Wright v. Holder

72 So. 2d 529, 1953 La. App. LEXIS 941
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 2, 1953
DocketNo. 8086
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 72 So. 2d 529 (Wright v. Holder) 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
Wright v. Holder, 72 So. 2d 529, 1953 La. App. LEXIS 941 (La. Ct. App. 1953).

Opinions

GLADNEY, Judge.

Mrs. Ruby Bumgardner Wright appeals from a judgment dismissing her suit wherein relief by injunction was sodght to prevent the appellee, J. H. Holder,' his agents and employees, from going upon her lands and disturbing her in the peaceful possession of her property and rejecting her demands for monetary damages arising from said disturbance.

The defendant has filed exceptions of inconsistency of ctemands, improper cumulation of actions, and an exception of no cause or right of action. These exceptions were overruled by the judge a quo and we think justly so. Objection is made that plaintiff may not claim monetary damages and injunctive relief in the same proceedings, and further, that by admitting her dispossession she cannot maintain this type óf suit.

The original petition sets out plaintiff is the owner in fee of certain described land .situated in East Carroll Parish, including Lot 7 of the NEj4 of SE^,.Section 9, Township 21 North, Range 11 East, the north line of which borders upon defendant’s property.

The prayer of plaintiff’s petition discloses it td be an action for preventing a disturbance of her peaceful" possession of certain property through injunctive relief. Such action, in our opinion, is authorized [532]*532by arts. 49, 50, 51, 52, 296 and 298, par. 5, of the Code of Practice.

Art. 49:

“Requisites of Possessory Action.— In order that the possessor of a real estate, or one who claims a right to which such estate may be subjected, may be emtitled to bring a possessory action, it is required:
“1. That he should have had the real and actual possession of the property at the instant when the disturbance occurred; a mere civil or legal possession is not sufficient;
“2. That he should have had that possession quietly and without interruption, by virtue of one of the titles prescribed in the forty-seventh article, for more than a year previous to his being disturbed; provided the possession of less than one year be sufficient, in case the possessor should have been evicted by force or by fraud;
■ “3. That he should have suffered a real disturbance either in fact or in law;
“4. That he should have brought his suit, at the latest, within the year in which the disturbance took place.
“When the possession of the plaintiff is accompanied with all those circumstances, it matters not whether he possesses in good or in bad faith, or even as a usurper, he shall nevertheless be entitled to his possessory action.”

Art. SO:

“The disturbance which gives rise to the possessory action may be of two kinds; disturbance in fact, or disturbance in law.”

Art. SI:

“Disturbance in fact occurs when one, by any act, prevents the possessor of a real estate, or of a right growing from such an estate, from enjoying the same quietly, or throws any obstacle in the way of that enjoyment, or evicts him through violence, or otherwise.”

Art. 52:

“Disturbance in law takes place when one, pretending to be the possessor of a real estate, says that he is disturbed by the real possessor, and brings against the latter the possessory action; for in such a case the true possessor is disturbed by this action, and may also bring a possessory action, in order to be quieted in his possession.”

Art. 296:

“Injunction, or prohibition, is a mandate obtained from a court, by a plaintiff, prohibiting one from doing an act which he contends may be injurious to him or impair a right which he claims.”

Art. 298:

“The injunction must be granted, and directed against the defendant himself, in the following cases: * *
“5. When the defendant disturbs the plaintiff in the actual and real pos-ession which such plaintiff has had for . more than one year, either of a real estate or of a real right, of which he claims either the ownership, the possession or the enjoyment.”

An instance in which an action of this nature was brought is to be found in Lee v. Harris, App.1946, 209 La. 730, 25 So.2d 418, 450. The cited case points out the type of possession required in order to sustain such an action:

“And ever since the decision of this court in the case of Ellis v. Prevost, 13 La. 230, decided in 1839, clarifying all of the contradictory provisions of our codes treating of possession, the character of possession necessary to maintain the possessory action has been considered settled and the jurisprudence of this state has been that once vested with possession, the intention to continue therein is presumed to persist, whether or not the possessor ac[533]*533tually occupies and detains the thing, until he is disturbed in fact or in law. See Articles 3442, 3443, 3444 of the [LSA-] Civil Code; Davis v. Dale, 2 La.Ann. 205; Taylor v. Telle, 45 La.Ann. 124, 12 So. 118; Handlin v. H. Weston Lumber Co., 47 La.Ann. 401, 16 So. 955; and Pittman v. Bourg, 179 La. 66, 153 So. 22.”

The essential factor is that plaintiff had the real and actual possession of the property at the instance when the .disturbance occurred, that it be shown she had that possession quietly and without interruption for more than a year previous to being disturbed, and has filed her suit within the year the disturbance took place. Articles 49 and 268 of the Code of Practice. The rule is now well recognized in a possessory action on account of the dispossession caused by the defendant, damages may be recovered in the action. DeGraauw v. Eleazar, La.App.1945, 24 So.2d 180, 183. We are of the opinion plaintiff has alleged a cause of action.

The judge a quo, in rejecting plaintiff’s demands for relief declared that plaintiff has failed to establish the line between plaintiff’s and defendant’s property with sufficient certainty. The court manifestly was convinced as to possession of a portion of the property in dispute but found the evidence unsatisfactory as to the exact line of demarcation between plaintiff’s and defendant’s property.

The record reflects that a persistent effort was made by defendant over the strenuous objections of counsel for plaintiff to establish through survey, a boundary line between the two properties. Plaintiff’s action was not concerned with the title question nor the legal limits of the respective properties. It was, however, concerned with the limits of the property to which plaintiff claimed possession, and and we see it, it was incumbent upon plaintiff to establish such a line. She is required to' show the limits of the property possessed by her and that her possession within these limits was disturbed .by defendant as prescribed by the articles of the Code of Practice above referred to.

Dr. P. J. Bumgardner, agent of plaintiff, testified that the line was obvious. It had been pointed out to him. It was there. He contended that he bought the property up to that line. C. L. Jones testified that the existing boundary line was “just what we call the old land line but everybody went by it.” Doc Smith testified the line claimed by Dr. Bumgardner was the one used by other persons.

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Bluebook (online)
72 So. 2d 529, 1953 La. App. LEXIS 941, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wright-v-holder-lactapp-1953.