Wheat v. Bayer & Thayer Hardwood Co.

131 So. 307, 15 La. App. 306, 1930 La. App. LEXIS 692
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 1, 1930
DocketNo. 679
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 131 So. 307 (Wheat v. Bayer & Thayer Hardwood Co.) 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
Wheat v. Bayer & Thayer Hardwood Co., 131 So. 307, 15 La. App. 306, 1930 La. App. LEXIS 692 (La. Ct. App. 1930).

Opinion

LeBLANC, J.

Plaintiffs, W. H. Wheat, G. G. Wheat, Mrs. Viola Wheat Amacker, children of J. J. Wheat and of his wife, Susanah Holden, both deceased, and J. E. Wheat, the only heir of Pearce Wheat, a deceased brother of the plaintiffs, are suing defendant company for an undivided interest in a tract of land described in their petition, situated in the parish of Washington.

The land was originally acquired by Mrs. Susanah Wheat, mother of three of the plaintiffs, and grandmother of J. E. Wheat, from Solomon C. Smith in 1897. The sale was made to Mrs. Susanah Wheat, individually.

It is alleged by defendant that she had made the purchase with her paraphernal funds. The evidence shows that sheep which belonged to her husband, J. J. Wheat, had, during the existence of the community, been given for the land. Such being the proof, the acquisition was for the community. February, 1904, Mrs. Susanah Wheat sold the land to W. W. Seal and brothers for $1,500, $500 cash, and the balance on credit, which was paid by these vendees. Subsequently, in 1905, W. W. Seal and brothers sold to G. W. Seal, from whom defendant company derives its title, through the Cranor Lumber Company, the First National Bank of Gulfport, Miss., John H. Cassidy, and Daniel E. Sheridan.

As hereinabove stated, the land was purchased by Mrs. Susanah Wheat, became a community asset, and consequently one-half became the property of the children of J. J. Wheat, her husband. She sold the whole property to W. W. Seal and brothers after the death of her husband, and necessarily transferred to them only her undivided half therein, the ownership of the other half being vested in her children.

The defendant company, which traces its title to W. W. Seal and brothers, has no title to the undivided interest claimed by the plaintiffs, unless it be entitled thereto under the plea of prescription of ten years urged in bar of plaintiffs’ demand, and which is the only defense.

A portion of the property originally sold by Solomon S. Smith to Mrs. Susanah Wheat was hilly and the other was swamp land. Some of it was in cultivation, and most all under fencing. It was in that condition when sold by Mrs. Susanah Wheat to W. W. Seal and brothers, and from them to G. W. Seal. The Seals did not cultivate the land, but kept most of it under fencing, including the swampy portion for pasturage. This inclosing of the land and grazing of cattle thereon constituted actual corporeal taking of the property, and possession animo domini which forms the basis of the ten years’ prescription. Barrow v. Wilson, 38 La. Ann. 209; Chamberlain v. Abadie, 48 La. Ann. 587, 19 So. 574. The land was acquired in 1907 by the Cranor Lumber Company, in whose hands it was sold under sheriff’s sale in 1913 to the First National Bank of Gulfport, in whose ownership it remained until February 28, 1920, when the bank transferred it to John H. Cassidy and Daniel E. Sheridan, who in 1924 sold it to defendant company.

As hereinabove stated, it was shown that actual physical possession had been taken by W. W. Seal and brothers when they bought from Mrs. Susanah Wheat, and which possession continued when held by [308]*308G. W. Seal, their vendee. It was shown that timber was cut off the land by the Cranor Lumber Company and by the bank after its purchase by them. This cutting of -timber, though not possibly constituting by - itself actual possession necessary for the basis of the ten years’ prescription, evinced the intention of continuing the civil possession which had commenced by physical corporeal possession. This is all the law requires to support title by the prescription of ten years. Gilmore, v. Frost-Johnson Lumber Co., 139 La. 354, 71 So. 536.

The good faith of the Seals in acquiring the property is questioned by the plaintiffs. There is no contention that the title to the Seals is defective in point of form, and is" not translative of property. The complaint is grounded on circumstances or evidence dehors the instrument. The proof shows that the Seals consulted a Mr. Adams, justice of the peace, in reference to the title, in whom they apparently had entire confidence, before they bought. He approved the title and they were, no doubt, in' good faith when they purchased, and honestly believed they were getting title from the true owner. They cannot be classed as owners in bad faith, who, the law says, assume the quality of owners or masters well knowing they have no title, etc. Civ. Code, art. 3452. See Land Development Company of Louisiana v. Schulz, 169 La. page 1, 124 So. 125. We find that they were purchasers and possessors in good faith, and so were the Cranor Lumber Company and the bank. The Seals having purchased in February, 1914, ten years thereafter, the bank, under its possession in good faith for that period of time and through its authors, had, in February, 1914, acquired ownership by virtue of the prescription of ten years.

The record shows, however, that in November, 1915, suit was filed by Elisa Jane Baugham, Nettie Rester, and Ada Boone, three sisters of three of the plaintiffs herein, and aunts of J. E. Wheat, to recover against the Bank of Gulfport an undivided interest in the land in contest by virtue' of their right of inheritance from their deceased father J. J. Wheat. Service was accepted, and no further steps taken by the plaintiffs. In February, 1916, there appears a purported sale of these plaintiffs’ interest to- the bank.

At the time the suit was filed the bank could have successfully urged its owner ship under the prescription of ten years, which had accrued in February, 1914, as before stated. Its title to the property had been perfected by the prescription of ten years under Civil Code, articles 3478 and 3479, and it could not be divested thereof, save by its own act. " It did not have to give the plaintiffs in the suit filed in November, 1915, anything, if it did not choose to do so,- .and the fact that it did in February, 1916/give to each of these plaintiffs a sum of money for- an alleged transfer of their interests in the property which it already owned is a matter which need not be considered in determining the validity of its title. There is nothing which appears in the suit as an admission on its part of any weakness in the title. As a matter of fact, the only appearance it made was to accept service of citation through its counsel. As far as the record discloses, that suit is still pending on the plaintiffs’ petition. Nothing was done by the bank by which any other heirs of J. J. Wheat could have been misled into believing that they had no rights in the property. Had the claims of the plaintiffs in that suit been put at issue by the bank, and had they [309]*309been judicially declared entitled to the interests they were seeking to recover in the property, it might be that a decree of judgment in their favor would have enured to ■ the benefit of their co-heirs. But such a decree or judgment could not have been entered in view of the fact that the bank had already acquired a complete title to the property by prescription. Later on, in February, 1916, when the • bank saw fit to give those plaintiffs in that suit a sum of money for a purported transfer of an undivided interest which they did not own, it was a matter strictly between those parties, which concerned them alone,' and which certainly could not form the basis of any claim the heirs in the present suit might have.

The filing of that suit was not an interruption of prescription, because prescription had already accrued.

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Bluebook (online)
131 So. 307, 15 La. App. 306, 1930 La. App. LEXIS 692, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wheat-v-bayer-thayer-hardwood-co-lactapp-1930.