pilot Channel, on the north by 3-strand barbed wire fences which plaintiff and his family maintained, interspersed with slews and bayous, and on the east-southeast by two connecting bodies of water, Werner Lake and Pat’s Throat. The testimony established that plaintiff and his family resided there; raised cattle, vegetables, hogs, ducks, sheep, chickens, and a few horses; hunted, trapped, and fished commercially; maintained roadways, both vehicular and marine (“fish roads”); granted permission to others who wanted to hunt and fish in the area; and ran off trespassers. Plaintiff estimated that at one time, his herd of cattle numbered approximately 75 head. Mr. Patín granted permission, apparently back in 1944, for a pulpwood operation in exchange for the building of a boat ramp near his house and some firewood.

At some point in the 1950’s, Dow, the alleged record title holder at that time, attempted to get Mr. Patín to sign some papers; whether these were a lease is unclear. Mr. Patín refused, and although signs were placed by Dow on the property first in 1973 and later in 1978, these were taken down by the Patín family as soon as they found them up.

A pipeline was built at some point in the 1970’s to which plaintiff agreed in exchange for the pipeline being covered by a road so that he could reach his house by truck. Thereafter the road or right-of-way was maintained by Mr. Patín, his son, grandson, and Bobby Miller, who had built a hunting camp on the northern part of the property with plaintiff’s permission.

Mr. Patín testified that when he moved his house and family onto this property in 1936, it was because he knew no one else was claiming it since it had just been created by the dredging of the Channel. He never paid rent to anyone for his possession of the land, and particularly not to Dow or the lumber company that allegedly preceded Dow in the chain of title.

MOTION FOR DIRECTED VERDICT

Under LSA-C.C.P. art. 1810 a trial judge may grant a motion for a directed verdict. The article provides as follows:

A party who moves for a directed verdict at the close of the evidence offered by an opponent may offer evidence in the event that the motion is not granted, without having reserved the right so to do and to the same extent as if the motion had not been made. A motion for a directed verdict that is not granted is not a waiver of trial by jury even though all parties to the action have moved for directed verdicts. A motion for a directed verdict shall state the specific grounds therefor. The order of the court granting a motion for a directed verdict is effective without any assent of the jury.

We have agreed previously with our brethren in the Third Circuit that as the source of our article 1810 is the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the correct standard to apply in considering such a motion is the federal jurisprudential one, delineated in Boeing Company v. Shipman, 411 F.2d 365 (5th Cir.1969):

On motions for directed verdict and for judgment notwithstanding the verdict [1279]*1279the Court should consider all of the evidence-not just that evidence which supports the non-mover’s case-but in the light and with all reasonable inferences most favorable to the party opposed to the motion. If the facts and inferences point so strongly and overwhelmingly in favor of one party that the Court believes that reasonable men could not arrive at a contrary verdict, granting of the motions is proper. On the other hand, if there is substantial evidence opposed to the motions, that is, evidence of such quality and weight that reasonable and fair-minded men in the exercise of impartial judgment might reach different conclusions, the motions should be denied, and the case submitted to the jury.

See Tabor v. Doctors Memorial Hospital, 501 So.2d 243 (La.App. 1 Cir.1986).

We have thoroughly reviewed plaintiffs’ evidence in the light most favorable to plaintiffs, and drawn all reasonable inferences most favorable to them, making no evaluations of credibility since these have no place in a decision on a motion for directed verdict. Campbell v. Mouton, 373 So.2d 237 (La.App. 3 Cir.1979). We are convinced that reasonable men on the jury could have concluded otherwise on the issue of notice of plaintiffs’ possession to Dow.

As the plaintiffs were claiming only partial possession at time of trial in this petitory action, they had the burden of proving that they have acquired ownership by acquisitive prescription (LSA-C.C.P. art. 3653) through thirty years of possession (LSA-C.C. arts. 3475 and 3486). The type of possession required to commence the running of prescription is the same as that required to bring a possessory action. Norton v. Addie, 337 So.2d 432 (La.1976). Possession without title extends only to that which has been actually possessed. Although fences or walls were an early jurisprudential requirement to show possession, the necessity of a fence or wall is not justified or supported by the Civil Code. The corporeal possession necessary to support prescription is governed by the nature of the land and the use to which the land is put. Hill v. Richey, 221 La. 402, 59 So.2d 434 (1952). Unfenced swamp land used to graze cattle behind other cultivated land marked by drainage canals has been held to be sufficiently delineated and possessed for thirty year acquisitive prescription. Cheramie v. Cheramie, 391 So.2d 1126 (La.1980).

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Related

Willis v. Letulle
581 So. 2d 1048 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1991)
Patin v. Dow Chemical Co.
551 So. 2d 1338 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1989)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
546 So. 2d 1277, 1989 La. App. LEXIS 1278, 1989 WL 70414, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/patin-v-dow-chemical-co-lactapp-1989.