Ryan v. Lee

870 So. 2d 1137, 2004 WL 784536
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 14, 2004
Docket38,352-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 870 So. 2d 1137 (Ryan v. Lee) 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
Ryan v. Lee, 870 So. 2d 1137, 2004 WL 784536 (La. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

870 So.2d 1137 (2004)

Robert D. RYAN and Patricia Ann Adams Ryan, Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
Robert Glen LEE and Mary Alice Williams Lee, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 38,352-CA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

April 14, 2004.
Rehearing Denied May 6, 2004.

*1138 Gaharan & Wilson by Donald R. Wilson, Jena, for Appellants.

Brown, Erskine, Burkett & Breithaupt by Donald R. Brown, Monroe, for Appellees.

Before BROWN, MOORE, and LOLLEY, JJ.

LOLLEY, J.

In this possessory/boundary action, Robert and Patricia Ryan appeal a judgment by the Thirty-Seventh Judicial District Court for the Parish of Caldwell, State of Louisiana, partially in favor of Glenn and Mary Alice Lee. In response, the Lees answer the Ryans' appeal as to that portion of the judgment in favor of the Ryans. For the following reasons, we reverse in part and affirm in part.

FACTS

Substantive facts

The Ryans and Lees are adjacent land owners. Robert Ryan ("Bobby") purchased property in June 1970 from his father, Aaron "Bubba" Ryan. That property is described as: "the West thirty (30) acres of the Northwest Quarter of the Southwest Quarter of Section 16, Township 12 North, Range 5 East, Caldwell Parish, Louisiana" (emphasis added)(the "Ryan property"). Glenn acquired his property through a donation inter vivos from his parents, H.L. Lee and Georgia Lee, in 1993. That property is described as: "the Northwest Quarter of the Southeast Quarter of Section 17, Township 12 North, Range 5 East, Caldwell Parish, Louisiana," less and except 2.08 acres described in the act (emphasis added)(the "Lee property").

The Ryans have asserted that the common boundary between the Ryan and Lee properties is marked, in whole or in part, by an existing fence which was originally erected by Bubba Ryan and H.L. Lee, the parties' respective ancestors-in-title. Said fence was erected in approximately 1969 or 1970 on a line then identified by a surveyor as the section line between the Ryan property and the Lee property (the "old fence").[1]

Between 1993 and 1995, Bobby removed portions of the old fence, leaving 210 feet at the north end and 12 feet on the south end. Around 1995, Glenn extended the fence line on the north end by 120 feet (still along the old fence line) in order to make an enclosed area for horses on his side of the old fence, making the fenced portion at the north end approximately 330 feet. However, after a survey in the summer *1139 of 2001 by Charles David Parker ("Parker"), the Lees began building a fence on what the Parker survey showed the ideal boundary line to be between the two tracts of land, thus creating a strip of property which is now in dispute between the parties (the "disputed strip").

Procedural facts

In September 2001, the Ryans filed a request for injunction and possessory action against the Lees, claiming they had possessed this disputed strip within visible bounds and adversely for over one year. The Lees answered and reconvened for an action in boundary, which the trial court dismissed upon the Ryan's exception. Thus, the matter proceeded to hearing solely on the Ryans' request for injunctive relief and the right to possession of the disputed tract. After that hearing, a judgment was issued by the trial court in favor of the Ryans, recognizing their right of possession and enjoining the Lees from interfering with their possession. The ruling further ordered the Lees to remove the fence erected by them and to replace the old fence.

However, during these proceedings at the trial court, the Lees proceeded to file a writ application regarding the dismissal of their boundary action, which writ this court granted, ordering the reinstatement of the Lees' boundary action. That matter then proceeded to trial, with the Ryans' claiming in defense that they had possessed the disputed strip within visible bounds.[2]

After a trial of the Lees' boundary action, the trial court fixed the boundary line as indicated on Parker's survey, except for 330 feet on the north end and 12 feet on the south end, which portion of the property was awarded to the Ryans on their plea of thirty years' acquisitive prescription. The Ryans have appealed, urging that the trial court erred in not finding them in possession of the disputed strip and not upholding their plea of acquisitive prescription as to the disputed strip. The Lees have answered the appeal, arguing that the judgment was erroneous as to the award of 12 feet on the southern end of the boundary line and any more than 210 feet on the northern end of the boundary line.

DISCUSSION

On appeal, the Ryans raise several assignments of error in connection with the issue of the disputed strip and its possession and alleged ownership by acquisitive prescription.

Ten Years' Acquisitive Prescription

First, the Ryans argue that the trial court erred in not finding them the owners of the disputed strip by virtue of ten years' acquisitive prescription. Ownership and other real rights in immovables may be acquired by the prescription of ten years. La. C.C. art. 3473. By pleading prescription, the Ryans had the burden of proving the four requisites for ten years' acquisitive prescription: (1) possession for ten years; (2) good faith; (3) just title; and (4) a thing susceptible of acquisition by prescription. La. C.C. art. 3475; see also, Harry Bourg Corp. v. Punch, 94-1557 (La.App. 1st Cir.04/07/95), 653 So.2d 1322, 1324. In this instance, their claim fails under the element of "just title."

A title is just for purposes of acquisitive prescription when the deed is regular in form, is valid on its face, and would convey the property if executed by the owner. See La. C.C. art. 3483; see also, O'Brien v. Alcus Lands Partnership *1140 Trust, 577 So.2d 1094, 1097 (La.App. 1st Cir.1991). The paper title relied upon by one seeking to establish ten years' acquisitive prescription must sufficiently describe the property so as to transfer its ownership. One must be able to identify and locate the property from the description in the deed itself or from other evidence which appears in the public records. O'Brien, supra, citing, Pure Oil Co. v. Skinner, 284 So.2d 608, 611 (La.App. 2d Cir.1973), rev'd on other grounds, 294 So.2d 797 (La.1974). A deed describing a different tract of land from the one in controversy is not translative of the land in controversy, and therefore cannot serve as a basis for prescription. Albert Hanson Lumber Co. v. Angelloz, 118 La. 861, 43 So. 529 (La.1907). Here, it is evident that the deed transferring ownership to Ryan did not include the disputed strip, i.e., the property description contained therein clearly described property contained only in section 16, whereas the disputed strip lies entirely and actually in section 17. Because the disputed strip was not described in the deed transferring ownership to Bobby, he did not acquire just title to the disputed strip. Without the requisite element of "just title," the Ryans cannot show they acquired ownership of the disputed strip by ten years acquisitive prescription, making this assignment of error without merit.

Possession and Thirty Years' Acquisitive Prescription

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Bluebook (online)
870 So. 2d 1137, 2004 WL 784536, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ryan-v-lee-lactapp-2004.