Tucker v. Woodside

53 So. 2d 503, 1951 La. App. LEXIS 809
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 29, 1951
Docket3404
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 53 So. 2d 503 (Tucker v. Woodside) 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
Tucker v. Woodside, 53 So. 2d 503, 1951 La. App. LEXIS 809 (La. Ct. App. 1951).

Opinion

53 So.2d 503 (1951)

TUCKER et al.
v.
WOODSIDE.

No. 3404.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

June 29, 1951.

*504 Ashton L. Stewart, Baton Rouge, for appellant.

Jess Johnson, Baton Rouge, for appellee.

ELLIS, Judge.

On December 20, 1943, Mrs. Lillie B. Roberts purchased from Robert I. Woodside and Woodside Realty Co., Inc. and the defendant, Edward L. Woodside, a 550 acre farm, and in the act of sale there was a stipulation limiting and restricting the use of this land as follows: "And now the said purchaser hereby binds and obligates herself unto the said Edward L. Woodside, never to build or permit the building of any saloon, nightclub or tourist court upon the property herein conveyed."

The same deed contained a further stipulation that: "All the agreements and stipulations contained herein and all the obligations herein assumed, shall inure to the benefit of and be binding upon the heirs, successors and assigns of the respective parties hereto."

Mrs. Roberts sold this land with warranty of title to the plaintiff, Charles G. Phares, but without any restrictions, and Phares agreed to sell the land to the plaintiff, John W. Tucker. Because of the presence of the above quoted stipulations in the deed to Mrs. Roberts, Tucker would not accept title until a contract had been entered into by which it was agreed between Phares and Tucker that if necessary a suit would be filed in both their names against Edward L. Woodside for a judgment of Court annulling the restrictive covenant. Hence the present suit.

The main issue tendered in the lower court and in this court is the plea of estoppel set up by the defendant in its answer in the following language: "That the recordation of the deed from the Woodside Realty Company, Inc., and Robert I. Woodside to Mrs. Lillie S. Roberts at Conveyance Book 555, page 403 of the public conveyance records of this parish, and the recordation of the restrictive covenant quoted below in Article 11 of this answer, which covenant forms a part of said deed, served as public notice to any future purchaser or owner of the said property, and notice to any future successor to and/or assignee of the said Mrs. Lillie S. Roberts, and therefore, the said Charles G. Phares and the said John W. Tucker took title to and possession of the said property with actual and constructive notice of the said covenant and subject to the restrictions on the use of the said property as provided in said covenant. Therefore, the said Charles G. Phares and the said John W. Tucker are thereby estopped to deny that the stipulation contained in the deed to Mrs. Lillie S. Roberts and quoted in Article 11 below is a restrictive covenant running with the land and binding upon them, which estoppel respondent hereby specially pleads."

As stated by the learned judge of the District Court in a well-considered written opinion and also by the Supreme Court, 218 La. 708, 50 So.2d 814, when the matter was before it on the question of jurisdiction, the only issue presented was whether the quoted stipulation contained in the deed to Mrs. Roberts was a real or personal obligation. The District Court held that the stipulation was a real right and that the obligation of the vendee was a real obligation which was binding upon the plaintiffs herein and all subsequent owners of the land conveyed.

From this judgment the plaintiffs have appealed.

The following articles of the Revised Civil Code to be considered in arriving at a decision are:

Article 2012:

"Real obligations may be created in three ways:

"1. By the alienation of immovable property, subject to a real condition, either expressed or implied by law.

"2. By alienating to one person the immovable property, and to another, some real right to be exercised upon it.

"3. By the creation of a right of mortgage upon the immovable property.

"All these contracts give rise to obligations purely real on the part of those who acquire the land, under whatever species of title they possess it; they are not personally liable, but the real property is, and, by *505 abandoning it to the obligee, they relieve themselves from all responsibility.

"A sale subject to a rent charge, or to a right of redemption as consideration of the sale, are examples of the first kind of obligations; servitudes, the right of use and habitation and usufruct, are examples of the second; and the several kinds of mortgages, and the creation of a rent charge, of the third."

Article 2013:

"The real obligation, created by condition annexed to the alienation of real property, is susceptible of all the modifications that the will of the parties can suggest, except such as are forbidden by law. These conditions are either conditions precedent, which suspend the operation of the contract until they are performed, or subsequent and resolutory, which unless they are performed, annul the contract. These will be more fully defined in the section which treats of conditional obligations."

Article 2015:

"Not only servitudes, but leases and all other rights, which the owner had imposed on his land before the alienation of the soil, form real obligations which accompany it in the hands of the person who acquires it, although he have made no stipulation on the subject, or they be not mentioned in the act of transfer. The purchaser may, if the circumstances permit it, have relief against the seller for concealment of such charges; but the law establishes the rule that no one can transfer a greater right than he himself has, except where the neglect of some formality required by law has subjected the owner of the real incumbrance to a loss of his right, in favor of a creditor or bona fide purchaser."

If the illustrations given under Article 2012 are exclusive then the stipulation herein would not be a real obligation. However, the judge of the district court was of the opinion that they were not exclusive and not intended to be so when viewed in the light of Article 2013 and Article 2015 of the Revised Civil Code, supra. We agree with the lower court in this conclusion and believe that the jurisprudence will also sustain this view. For example, under Article 2015, "Not only servitudes, but leases and all other rights, which the owner had imposed on his land before the alienation of the soil, form real obligations which accompany it in the hands of the person who acquires it * * *." This very definitely sustains the position that the illustrations under Article 2012 are not exclusive. (Emphasis added.) We also see that by the express terms of Article 2013, "The real obligation, created by condition annexed to the alienation of real property, is susceptible of all the modifications that the will of the parties can suggest, except such as are forbidden by law. * * *"

Mrs. Roberts did not acquire by her deed the full, free and unrestricted use of the land, for she accepted title for herself, her heirs and assigns with the prohibition that the land could never be used "to build or permit the building of any saloon, nightclub or tourist court upon the property herein conveyed." Also, under the express terms of the deed, the restrictive covenant enured to the benefit of and was binding upon the heirs, successors and assigns of Mrs. Roberts. Under Article 2015 of the Civil Code, Mrs. Roberts could not transfer a greater right than she herself had acquired, and she had not acquired the right to use the property for a saloon, nightclub or tourist court. The restrictive stipulation was not forbidden by law and was binding upon Mrs. Roberts and all subsequent purchasers.

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Bluebook (online)
53 So. 2d 503, 1951 La. App. LEXIS 809, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tucker-v-woodside-lactapp-1951.