Wischer v. Madison Realty Co.

146 So. 2d 819, 1962 La. App. LEXIS 2589
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 15, 1962
DocketNo. 252
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 146 So. 2d 819 (Wischer v. Madison Realty 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
Wischer v. Madison Realty Co., 146 So. 2d 819, 1962 La. App. LEXIS 2589 (La. Ct. App. 1962).

Opinion

JOHNSON, Judge.

The two plaintiffs filed this petitory action jointly claiming to be owners of 4,484 acres of land near Lafitte, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, by virtue of thirty years adverse possession. The Twenty-Fourth Judicial District Court rendered judgment in favor of defendants, decreeing R. C. Milling and the successors of Madison Realty Co., Inc., the lawful owners of said property. Plaintiffs have appealed.

Plaintiffs’ petition was filed October 13, 1953, alleging plaintiffs to be the owners of the following described property:

IN TOWNSHIP 16 SOUTH, RANGE 23 EAST:

Section 6 — All.

“ 26• — That portion lying west of Bayou Dupont

" 35 — Fr. NE14 of NW1/4; Fr. SW}4 of NE14; Fr. SE>4; NW¡4 of NW14; E14 of SW14; and SE14 of NW14.

“ 36 — Lot 8.

IN TOWNSPIIP 17 SOUTH, RANGE 23 EAST:

Section 1 — That part of Wy2 lying west of Dupre Cut

“ 2 — E^4 of WJ¿; and Ei/2.

11 — of NW14; SWJ4; and Ei/2.

12 — wy2.

13 — NWJ4 and Sy2.

14 — Ei^ of SE14; Wi/2 of SEJ4 ; W2 of SW!4; and N^.

“ 23 — NEi^.

24 — m/2.

IN TOWNSHIP 17 SOUTH, RANGE 24 EAST:

Section 18 — That part of Sy of N14, and and the Sy¡, lying west of Dupre Cut.

Section 19 — That part of Ni/£ lying west of Dupre Cut.

The petition further alleges that plaintiffs became the owners “ * * * by virtue of their continuous, uninterrupted, actual, physical, corporeal and adverse possession of the said property; ” that for a period in excess of thirty years plaintiffs trapped, improved, lived upon and possessed as owners the said property since prior to 1920.

The defendants first filed an exception of no right and an exception of no cause of action. Testimony was taken in support of [821]*821the exception of no right of action. The trial Court overruled the exception of no cause of action, maintained the exception of no right of action and dismissed the suit. On appeal to this Court the dismissal was affirmed. La.App., 83 So.2d 143. The Supreme Court reversed the dismissal and remanded the case to be tried on the merits. 231 La. 704, 92 So.2d 589.

The Madison Realty Co., Inc., was dissolved and by Court order dated December 21, 1956, James S. Webb, Clifford G. Webb, Mrs. Emma Gertrude Webb Smith, James S. Webb, Jr., and Mrs. Dorothy Haller were named defendants as successors to Madison Realty Co., Inc.

The defendants denied in their answer all of the allegations of the petition and alleged that at all times in question they and their predecessors have had full ownership and possession of all of the property described in plaintiffs’ petition; that their possession has been judicially confirmed and quieted by the judgment of October 13, 1952, (in suit No. 21 280), of said District Court, by which plaintiffs herein were enjoined from disturbing or interfering with possession of said property by these defendants, which judgment has the force of res judicata; that by authentic act dated March 19, 1940, plaintiff, Michel G. Wischer, and all other descendants of Benedict M. Wischer, entered into a compromise settlement with said defendants herein for a valuable consideration whereby the said Wischers conveyed all their interest in said property to defendants and warranted that George Per-tuit did not possess any of said property as owner; that said compromise has been of record for more than sixteen years and cannot now be collaterally attacked; that because of said settlement and conveyance to defendants, by all the heirs of Benedict M. Wischer, said Michel G. Wischer is now estopped from asserting any title to said property; that the said compromise and conveyance to the defendants had the force of res judicata; that plaintiff, George Per-tuit, by his suit No. 14 522 of the Twenty-Fourth Judicial District Court, against defendant, Madison Realty Co., Inc., claiming damages for alleged destruction of a house, judicially confessed and testified that he did not claim to possess any property as owner but that his possession was with the permission of Benedict M. Wischer, an ancestor of co-plaintiff, Michel G. Wischer, which made George Pertuit a precarious possessor and that such pleadings and testimony constituted judicial confessions; that said George Pertuit was thereby estopped from obtaining any recovery herein; that the said plaintiffs by their signed affidavits in that suit declared that they did not possess any of said property as owners. The said defendants then delineated their complete chain of title to all of the subject property from the United States to said defendants and alleged that for more than thirty years, in addition to their recorded fee title, they have occupied and used all of said property, all of which allegations of said answer they plead in bar of plaintiffs’ action.

The record in this case consists of twelve large volumes of a total of 2715 pages. There are one volume of pleadings, five volumes of testimony and six volumes of exhibits. Numerous witnesses testified on both sides. The property in question is described as strictly marsh land, entirely unusable for cultivation and suited only for fishing and trapping muskrats except for two narrow slightly elevated ridges running through a portion of the land on which there is some game, such as squirrels and rabbits. Plaintiffs claim to have exercised their alleged possession by living upon the land, raising a garden, chickens and ducks and trapping fur-bearing animals. Throughout that period the defendants have paid all of the taxes, occupied and conducted trapping operations by employees, leased to others numerous sites on which their tenants built camps along the bayous and ridges for hunting, fishing and trapping, granted mineral leases to the Texas Company which drilled some producing oil wells and which company constructed two pipe lines across the property.

[822]*822There have been several suits involving this property between the plaintiffs and defendants. In 1938 these plaintiffs were operating some trapping lines which conflicted with the area to which defendants had granted leases to others and because of Some interference by plaintiffs with defendants’ tenants and permittees, the defendants herein brought an injunction suit, No. 13 397, in February, 1939, against the plaintiffs herein and one Freddie Wischer, a brother of Michel G. Wischer, to enjoin them from such interference. The Court enjoined the plaintiffs herein from going upon and interfering with the possession of defendants and their tenants and employees, confirmed defendants’ title and quieted defendants in their possession of the property. As a result of that litigation, defendants herein (plaintiffs in that injunction suit) entered into a compromise settlement with Michel W. Wischer and all of the Wischer family, descendants of Benedict M. Wischer, who, originally, about the turn of the century, it is said, claimed to be the owner of the property, or at least a part of it. By this compromise the entire Wischer family executed a deed of conveyance and quitclaim to defendants herein, selling and conveying to defendants as owners any and all their right, title and interest in said property. The consideration was some cash and as a further consideration the defendants transferred to Michel G.

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Related

Motty v. Broussard
201 So. 2d 293 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1967)
Wischer v. Madison Realty Co.
149 So. 2d 764 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1963)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
146 So. 2d 819, 1962 La. App. LEXIS 2589, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wischer-v-madison-realty-co-lactapp-1962.