Sellers v. Barthelemy

520 So. 2d 1219, 1988 WL 9274
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 8, 1988
Docket87-CA-626
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 520 So. 2d 1219 (Sellers v. Barthelemy) 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
Sellers v. Barthelemy, 520 So. 2d 1219, 1988 WL 9274 (La. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

520 So.2d 1219 (1988)

Thomas B. SELLERS, III
v.
Kathy BARTHELEMY, Clerk of the Town of Grand Isle.

No. 87-CA-626.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

February 8, 1988.

*1220 Nel F. Vezina, Vezina and Associates, Gretna, for defendant-appellants Rolley J. Collins and China Town, Inc.

David Pick, Greenberg & Dallam, Gretna, for Plaintiff-Appellee, Thomas B. Sellers, III.

Before BOWES, GAUDIN and DUFRESNE, JJ.

BOWES, Judge.

Defendants Rolley J. Collins (Collins) and China Town, Inc. appeal a judgment of the district court fixing a boundary between the Collins property and the property of the plaintiff Thomas B. Sellers, III (Sellers). Sellers answered the appeal, asserting that damages and attorney's fees are due to him and were erroneously denied by the trial court. We revise the judgment of the district court to grant attorney's fees and, as revised, affirm it. Sellers also asks for damages for a frivolous appeal, which we reject.

The district judge, in very well written reasons for judgment, gave the procedural facts as follows, which we quote and adopt:

This case was tried before the court on March 14, 1985, March 14, 1986, and completed on May 9, 1986. This matter originally instituted by the plaintiff, Thomas B. Sellers, III, as a mandamus suit against the Clerk of the Town of Grand Isle, seeking to compel the Town of *1221 Grand Isle to issue to him a building permit for the construction of a fence. Plaintiff originally applied for and was granted a building permit for the construction of a fence and, in fact, built the fence. However, while the fence was being constructed, it was destroyed.
As a result, the Town of Grand Isle refused to reissue the building permit, due to an apparent conflict over the true location of the boundary line between the property owned by Mr. Sellers and the property owned by the defendants herein, Rolley J. Collins and China Town, Inc.
On January 9, 1985, the defendants herein, Rolley J. Collins and China Town, Inc., filed a Petition for Injunction herein, praying for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to issue against the defendant, Thomas B. Sellers, III, to prohibit him from constructing a fence along this disputed boundary line. A temporary restraining order was granted by the court on January 9, 1985, prohibiting the construction of the said fence.
Mr. Sellers filed an Answer and Reconventional Demand to this Petition for Injunction, praying for judicial determination of the boundary between the Sellers property and the Collins property. In addition, Mr. Sellers prayed for damages for the destruction of the fence, and for reasonable costs and attorney's fees for the dissolution of the temporary restraining order which had previously been issued in this matter.
Trial in this matter was had upon the Petition for Injunction and the Reconventional Demand on the dates set forth hereinabove.

It should additionally be noted that the temporary restraining order was extended seven times between January 16 and March 11, 1985.

Following trial, the court fixed the boundary between the Sellers and the Collins property as per the survey of Rolland P. Bernard, which it annexed to the judgment paraphed "Ne Varietur" for identification. Sellers was denied damages and attorney fees, but the Court ordered Collins and China Town, Inc. to pay court costs and expert fees.

On appeal, Collins generally avers that the trial court erred in finding sufficient proof of possession and title by Sellers; in turn, Sellers urges that the trial court erroneously denied damages and attorney fees for wrongful issuance of an injunction.

Appellant Collins has urged, as a separate specification of error, that he was unfairly prejudiced by the testimony and exhibits of two surveyors, Rolland Bernard and Sam Landry, claiming that such evidence was inadmissible pursuant to the statutory sanctions for nondiscovery, specifically Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Art. 1428.[1] Collins alleges that these witnesses were a complete surprise to him and "were not provided as required." The record discloses no attempted discovery by appellant, by interrogatories or otherwise, referred to in C.C.P. 1428. Appellant admitted at trial he had filed no such interrogatories. The duty to supplement a response is therefore inapplicable in the present case, as is the jurisprudential sanction of refusing to allow evidence offered without proper supplementation (see Files v. State, DOTD, 484 So.2d 746 [La.App. 4 Cir.1986]). Accordingly, we hold that the trial judge did not err in admitting the evidence of Messrs. Landry and Bernard, and, therefore, this assignment of error is without merit.

BOUNDARY

Turning to substantive issues, Louisiana Civil Code Articles 784-796 contain the *1222 law on boundaries. Article 792 states that the court shall fix the boundary according to the ownership of the parties; if neither party proves ownership, the boundary shall be fixed according to limits established by possession. Article 793 states that the boundary shall be fixed by titles when both parties rely on titles only. Article 794 provides for fixing a boundary by 30 years acquisitive prescription, rather than titles, when a party and his ancestors in title have possessed within visible bounds, without interruption, more land than his title conveys.

"Ownership referred to in C.C. Art. 792 must be proven by one who claims such ownership of an immovable, by proving that he has acquired from a previous owner, or by acquisitive prescription." C.C. Art. 531. In Whitley v. Texaco, Inc., 434 So.2d 96 (La.App. 5 Cir.1983), this court held that Article 531 has not changed the rule of Pure Oil Company v. Skinner, 294 So.2d 797 (La.1974); i.e., that such proof of ownership required the plaintiff "to show title good against the world without regard to the title of the party in possession." At trial, Sellers introduced certified copies of the acquisitions preceding and including his, on the property in question, all the way back to copies of the letters patent issued by the State of Louisiana to Sellers' predecessors in title. The trial court thoroughly discussed the evidence presented by Sellers as to the title boundary line and concluded:

Plaintiff introduced into evidence a certified copy of his acquisition, dated November 11, 1981. In that act, plaintiff acquired the property from his aunt, Emma Mae Sellers Clesi, who testified in court. Plaintiff also introduced into evidence certified copies of his chain of title going back to the original acquisition by plaintiff's father, Thomas B. Sellers, Jr. Mr. Thomas B. Sellers, Jr., acquired the entire three hundred and seventeen (317) foot tract by virtue of five (5) different acts of sale which took place between the period of time from March 28, 1934, through July 26, 1938. Mr. Sellers' father also testified in court as to his acquisition of this property, and as to the location and size of the property acquired by these acts of sale. The court further notes that all of the acts of sale by which Thomas B. Sellers, Jr., acquired the above-mentioned property, described the property in terms of a survey conducted by H.E. Landry, Surveyor, dated July, 1933, which appears in the record of this case as an exhibit.
The court notes that Mr. Sellers testified that a fence was constructed along the property line as shown on the 1933 Landry survey, some time prior to 1940.

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Bluebook (online)
520 So. 2d 1219, 1988 WL 9274, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sellers-v-barthelemy-lactapp-1988.