Camel v. Waller

• Decision Date: 23 May 1988
• Docket Number: No. 87,87
• Citation: Camel v. Waller, 526 So.2d 1086 (La. 1988)
• Parties: Elizabeth Langley CAMEL v. Ellen H. WALLER, Karen Jayne Barber and Vaughn Barber. C 2479.
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

Page 1086

526 So.2d 1086

Elizabeth Langley CAMEL v. Ellen H. WALLER, Karen Jayne Barber and Vaughn Barber.

No. 87 C 2479.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

May 23, 1988.

Larry Book, Baton Rouge, for applicant.

James Clary, Jr., Gary O'Neill, Baton Rouge, for respondents.

CALOGERO, Justice.

This is a suit for partition by licitation brought by a divorced wife against parties whose chain of title derives from her former husband. She claims to be an owner in indivision of two pieces of immovable property. The properties were purchased by her ex-husband during the marriage and during the existence of a community of acquets and gains. They were sold by him after the community was terminated by judgment of separation from bed and board. In both acquisitions and in the subsequent acts of sale of the two properties the husband declared that he was judicially separated from plaintiff. In fact he and plaintiff were not judicially separated at the time the property was acquired, although they were judicially separated by the time the property was sold.

The immediate parties to the suit (the plaintiff-wife and the current record owners of the property) agreed by stipulation on the issue to be decided in this case:

Does the original plaintiff, Elizabeth Langley Camel, have any ownership interest in either unit number 1 or unit number 4 of the French Quarter Court Condominiums and--if so--in what percentage for each unit?

We granted this writ to decide whether the courts below were correct in dismissing plaintiff's suit for partition by licitation of these two pieces of property.

Elizabeth Langley Camel and Patrick Camel were married in East Baton Rouge Parish on June 16, 1962. The couple voluntarily separated on August 16, 1975. On December 29, 1975, Patrick Camel purchased Condominium Unit Number 4 in French Quarter Court located in the City of Baton Rouge from JDA Investment Properties, Inc. for the sum of $25,000.00. In the act of sale he declared that he had been "married but once and then to Elizabeth Langley Camel, born Langley, from whom he is judicially separated", when in truth the couple were still married at the time. On that same day, Patrick Camel and one Ellen H. Waller purchased Condominium Unit Number 1 of French Quarter Court Condominiums for the sum of $26,000.00. In that act of sale, Patrick Camel similarly declared that he had been "married but once and then to Elizabeth Langley Camel, born Langley, from whom he is judicially separated."

On January 12, 1977, a little over a year after the purchases, Elizabeth Camel filed a petition for separation from bed and board on the grounds of living separate and apart. She asked that a temporary restraining order be granted prohibiting Patrick Camel from alienating, encumbering or disposing of any and all community property. The temporary restraining order was granted on January 25, 1977. A preliminary injunction to the same effect was issued on February 3, 1977. On August 22, 1977, the judgment of separation was granted by default. Neither the temporary restraining order, the preliminary injunction, nor the judgment of separation were ever recorded.

On March 20, 1978, some eight months after the judgment of separation had been granted, Patrick Camel and Ellen Waller sold Unit # 1 to William Walker Squyres for $43,000.00. In the act of sale, Patrick Camel accurately declared that he was then judicially separated from Elizabeth Camel.

On March 23, 1978, just three days after the sale of Unit # 1 to Squyres, Patrick Camel sold Unit # 4 to Ellen Waller for $33,088.82. In this act of sale, Patrick Camel again accurately declared that he was judicially separated from Elizabeth Camel. Ellen Waller remains as owner of Unit # 4.

On December 15, 1978 Elizabeth Camel was granted a judgment of divorce. That judgment was recorded on that same date in the Parish of East Baton Rouge.

Some eight months after the judgment of divorce was rendered, William Squyres sold Unit # 1 to Karen Jayne Barber and Vaughn Barber on August 23, 1979 for the sum of $56,000.

To date no judicial partition of the community which existed between Patrick and Elizabeth Camel has been effected, nor do the parties contend that there has been a voluntary partition which has settled the couple's rights in these two condominium units.

On December 7, 1983, Elizabeth Camel filed in East Baton Rouge Parish the lawsuit which is the subject of the district court judgment below and this review, a petition for partition by licitation. She alleged that she was the owner of an undivided one fourth interest in Unit # 1, in common with the record owners, Karen and Vaughn Barber. She also alleged that she was an undivided one half owner of Unit # 4, in common with the record owner, Ellen Waller.

Plaintiff filed a second amended and supplemental petition in which she alleged the bad faith of defendant Ellen Waller in that "she knew or should have known his (Patrick Camel's) interest in the property was formerly community property ..." and that plaintiff "owned an undivided interest in the units." These allegations of bad faith were later withdrawn by plaintiff in an additional stipulation of facts.

In the course of this proceeding Ellen Waller moved for summary judgment, as did Karen and Vaughn Barber. Both motions for summary judgment were denied by the trial judge.

The trial judge rendered judgment in response to the stipulated issue, finding that Elizabeth Camel "has no interest whatsoever in either Unit No. 1 or Unit No. 4 of the French Quarter Court Condominiums." Plaintiff's suit was dismissed with prejudice. On appeal the First Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court's judgment. 515 So.2d 611.

A married person's rights in property purchased by the other spouse during the existence of a community vest in that person by operation of law at the time of the acquisition of the property. Thigpen v. Thigpen, 231 La. 206, 91 So.2d 12 (1956); Phillips v. Phillips, 160 La. 813, 107 So. 584 (1926). Thus, plaintiff, although not a named vendee in her husband's acquisition, acquired an interest in the two condominiums not apparent on the public records at or after the time her husband purchased them.

On the other hand, defendants purchased property on the strength of a public record which was silent regarding plaintiff's interest. The record showed that at the time of the acquisition of the two units Patrick Camel was the vendee and he was judicially separated from Elizabeth Langley Camel. When Patrick Camel and Ellen Waller sold Unit # 1 to William Squyres (who later sold it to defendants Karen and Vaughn Barber) and when Patrick Camel sold Unit # 4 to defendant Ellen Waller, the record reflected the same state of affairs existing then.

Thus, this case pits a plaintiff relying on longstanding legal principles favoring rights in community property against defendants relying on the public records doctrine. The competition between these conflicting legal principles has been noted in various law review articles and cases. Shapiro v. Bryan, 132 So.2d 97 (La.App. 4th Cir.1961); Comment, Registration of Title to Immovables in Louisiana, 32 Tul.L.Rev. 677, 683-85 (1958); Note, Sales--Community Property--Recordation of Divorce--Articles 2266, 2402, 2406, Louisiana Civil Code of 1870, 24 Tul.L.Rev. 375, 377 (1950); Comment, Recordation Problems in Louisiana Mineral Matters, 23 Tul.L.Rev. 259, 264-65 (1948). See also, Jackson v. D'Aubin, 338 So.2d 575 (La.1976); Speights v. Nance, 142 So.2d 418 (La.App 2d Cir.1962); Redmann, The Louisiana Law of Recordation: Some Principles and Some Problems, 39 Tul.L.Rev. 491 (1965); The Work of the Louisiana Appellate Courts For the 1962-63 Term: Conventional Obligations, 24 La.L.Rev. 192, 196 (1964); Comment, "Tradition" In the Civil Law, 22 La.L.Rev. 418, 433-34 (1962); Note, Sales--Scope of the Public Records Doctrine--Succession Judgments, 12 La.L.Rev. 51 (1952).

The outset legal question posed by the parties is whether defendant purchasers may rely, to defeat plaintiff's community property rights and relative to the public records doctrine, upon the marital description given by Patrick Camel in the acts by which he acquired the property in dispute. As noted, he had stated that he was judicially separated.

The answer, of course, is that such purchaser cannot rely on that declaration of marital status so as to validate the purchaser's acquisition in preference to the interest of the ex-wife. Succession of James, 147 La. 944, 86 So. 403 (1920); Redmann, 39 Tul.L.Rev. at 500. See also, Gulf Union Mortgage Corp. v. Michael & Barber Construction Co., 251 So.2d 459 (La.App. 1st Cir.1971) ("The fact that an instrument is recorded does not have the effect of making all recitals contained therein true." Id. at 462).

The present statutes establishing the public records doctrine are Civil Code article 1839 and La.Rev.Stat. Secs. 9:2721 and 2756.

Art. 1839, entitled Transfer of immovable property provides:

A transfer of immovable property must be made by authentic act or act under private signature ...

An instrument involving immovable property shall have effect against third persons only from the time it is filed for registry in the parish where the property is located.

La.Civ.Code Ann. art. 1839 (West 1987) ¹

La.R.S. 9:2721 provides:

No sale, contract, counter letter, lien, mortgage, judgment, surface lease, oil, gas or mineral lease or other instrument of writing relating to or affecting immovable property shall be binding on or affect third persons or third parties unless and until filed for registry in the office of the parish recorder of the parish where the land or immovable is situated; and neither secret claims or equities nor other matters outside the public records shall be binding on or affect such third parties.

La.Rev.Stat.Ann. Sec. 9:2721 (West 1965).

La.R.S. 9:2756 provides:

All sales, contracts and judgments affecting immovable property, which...