Tidewater Oil Co. v. Bihm

220 So. 2d 507, 1969 La. App. LEXIS 5288
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 19, 1969
DocketNo. 2609
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 220 So. 2d 507 (Tidewater Oil Co. v. Bihm) 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
Tidewater Oil Co. v. Bihm, 220 So. 2d 507, 1969 La. App. LEXIS 5288 (La. Ct. App. 1969).

Opinion

HOOD, Judge.

This is a concursus proceeding instituted by Tidewater Oil Company (now Getty Oil Company) against: Burice C. Bihm; Nath-alie Haas Hirsch, individually and as Trustee of the Emily H. Hart Trust; and Donald J. deBlanc, Trustee of the Johnice H. W. deBlanc Trust. The last two named defendants are the heirs or assignees of Dr. J. A. Haas, deceased, and they are referred to collectively herein as the “Haas Estate.”

The Tidewater Oil Company is the operator of a unit created by order of the Louisiana Department of Conservation in the Opelousas Field, in St. Landry Parish. As the operator of wells in that unit, Tidewater is receiving production which is attributable to an oil, gas or mineral lease executed by defendant Bihm and to a similar lease which was executed by the Haas Estate. A 3.05 acre tract of land, located in the above mentioned unit, was included in the descriptions contained in each of those leases, and thus it constituted a part of the leased premises in each lease contract. A dispute arose between Bihm and the Haas Estate as to the ownership of this 3.05 acre tract of land. Bihm claims that he is the owner of that tract, and that he thus is entitled to the royalties which have become due and payable out of production from that land. The Haas Estate, on the other hand, claims that it is the owner of the disputed tract, and that it is entitled to the royalties attributable to it.

In view of this dispute, plaintiff instituted this concursus proceeding to ascertain the ownership of the royalties which it has received from this 3.05 acre tract of land, and it has deposited the accrued royalties from that tract in the registry of the court.

Bihm filed an answer alleging that he is the owner of the land in dispute here and of the royalties which are due out of the production from that land. He contends primarily that he is the owner of that property by record title, and alternatively that he acquired the ownership of it by acquisitive prescription of ten and thirty years. The Haas Estate also answered, alleging that they are owners by record title of the tract in dispute and of the royalties [509]*509which are payable out of production from that land.

Judgment was rendered by the trial court in favor of the Haas Estate, decreeing that defendant (or group of defendants) to be the owner of the 3.05 acre tract, and directing the Clerk of Court to pay to the Haas Estate the sums deposited in concursus by plaintiff. Defendant Bihm has appealed.

The property which is in dispute here is situated in St. Landry Parish, and is described as follows:

“A tract of land containing 3.05 acres, located in Sections 10 and 11, Township 6 South, Range 5 East, St. Landry Parish, bounded, now or formerly, on the Northeast by Burice C. Bihm, on the Southeast by Joseph D. Richard or Nath-alie Haas Hirsch, et al., on the southwest by Bayou Marie Croquant, and on the Northwest by Angela Darby Maxey, et al.”

Bayou Marie Croquant runs in a northwest-southeasterly direction at the place where it borders on the above described property, and a gravel road runs parallel to and along the north, or northeast, side of that bayou. The property which is at issue here is located between the bayou and the above mentioned gravel road.

All parties to this suit acknowledge that defendant Bihm owns several acres of land located immediately northeast of and bordering on this gravel road. The issue presented here, however, is whether Bihm also owns the above described 3.05 acre tract, which is located southwest of the gravel road, between that road and the bayou. We will consider first the question of whether Bihm has fee title to that tract.

On September 9, 1918, Dr. J. A. Haas purchased from Louis Hebert three tracts of land, comprising a total of more than 160 arpents, in St. Landry Parish. All parties concede that the property acquired by Dr. Haas at that time included the 3.05 acre tract of land which is in dispute here. Each of these three tracts is described in that deed as being bounded on the southwest by Bayou Marie Croquant.

The heirs of Dr. Haas sold 80.89 arpents of the above mentioned property to Joseph W. Arnaud by deed dated October 15, 1924. The property conveyed by that deed was described generally as being “on Bayou Marie Croquant,” but it also was described more specifically by boundaries, and one of the boundaries was given as “on Southwest by public road on the banks of Bayou Marie Croquant, and said land having a front on said public road of 982 feet. * * *” About ten years later, on February 12, 1934, Joseph W. Arnaud re-conveyed or resold the same 80.89 arpent tract of land to the Haas Estate.

On July 20, 1936, the Haas Estate sold to Joseph W. Arnaud a 35 acre tract of land, which is described in the deed as follows:

“A certain tract or parcel of land, together with all the buildings and improvements thereon, situated in the Parish of St. Landry, La., on Bayou Marie Croquant, containing Thirty-five (35) acres, and being bounded as follows, to wit: On the Northwest by property of Leopold Valin, on the northeast by other property of the vendors herein, on the southeast by property of J. R. Johnson and on the southwest by public road on the banks of Bayou Marie Croquant. The northeast boundary line of the property herein sold is a line parallel to the southwest boundary line or said public road and at such a distance from, said southwestern boundary line or public road as to embrace an area of thirty-five (35) acres of land within the boundaries, above set forth.” (Emphasis added.)

Defendant Bihm purchased this entire 35 acre tract of land from Joseph W. Arnaud. The purchase, however, was accomplished in two separate transactions, one occurring in 1943 and the other in 1946. Bihm acquired ten acres of the above described 35 acre tract from Joseph W. Arnaud by deed [510]*510dated November 4, 1943, and he acquired the remaining 25 acres of that original 35 acre tract from Arnaud by deed dated January 15, 1946. The property conveyed by the 1943 deed was described in that instrument as follows:

“A certain tract of land, together with all the buildings and improvements thereon, situated in Section Ten (10), Township Six (6) South, Range Five (5) East, St. Landry Parish, La., containing ten (10) acres, more or less, and being one (1) acre wide by a depth extending back the full depth of the property of J. W. Arnaud from which this tract is sold, and bounded as follows: north and northwest by the line separating this property from that of Ambroise Valin, which line is in the center of the private lane between said properties, south and southeast by other property of Joseph W. Arnaud, from which the tract now being described is sold, east and northeast by the property owned jointly by Mrs. Jeanette Roos Haas and Mrs. Nathalie Haas Hirsch, West and southwest by the public road running along Bayou Barie [Pic] Croquant * * *” (Emphasis added.)

The 1946 deed from Arnaud to Bihm stipulated that the property conveyed was all of the property which Arnaud had acquired from the Haas heirs, less the ten acres which Arnaud had previously sold to Bihm. As in the 1943 deed, the property conveyed also was described by boundaries, and one of the boundaries given was “west and southwest by the public road running along Bayou Marie Croquant, also known as Little Bayou Teche.”

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Lamson Petroleum Corp. v. Hallwood Petroleum Inc.
824 So. 2d 1194 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2001)
Marceaux v. Hebert
233 So. 2d 685 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1970)
Tidewater Oil Co. v. Bihm
223 So. 2d 410 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1969)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
220 So. 2d 507, 1969 La. App. LEXIS 5288, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tidewater-oil-co-v-bihm-lactapp-1969.