Roy v. Bordelon

164 So. 3d 367, 14 La.App. 3 Cir. 976, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 848, 2015 WL 1948341
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 29, 2015
DocketNo. 14-976
StatusPublished

This text of 164 So. 3d 367 (Roy v. Bordelon) 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
Roy v. Bordelon, 164 So. 3d 367, 14 La.App. 3 Cir. 976, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 848, 2015 WL 1948341 (La. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinions

AMY, Judge.

_jjThe plaintiffs sold two parcels of property, reserving any and all hunting rights thereon. The current owners challenged the respective reservations, eventually resulting in the filing' of a criminal trespassing complaint against one of the plaintiffs by one of the defendants. The criminal proceedings were ultimately dismissed. The plaintiffs filed suit, seeking an injunction preventing the defendants from hunting on the property and also pursuing damages associated with the defendants’ use of the land as well as with the criminal complaint. The trial court issued the injunction and awarded damages in connection with the defendants’ issuance of hunting leases to others and for the unsuccessful criminal proceedings. The defendants appeal. For the following reasons, we reverse the trial court’s award for false arrest and affirm the trial court’s [370]*370ruling on the injunction and the damages award associated with the hunting leases.

Factual and Procedural Background

The dispute at issue involves two contiguous properties in Avoyelles Parish, one of which was previously owned by Kirby Roy, Jr. and his wife, Marjorie Roy, and the other property which was owned by Kirby Roy, III and his wife, Sheila Aymond Roy. In May 1980, the respective couples sold their property to John Douglas Bordelon and Ralph J. Bordelon. The Cash Deed for Mr. and Mrs. Kirby Roy, Jr.’s property indicated that they reserved the mineral rights on the property and that:

Vendors further ■ reserve any and all hunting rights on the property described on the attached Exhibit “A”. [Tracts 1-8]
TO HAVE AND TO HOLD said property unto said purchasers, their heirs and assigns forever.

|aThe Cash Deed for Mr. and Mrs. Kirby Roy, Ill’s property indicated that they also reserved the mineral rights on the property and that:

Vendors further reserve and retain any and all hunting rights on the property described on the attached Exhibit “A” [Tracts 1 and 2].
TO HAVE AND TO HOLD said property unto said purchasers, their heirs and assigns forever.

Thereafter, in 1990, the subject property was foreclosed upon and sold by Sheriffs Deed to The Farm Credit Bank of Texas. The Deed indicated that:

Tracts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 hereinabove described are subject also to a reservation of any and all hunting rights, reserved by Kirby A. Roy, Jr., et ux in sale to John Douglas Bordelon, et al.
[[Image here]]
Tracts 7 and 8 are further made subject to a reservation of any and all hunting rights reserved by Kirby A. Roy, III, et ux in that act of sale to John Douglas Bordelon, et al.

In turn, Nelson A. Bordelon, Wayne L. Gremillion, and Richard Tassin acquired the property by Special Warranty Deed in 1991. That conveyance stated that it was “made subject to all easements, right of ways, and prescriptive rights, whether of record or not, all presently recorded restrictions, reservations, convenants, conditions, oil and gas leases, mineral severances, and other instruments, other than liens or conveyances, that affect the property[.]” The Deed’s property description was annexed as Exhibit A, which reported that:

Tracts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 hereinabove described are subject also to a reservation of any and all hunting rights, reserved by Kirby A. Roy, Jr. et ux in sale to John Douglas Bordelon, et al.
[[Image here]]
Tract 7 and 8'are further made subject to a reservation of any and all hunting rights reserved by Kirby A. Roy, III, et ux in that act of sale to John Douglas Bordelon, et al.

|sMr. Bordelon, Mr. Gremillion, and Mr. Tassin later partitioned the property among themselves.

Throughout the period of transfers, the Roy family continued to hunt on the property. However, friction between the Roys and the new property owners developed as to whether the Roys retained the reservation of the hunting rights after the 1991 purchase by Mr. Bordelon, Mr. Gremillion, and Mr. Tassin. Mr. Gremillion filed an offense report with the Avoyelles Parish Sheriffs Department, reporting Kirby Roy, III for hunting on the property without permission. A misdemeanor summons was issued and, in turn, a warrant and affidavit for criminal trespass under La. [371]*371R.S. 14:63 was issued as a result. According to the record, the matter was dismissed after grand jury proceedings.

Kirby Roy, III1 (Mr. Roy) and his mother, Marjorie Roy,2 filed suit in April 2011, naming Mr. Bordelon, Mr. Gremillion, and Mr. Tassin as defendants. The Roys noted their reservation of any and all hunting rights and alleged that the defendants had leased the property for hunting purposes, thereby depriving them of their hunting privileges. The Roys sought the return of the revenue the defendants derived from the hunting leases and damages that Mr. Roy alleged were due for intentional infliction of emotional distress related to the criminal proceedings brought against him for criminal trespass. The Roys also sought an injunction prohibiting the defendants “their agents, guest[s], lessees or assigns from hunting on the property[.]”

|4The matter proceeded to trial, with the defendants questioning whether the reservation of hunting rights was heritable and, also, whether the Roys held any such hunting rights exclusively. The trial court ultimately ruled in favor of the Roys, determining that they “are entitled to and own all of the hunting rights” on the property. The trial court further granted an injunction in favor of the plaintiffs and prohibiting the defendants, “their agents, invitees or lessees from interfering with Plaintiffs hunting rights on the properties!.]” The trial court ordered that the defendants pay the plaintiffs $12,000 that the defendants earned from issuing hunting leases. Additionally, the trial court ordered Mr. Grem-illion to pay Mr. Roy $6,500 in damages for the criminal prosecution for criminal trespass. Thereafter, the trial court denied the defendants’ motion for new trial.

The defendants appeal, assigning the following as error:

1) The trial court erred as a matter of law and fact by allowing in evidence submitted by plaintiffs as related to the intentions of the parties to a property transaction in 1980.
2) The trial court erred as a matter of law and evidence by denying a new trial.
3) The trial court erred as a matter of law and fact by denying a new trial based on new evidence.
4) The trial court erred as a matter of law and fact by determining that a reservation of an individual “vendor’s” reservation of a right to hunt is heritable.
5) The trial court erred as a matter of law and fact by ruling that a “vendor” who reserved “hunting rights” has the right, and undefined “broad power,” to have or invite “invitees” upon property which belongs to appellants.
6) The trial court erred as a matter of law and fact by ruling that damages should be awarded for “false arrest” absent any evidence of an actual arrest.

|fiDiscussion

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Bluebook (online)
164 So. 3d 367, 14 La.App. 3 Cir. 976, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 848, 2015 WL 1948341, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/roy-v-bordelon-lactapp-2015.