Pitre v. Peltier

122 So. 2d 867, 1960 La. App. LEXIS 819
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 22, 1960
DocketNo. 5017
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 122 So. 2d 867 (Pitre v. Peltier) 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
Pitre v. Peltier, 122 So. 2d 867, 1960 La. App. LEXIS 819 (La. Ct. App. 1960).

Opinion

LOTTINGER, Judge.

This is a suit, filed in the year 1951, to set aside a sheriff’s sale dated December 29, 1934 made in accordance with a judgment ordering a partition by licitation. A plea of ten years acquisitive prescription was sustained by the Lower Court and the matter is now before us on appeal taken by various of the plaintiffs.

While the record is voluminous, the facts and issues presented are relatively simple and may be fairly stated as follows:

The land in question (located in the Bayou L’Ourse area of Lafourche Parish) was acquired many years ago by Laurence Cheramie who was then married to Celeste Terrebonne. These parties died leaving a number of children, who, in turn, left a considerable number of heirs. One Frederick Scully, now deceased, an inhabitant of the area, purchased the undivided interests owned by some of these heirs and in the year 1928 brought suit for a partition by licitation. This proceeding resulted in a judicial sale at which the plaintiff (Scully) was the purchaser.

It later developed that Scully’s attorneys had failed to make all of the Cher-amie heirs parties to the proceedings. Various of these contacted the defendant Harvey Peltier, attorney, with a view towards setting aside the sale. It seems that John Pitre, one of the heirs, acted as spokesman for the family and endeavored to secure contingent fee contracts whereby Mr. Peltier, if successful in setting aside the partition, would receive an undivided one-half of the respective parties’ interests. Suit was filed (No. 6854 of the docket of the Lower Court) and, though vigorously defended, terminated in judgment favorable to Mr. Peltier and his clients. Subsequently, various of the heirs executed the agreed upon conveyance of one-half of their interest to Mr. Peltier. Some of the heirs, at the same time, conveyed their remaining one-half interest to Mr. Peltier and John Pitre attended to the execution of these instruments.

It seems that at this time the land was suitable only for trapping and, because of the multiplicity of co-owners, the operation of the lands for trapping was made difficult. Consequently, Mr. Peltier decided to institute a suit for a partition. The matter was turned over completely to a Mr. Hubert Lafargue, who was then a young attorney in the employ of Mr. Peltier. It appears that Lafargue made no title examination as such but consulted frequently and for a period of approximately a year with John Pitre and other members of the family, all in an attempt to accurately work out the family history of Laurence Cheramie. The conveyance and other public records were examined from time to time also. The suit was finally filed under No. 7230 of the docket of the Lower Court and all persons whose rights were then known were named .and cited. After due proceedings judgment was rendered in Mr. Peltier’s favor and the property sold at public auction as aforesaid on December 29, 1934. The [870]*870purchasers were Mr. Peltier and Mr. Scully, who purchased in undivided proportions and who subsequently entered into an amicable partition in kind.

The surface of the tract received by Mr. Scully is now owned by his two sons, William and Robert F. Scully. The minerals underlying same are owned by the latter together with the Superior Oil Company. Mr. Peltier subsequently conveyed :an undivided interest in the tract taken by him to John Pitre and later conveyed another undivided interest to the latter’s children. The property is subject to a mineral lease held by Humble Oil and Refining Company and Shell Oil Company, under which Wylmer I. Pool, Berkshire Oil Company and J. R. Franket own overriding royalties.

The record reflects that one of the children of Laurence and Celeste Cheramie was Romandy (or Romandie) Cheramie who married Louis Pitre. She died, leaving among her heirs a minor daughter named Florida Pitre. Subsequent to the death of Romandy, Louis Pitre remarried and, at the time of Florida’s death, two children, Noemie and Boita Pitre, had been born of the subsequent marriage. The latter, therefore, inherited a small interest in the property from Florida anil the basis of the attack on the partition proceedings is the failure to have joined or cited them or their heirs.

As will be pointed out in more detail later on in this opinion, the rights of these parties were not known at the time of the institution of the partition proceedings now-under attack. Ironically, in the middle of the trial, on cross-examination of plaintiffs’ witnesses, it was discovered that plaintiffs themselves had failed to cite certain of the heirs in this action and a seventh supplemental petition was filed citing them after a great deal of testimony had already been introduced into the record.

Additionally, it is alleged that the heir3 ■of one Haize (spelled various ways in the record) Cheramie should have been made parties to the partition suit (No. 7230), this averment resting on an interpretation of the description in a deed by Haize Cheramie to Theogene Cheramie dated March 8, 1926, it being plaintiffs’ position that the description covered only a portion of the property, thus leaving outstanding interests in the heirs of Haize Cheramie as to the portion of the property not covered who were not made parties to the suit. This point will be treated later in the discussion of good faith of Peltier and Scully.

The conditions necessary to perfect a ten year prescriptive title are set forth in LSA-C.C. Art. 3479 as follows:

“To acquire the ownership of im-movables 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.
“4. And finally an object which may be acquired by prescription.”

A legal title is termed in LSA-C.C. Art. 3483 as “just title” and the latter term is defined by LSA-C.C. Arts. 3484, 3485 and 3486 as follows:

“By the term just title, in cases of prescription, we do not understand that which the possessor may have derived from the true owner, for then no true prescription would be necessary, but a title which the possessor may have received from any person whom he honestly believed to be the real owner, provided the title were such as to transfer the ownership of the property.”
“And in this case, by the phrase transfer the ownership of the property, [871]*871we understand not such a title, as shall have really transferred the ownership of the property, but a title which by its nature, would have been sufficient to transfer the ownership of the property, provided it had been derived from the real owners, such as a sale, exchange, legacy or donation.
“Thus, prescription could not be acquired under a title resulting from a lease or loan, because these contracts do not transfer the ownership of the property.”
“It is necessary besides:
“1. That the title be valid in point of form; for if the possession commenced by a title void in that respect, it can not serve as a foundation for prescription.
“2.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
122 So. 2d 867, 1960 La. App. LEXIS 819, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pitre-v-peltier-lactapp-1960.