Richardson & Bass v. Board of Levee Commissioners

91 So. 2d 353, 231 La. 299
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedDecember 17, 1956
Docket42057
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 91 So. 2d 353 (Richardson & Bass v. Board of Levee Commissioners) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Richardson & Bass v. Board of Levee Commissioners, 91 So. 2d 353, 231 La. 299 (La. 1956).

Opinions

HAWTHORNE, Justice.

This is a concursus proceeding instituted by Richardson & Bass (Louisiana Account), the operator of Cox Bay Unit No. 2, in which there are four producing wells designated as Wells Nos. 4-H, 6-H, 7-H, and 14-H. Richardson & Bass deposited in the registry of the court the proceeds of 55 per cent of the royalty oil and gas produced from Cox Bay Unit No. 2, alleged a dispute over ownership of land in this unit and conflicting claims to the royalties, and prayed that the claimants of this royalty oil and gas be cited to appear and assert their respective claims and that there be judgment distributing the sum deposited, as well as any future sums which might accrue and be deposited, to the owner or owners thereof.1

The claimants of the royalties are the Board of Levee Commissioners of the Orleans Levee District, the Plaquemines Parish Police Jury, which is the governing authority of the Grand Prairie Levee District, and Delta Development Company, Inc. Both the Orleans Levee Board and the Grand Prairie Levee District claim the ownership of land situated in the Parish of Plaquemines described as the SYz of Section 18, T. 18 S., R. 16 E., which forms part of Cox Bay Unit No. 2. Delta Development Company claims an interest in the royalties under a lease from Grand Prairie Levee District.

The operator, Richardson & Bass, holds two mineral leases both of which cover, among other lands, the property described above. One lease was executed by Grand Prairie and the other by Orleans. The Grand Prairie lease was executed on July 20, 1936, in favor of Delta Development Company, Inc., as lessee, and Grand Prairie Levee District reserved to itself a Ys royalty. Subsequently Delta Development Company executed a sublease in favor of Richardson & Bass in which Delta reserved to itself a %8 overriding royalty. The Orleans lease was executed in favor of Richardson & Bass on March 30, 1950, and the Orleans Levee Board reserved to itself a s/io royalty.

It will thus be seen that the royalties reserved in these acts of lease are:

(1) Ys t° Grand Prairie and Jis to Delta, or a total of 7Aa; and

[305]*305(2) s/ie, or %8, to Orleans.

The land here in controversy covered by these leases was pooled with property covered by a lease from the State of Louisiana, and by these pooling agreements Cox Bay Unit No. 2 was created. Under these agreements 45 per cent of the royalty oil and gas produced from the unit is payable to the State of Louisiana and is not involved in this suit. The royalties due from the other 55 per cent of the oil and gas produced from the unit are those which are in dispute in this concursus proceeding.

John E. Pottharst, Sr., as owner of $10,-000 of bonds issued by Grand Prairie Levee District, intervened in this concursus proceeding, espousing the claim of Grand Prairie Levee District to ownership of the land in question and opposing the claim of Orleans Levee Board. Pottharst contends that these bonds are secured by a mortgage on the disputed land, and that, if the claim of the Orleans Levee Board is recognized, the obligation of the contract under which these bonds were issued would be impaired.

The lower court in its judgment recognized Grand Prairie Levee District to be the last record owner of the property described, and recognized its lease to Delta Development Company, Inc., and Delta’s sublease to Richardson & Bass (Louisiana Account), the operator. Accordingly the court recognized Grand Prairie Levee District as being entitled to 1/& of 55 per cent of the minerals produced by the operator, Richardson & Bass (Louisiana Account), from the four producing wells in Cox Bay Unit No. 2, and recognized Delta Development Company as being entitled to J4s of 55 per cent of these minerals, and ordered the funds on deposit to be so distributed. The judgment of the lower court also maintained the intervention of John E. Pottharst, Sr., and rejected all claims of the Orleans Levee Board. From this judgment the Orleans Levee Board appealed.

Claimant Grand Prairie Levee District was created by Act 24 of 1898, which provided for the transfer to it of certain State-owned lands embraced within the area of the district thus created. Pursuant to this act the Register of the State Land Office conveyed to this levee district the SJ4 of Section 18, T. 18 S., R. 16 E., which, as we have stated, forms a part of Cox Bay Unit No. 2. This act of conveyance was dated January 18, 1905, and is recorded in Conveyance Book 39, Folio 105, of the records of Plaquemines Parish. Grand Prairie has never divested itself of title to this property and is, according to the conveyance records of Plaquemines Parish, the last record owner of it. This deed from the State is the basis of Grand Prairie’s claim to royalties from the producing wells in Cox Bay Unit No. 2.

The Orleans Levee Board claims these royalties, contending that it was vested [307]*307with title to the land by the provisions of certain acts of the Legislature.

By Act 99 of 1924 the Legislature, in order to protect the City of New Orleans from flood waters of the Mississippi River, authorized the Board of Commissioners of the Orleans Levee District to construct on the east banl? of the Mississippi River in Plaquemines Parish a spillway or waste weir, to be located and designed according to plans and specifications to be approved by the State Board of Engineers and the Mississippi River Commission. This act authorized the Orleans Levee Board to acquire by purchase, donation, or expropriation the lands necessary for the construction of such works, and required the Orleans Levee Board to pay for all lands privately owned “within the area covered by the proposed plan from the upper to the lower limits thereof and from the Mississippi River to the sea”. The act also provided that the Orleans Levee Board was to arrange with Grand Prairie for the acquisition of the bonded and other indebtedness of the Grand Prairie Levee District in the area to be affected by the proposed work.2

Pursuant to the authority of this act the Orleans Levee Board removed approximately 11 miles of the existing levee on the east bank of the Mississippi River in Plaquemines Parish and constructed what is termed a “back levee”, located 2,500 to 3,-000 feet back of the Mississippi River, from the lower line of the Bohemia Plantation to the upper line of the Cuselich Canal. Levees at the lower line of the Bohemia Plantation and at the upper line of Cuselich Canal were also constructed to connect the back levee with the existing levees along the east bank of the Mississippi. In the back levee there were certain openings through which in times of high water the waters from the Mississippi River flowed into a large canal, also constructed by the Orleans Levee Board, on the east or sea side of the back levee. After entering this canal the waters then flowed into bayous or streams and ultimately to the sea. This spillway is commonly known as the Bohemia Spillway.3

Following the adoption of Act 99 of 1924, which authorized the construction of the spillway, the Legislature adopted Act 246 of 1928 (R.S. 38:991 et seq.) which had for its purpose to amend and reenact Act 24 of 1898, the act creating the Grand Prairie Levee District. This amending act provided that all territory therein described, which was located in the Parish of Plaquemines on the east bank of the Mis[309]

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Bluebook (online)
91 So. 2d 353, 231 La. 299, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/richardson-bass-v-board-of-levee-commissioners-la-1956.