Sliman v. Joseph

118 So. 776, 9 La. App. 32, 1928 La. App. LEXIS 545
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 8, 1928
StatusPublished

This text of 118 So. 776 (Sliman v. Joseph) 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
Sliman v. Joseph, 118 So. 776, 9 La. App. 32, 1928 La. App. LEXIS 545 (La. Ct. App. 1928).

Opinion

ELLIOTT, J.

Alexander Sliman is the owner of a certain lot or parcel of ground acquired by him from J. F. Phillips; by Phillips from Mrs. H. B. Tolivar, and by Mrs. Tolivar from James E. and ,Martin S. Hatfield, described in the title from the Hatfields to Mrs. Tolivar as follows:

“A certain lot of ground situated at Palmetto in the Parish' of St. Landry, La., on the south side of the Texas and Pacific Railroad track, and bounded on ihe north by the T. & P. Railroad land; on the south by the land of vendor; on the east by the land of vendor, and on the west by the land of vendor; said lot measuring on the north line fronting railroad track one hundred feet, and on the south line one hundred feet; on the east and west lines one hundred and twenty feet respectively; said lot beginning at a point one hundred and sixty-four feet east of the store building occupied by M. L. Fabre, and owned by vendor.”

The title (provides that twenty-nine feet next to the railroad is to be left open for street purposes. This title bears date January 19, 1903, and was recorded January 19, 1903, in the conveyance records of the Parish of St. Landry.

The plaintiff alleges that the defendant Charles Joseph has, without any right or title thereto, taken possession of the' eastern twenty feet of said lot, erected improvements thereon, and withholds same from him. He prays that his ownership of said lot be recognized to the full extent of its limits; that he be placed in possession accordingly and that said Joseph be required to remove his improvements therefrom.

The defendant Joseph, for answer admits that he has possession of the locus in quo and denies that same is a part of plaintiff’s lot. He alleges that the ground in question is the western (portion of a lot which he acquired April 21, 1914, by title from Mrs, Sallie Hawkins, recorded April 21, 19Í4, in the conveyance records of the Parish of St. Landry.

He alleges that the land in question was enclosed to the knowledge of said Sliman at the time he acquired, same, pleads the prescription of ten years ac.quirendi causa in aid of his title, location, limits and possession, and called Mrs. Hawkins in warranty.

. Mrs. Hawkins appeared, and for answer joined defendant in his defensive averments. She also urges the prescription of ten years acquirendi causa. She denies that the ground in question is part of plaintiff’s lot and alleges that it is part of the lot which she acquired from Martin S. Hatfield under the following description:

“And the said lot Numbered Two, measuring one hundred feet on railroad right of way by ninety-four feet in depth, and bounded on the north by railroad right of way; on the east by street running north and south; on the south by lot of Mary Hatfield Stokes, Number Three, and on the west by lot sold to Tolivar, with all the buildings and improvements thereon.”

This title bears date March 3, 1904, and was recorded March 8, 1904, in the conveyance records of the Parish of St. Lan[34]*34dry. She alleges that said lot was enclosed when she acquired it and that she received and took possession accordingly. That her limits and possession covered and included the ground now claimed by plaintiff herein, and that she so owned and possessed with the full knowledge of the plaintiff, etc. She further alleges that during the month of November or December, 1901, or in the early part of 1902, the land owned by Martin S. and Mary Hatfield was surveyed and platted into streets, blocks and lots and designated as the “Hatfield Addition to the town of Palmetto,” which plat was filed and recorded as the law provides in the office of the Clerk of Court of the Parish of St. Landry.

The prescription of ten years filed by defendant and warrantor was sustained, and the plaintiff appealed.

The title from Mrs. Hawkins to Charles Joseph calls for:

“A certain piece and plat of ground situated and being in the town of Palmetto,- and being the west portion of lot known as the Hatfield lot, fronting on Railroad Avenue bounded north by- Railroad- Avenue south by Mrs. Stokes; west by Tolivar east by vendor,- and measuring forty feet front by the depth from the front of the Stokes lot.”

It is the western portion of-he lot which Mrs. Hawkins acquired from Martin S. Hatfield, as above said. The western boundary referred to in the title from Martin S. Hatfield to Mrs. Hawkins, and again in that from Mrs. Hawkins to Charles Joseph is the eastern boundary limits of the lot which now belongs to Sliman under said title from James E. and Martin S. Hatfield to Mrs. Tolivar.

The plaintiff, defendant and warrantor do not claim in their pleadings nor contentions any land beyond their title limits. It is true the defendant and warrantor alleges and claims that the parcel of land in question was an enclosed part of their lot and limits at the time they acquired same, and that they have each posessed same by enclosures in good faith as owners for more than ten years, and have in that way acquired a right to the location and limits fixed by their enclosures, but their claim is based on their alleged title limits and not beyond same. Therefore this action, though brought, defended and tried as a petitory action, is not in fact a conflict of titles, but of limits, and is in fact an action of boundary under the Civil Code, Art 823, etc. The limits in question have never been determined nor fixed by a boundary survey.

The prescription against the rectification of an erroneous survey provided for by the Civil Code, Art 853, is not invoked, and if it had been, would not be applicable.

Defendant’s title and that of the warrantor was acquired with reference to the eastern limits of plaintiff’s lot which is a point two hundred sixty-four feet 'east of the store building occupied by M. L. Eabre, and the eastern limits of plaintiff’s lot is the western, boundary of that of defendant. As the controversy is not in regard to titles but concerns only the location and limits of adjoining parcels of land, it follows that the prescription of ten years under C. C. Art. 3478 cannot be applied. The cases of Bourguignon vs. Boudousquie, 6 N. S. 697; Williams vs. Bernstein, 51 La. Ann. 115, 25 So. 411; Bendernable vs. Foret, 145 La. 115, 81 So. 869, cited in plaintiff’s brief, and Babineau vs. Cormier, 1 N. S. 456; Broussard vs. Duhamel, 3 N. S. 11, and Opdenweyer vs. Brown, 155 La. 617, 99 So. 482, are pertinent to the question at issue.

The question in the case is, whether the ground in controversy is in fact part of [35]*35the lot which Sliman acquired from Phillips by title deraigning from James E. and Martin S. Hatfield in January, 1903, or part of that which Mrs. Hawkins acquired from Martin S. Hatfield in March, 1904.

R. M. Hollier, surveyor, measured one hundred sixty-four feet east from the Eabre store building at which place plaintiff’s lot commences, and thence one hundred feet east, and the measurement proved that the ground in question is part of the lot which James E. and Martin S. Hatfield sold Mrs. Tolivar. The plaintiff has the eldest title and the first location, and his limits must have precedence; C. C. Art. 844, 845, 846.

The land of the plaintiff and of the defendant and warrantor is all part of the tract which James E. and Martin S. Hatfield acquired from Preval Rideau on October 29, 1901.

The allegations of Mrs.

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Related

Bendernagel v. Foret
81 So. 869 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1919)
Opdenwyer v. Brown
99 So. 482 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1924)
Williams v. Bernstein
25 So. 411 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1899)

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Bluebook (online)
118 So. 776, 9 La. App. 32, 1928 La. App. LEXIS 545, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sliman-v-joseph-lactapp-1928.