Rhodes v. Broadway

121 So. 310, 10 La. App. 582, 1929 La. App. LEXIS 114
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 16, 1929
DocketNo. 2620
StatusPublished

This text of 121 So. 310 (Rhodes v. Broadway) 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
Rhodes v. Broadway, 121 So. 310, 10 La. App. 582, 1929 La. App. LEXIS 114 (La. Ct. App. 1929).

Opinions

REYNOLDS, J.

Defendant appeals from a judgment decreeing plaintiff to be the owner and entitled to the possession of two tracts of land situated in Natchitoches parish, La., described as follows, to-wit: (1) A certain strip of land extending along the east side of the N. E. 14 of the S. W. 14 of section 20, township 7 north, range 9 west, containing 2 48/100 acres; and, (2) a tract of land situated in the corner of the N. W. % of the N. W. 14 of the S. E. 14 of the same section, township, and range, containing 3 acres—and for $20, as rent of the land for the years 1924 and [583]*5831925, and for $50, as the value of a fence appropriated and destroyed by him, with legal interest on both amounts from judicial demand.

Plaintiff deraigns title to the land as follows:

To the first described tract:

United States to J. C. Monasco; patent, dated January 14, 1889; recorded in Book 146 at page 236 of the conveyance records of said parish; conveying S. W. % of section 20, township 7 north, range 9 west.

J. C. Monasco to J. E. Webb; sale, dated December 26, 1900; recorded in Book 104 at page 362 of said records; conveying S. W. %. of section 20, township 7 north, range 9 west.

J. E. Webb to Mrs. Susan Rhodes; sale, dated May 18, 1905; recorded in Book 116, page 157, of said records, conveying the S. W. % of section 20, township 7 north, range 9 west.

Mrs. Susan Rhodes to Lit Rhodes; sale, dated February 1, 1910, recorded February 15, 1910, in Book 128, at page 148, of said records, conveying the S. W. % of section 20, township 7 north, range 9 west.

And to the second described tract:

W. H. Matthews to Lit Rhodes; sale, dated February 11, 1919, recorded February 15, 1919, in Book 144, at page 242, of said records, conveying: “Three acres of land in the corner of the N. W. % of N. W. % of S. E. % sec. 20 T. 7 R. 9, together with all of the improvements thereon, situated in parish of Natchitoches.”

Defendant deraigned title as follows:

W. H. Matthews to J. E. Broadway; sale, dated May 21, 1923, recorded May 21, 1923, in Book 151, at page 354, of said records, conveying:

“The east half of the Southwest quarter of the Northwest quarter. of Section 20 Twp 7 N. R. 9 West, containing 20 acres, more or less, in Natchitoches parish, Louisiana.”

This deed, he alleges, inadvertently misdescribed the land bought and sold; that what he intended to buy and his vendor to sell was the corresponding part of the S. E. % of S. W. % of the same section, township, and range, and he called his vendor in warranty, and his vendor answered admitting that what he intended to sell and defendant to buy was the E. % of the S. E. % of S. ,W. % of section 20, township 7 north, range 9 west, and declared that he was willing to execute a new deed to defendant correcting the error.

And defendant, in his answer, asked that the deed from his vendor to him be reformed accordingly, and that he be decreed to be the owner and entitled to the possession of the E. % of the S. E. 14 of S. eW.'% of section 20, township 7 north, range 9 west, instead of the corresponding part of the S. W. % of N. W. % of the same section, township, and range.

The judgment rejects defendant’s demand against his warrantor.

As to the second described tract, defendant bases his title on a sale from W. H. Matthews to him dated May 21, 1923, recorded the same day in Book 151, at page 361, of said records, conveying:

“The west half of the Southeast quarter of Section 20 Township 7 North Range 9 West,, containing 80.00 acres, more or less; being the same property acquired by the vendor from J. E. Webb.”

X.

As to the 2 48/100 acres in the N. E. % of S. W. % of section 20, township 7 north, range 9 west, that £he judgment de[584]*584crees plaintiff to be the owner and entitled to the possession of, plaintiff shows an unbroken chain of title going back to the United States government, and, in addition thereto, was in actual possession of the land and had it under fence and in cultivation when evicted by defendant.

Defendant shows no title whatever to the land. Conceding that, as alleged by him, the sale from W. H. Matthews to him of May 21, 1923, inadvertently described other land than that bought and sold, it was neither alleged nor proved that what Matthews intended to sell and he to buy included the land awarded plaintiff.

The land described in the sale from Matthews to defendant is:

“The east half of the Southwest quarter of the Northwest quarter of Section 20 Twp 7 N. R. 9 West, containing 20 acres, more or less, in Natchitoches parish.”

In his answer and call in warranty he says the deed describes the land as:

“E. % of S. E. Vi of N. W. Vi Sec. 20 Tp. 7 N. R. 9 W.”

—an altogether different tract of lane! frpm that the deed does describe.

In his prayer he asks that the deed from Matthews to him be reformed so as to describe the E. % of S. E. % of S. W. Vi of section 20, township 7 north, range 9 west.

Conceding that what Matthews intended to sell and defendant to buy was the E. Vs of the S. E. Vi of the S. W. Vi of section 20, township 7 north, range 9 west, as the judgment appealed does not award plaintiff title or possession of any part of this land and. plaintiff has not appealed from the judgment nor answered the defendant’s appeal, we are unable to see wherein defendant was prejudiced by that part of the judgment decreeing plaintiff to he the owner of and entitled to the possession of the 2 48/100 acres in the N. B. Vi of S. W. Vi of section 20, township 7 north, range 9 west.

II.

As to the three acres in the corner of the N. W. Vi of N. W. % of S. E. Vi of sec. 20, township 7 north, range 9 west, both plaintiff and defendant deraign title from a common author, but that of plaintiff is prior both in date of execution and date of registry, and while that part of the description “three acres in the corner” is not as definite as it might have been, yet as plaintiff’s title was on record and the land under fence and under cultivation and in his actual, physical possession when defendant bought, we think the deed sufficiently identified the land covered by the deed to put defendant on notice that it belonged to plaintiff. Croom vs. Noel, 143 La. 189, 78 So. 442.

Plaintiff testified that he was in actual possession of the land even for a year and a half before he purchased, and had cleared it up and put a fence around it so as to have it under the same fence with his land situated in the S. E. Vi of section 20, township 7 north, range 9 west.

J. E. Webb, one of the vendor’s in defendant’s chain of title, testified:

“Q. Do you know the three acres in the N. W. Vi of N. W. Vi of S. E. %?
“A. I do.
“Q. What was the physical location of the three acres?
“A. Do you mean the boundary line of ■the three acres?
“Q. Was there any natural mark there?
“A.

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Related

Williams v. Kelso
7 La. 406 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1834)
Wilfert v. Duson
58 So. 1019 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1912)
Croom v. Noel
78 So. 442 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1918)
Wilson v. Marshall
10 La. Ann. 327 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1855)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
121 So. 310, 10 La. App. 582, 1929 La. App. LEXIS 114, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rhodes-v-broadway-lactapp-1929.