Guidry v. Ave Maria Rosary & Cenacle, Inc.

• Decision Date: 01 June 2022
• Docket Number: 21-507
• Citation: 341 So.3d 779
• Parties: Sheila Broussard GUIDRY v. AVE MARIA ROSARY & CENACLE, INC., et al
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

341 So.3d 779

Sheila Broussard GUIDRY

v.AVE MARIA ROSARY & CENACLE, INC., et al

21-507

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

June 1, 2022

John W. Milton, Karnina Dargin King, Ryan El. King, King Milton Law Group, LLC, 210 East Willow Street, P.O. Box 91362, Lafayette, Louisiana 70509, (337) 548-3030, COUNSEL FOR PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT: Sheila Broussard Guidry

Bruce Gaudin, Attorney at Law, 100 West Bellevue, Opelousas, Louisiana 70570, (337) 948-3818, COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANTS-APPELLEES: Ave Maria Rosary & Cenacle, Inc., et al

Court composed of Elizabeth A. Pickett, Billy Howard Ezell, and Jonathan W. Perry, Judges.

PERRY, Judge.

This case involves an action of Sheila Broussard Guidry ("Sheila") to recover a one-acre parcel of immovable property from Ave Maria Rosary & Cenacle, Inc. ("Ave Maria") as well as her petition for declaratory judgment as owner of the one-acre parcel.¹ Sheila appeals² the dismissal of her claims on peremptory exceptions of no cause of action, no right of action, and prescription, as well as the granting of an adverse motion for partial summary judgment.³ After conducting a de novo review, we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

This case focuses on the ownership of property. Thus, we will begin our factual discussion with a brief description of the property in question to aid our later examination of the issues presented in this appeal.

On January 15, 1953, Jeffrey L. David, Sr., ("Jeffrey") and his wife Viola Perrodin ("Viola") sold the following property to René Broussard ("René"), a married man whose wife was Mable Felix ("Mable"). The property is described as follows:

A certain tract or parcel of land, together with all buildings and improvements thereon, situated in the Plaisance Neighborhood, St. Landry Parish, La., containing twenty-five (25) acres, more or less, located in Section 63, T-5-S, R-3-E, La. Mer., and bounded now or formerly as follows: Northeast by Andrew H. David; Southeast and Southwest by Malvern Kidder; and Northwest by Public Road. Said tract being more particularly identified as Lot No. One (1) of a plat of Survey made by F. S. Robert, C.E., dated August 22, 1949, and recorded in Plat Book 3, page 33 of the records of the Recorder's Office of St. Landry Parish, La.

Being a part of the same property Jeffery L. David, Sr., acquired from Adolph Guillory on June 24, 1939, under original Act. No. 182959 recorded in Conv. Bk. X-6, page 63, of the records of the Recorder's Office of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana.

Subsequently, on September 7, 1968, René and Mable donated the following property to their son, Joseph R. Broussard ("Joseph"),⁴ to-wit:

One (1) acre of land situated in Section Sixty-Three, Township Five South, Range Three East (Sec. 63, T-5-S, R-3-E), St. Landry Parish, Louisiana.

This is part of the community of acquets and gains of [donors]. Said property measures One hundred Ninety-One and Ninety-One Hundredths (191.91) in width and Two Hundred Twenty-Seven (227') feet in length.

This property is bounded now or formerly as follows: On the North, South and East by the property of [donors] and the West by Louisiana Highway Number 103.

A plat of survey dated August 18, 1968, by Morgan Goudeau is attached to the donation.

Thereafter, on May 27, 1969, René and Mable executed a cash sale deed to Joseph and his wife Rose Kilchrist ("Rose") for the sum of $557.00. The cash sale deed identifies the same property described in the donation to Joseph dated September 7, 1968, and the same plat of survey attached to that earlier donation.⁵

Subsequently, on August 29, 1988, Mable, widow of René, executed a remunerative and onerous donation to Joseph of her one-half interest in the remaining twenty-four (24) acres she and her husband had acquired from Jeffrey and Viola on January 15, 1953. In making this donation, Mable specifically noted that she and René had earlier transferred a one-acre parcel to Joseph and Rose on May 27, 1969.

On March 24, 1995, a judgment of possession in the Successions of Mable and René ("the decedents") was entered recognizing Joseph and Joseph Cormier ("Cormier") as the sole heirs of René and Mable, entitling them to three-fourths and one-fourth interests, respectively, in the 25 acres⁶ the decedents had acquired from Jeffrey and Viola.

Shortly thereafter, on April 12, 1995, Cormier sold his one-fourth interest in the inherited property to Joseph. In that cash deed, it is stated that Joseph was acquiring Cormier's interest as his separate property. Joseph's wife, Rose, did not sign this cash deed.

The following month, on May 8, 1995, Joseph executed a donation inter vivos to his two daughters, Vanessa Ann Broussard Walker ("Vanessa") and Sheila, of 18 acres acquired by him and more fully described as the property earlier acquired by René and Mable from Jeffrey and Viola on January 15, 1953, as more fully described as Lot 1 of the plat of survey made by F. S. Roberts, C.E., dated August 22, 1949. Although the donation references an 18-acre tract, the plat of survey referenced in the donation states the tract encompasses 25 acres.⁷ Vanessa and Sheila appeared accepting the donation inter vivos as their separate property. Ultimately, through a series of notarial acts described below between January 31, 2002, and June 25, 2008, Vanessa divested herself of all ownership in the donated tract.

On November 1, 2000, approximately five and one-half years after their donation inter vivos to Vanessa and Sheila, Joseph and Rose donated a one-acre parcel of land to Ave Maria, a non-profit Louisiana corporation. The parcel is described as:

A certain tract or parcel of land, together with all buildings and improvements thereon, and all rights, ways, privileges, servitudes, appurtenances, and advantages thereunto belonging or in anywise appertaining, situated in Section 63, Township Five South (T-5-S), Range Three East (R-3-E), St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, containing ONE (1) ACRE, and more particularly identified as TRACT "A", as per Plat of Survey prepared by Nason A. LaJack, Jr., dated August 10, 2000, a copy being attached hereto. Said tract being more particularly described as commencing at the southwest corner of a large tract owned by Joseph R. Broussard containing 24 acres identified as Lot 1, thence in a northeasterly direction along La. Highway 103 Right of Way a distance of Two Hundred Seventy-seven and 46/100 (277.46') feet to the Point of Beginning, thence continuing in a Northeasterly direction along said right of way a distance of One Hundred Ninety-one and 97/100 (191.97') feet to a point, thence in an easterly or southeasterly direction a distance of Two Hundred Twenty-six and 92/100 (226.92') feet to a point, thence in a southerly or southwesterly direction a distance of One Hundred Ninety-one and 97/100 (191.97') feet to a point, thence in a westerly or northwesterly direction a distance of Two Hundred Twenty-six and 92/100 (226.92') feet to the point of beginning. Said tract being bounded, now or formerly, as follows: North, South and East by Joseph R. Broussard, and West by La. Highway 103.

Being a portion of the same property that Joseph B. Broussard acquired in part in the Estate of Renee Broussard and Mable Felix Broussard, Probate Docket No. 95P1017B, in particular in Judgment of Possession dated March 28, 1995, recorded under Original Act No. 790828, in Conveyance Book D-35, page 332; and that Joseph R. Broussard and Rose Kilchrist Broussard acquired from Joseph Cormier in Act of Cash Sale dated April 12, 1995, recorded under Original Act No. 791300, in Conveyance Book D-35, page 845, of the records of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana.

Further stipulated in the donation is a provision stating that if the property is "no longer used for religious purposes and this corporation is dissolved, the land shall revert to donors, JOSEPH BROUSSARD and ROSE KILCHRIST BROUSSARD, and/or their descendants in full ownership." Fay Perry Smithey and Joseph, respectively, the president and vice-president of Ave Maria, accepted this donation.

On January 31, 2002, Sheila and Vanessa executed an act in which they granted Joseph and Rose a usufruct over the tract donated to them on May 8, 1995. Joseph and Rose appeared in the document to accept the usufruct granted to them. On that same date, Vanessa donated her one-half interest in the home located on this same tract.

On May 10, 2004, Joseph and Rose filed an authentic act in which they revoked the donation⁸ they earlier made to Vanessa and Sheila on May 9, 1995. The next day, Joseph and Rose donated the same tract, but now described as containing twenty-four acres, to Vanessa and Sheila who appeared accepting the donation. The donation specified that the north twelve acres were Vanessa's, and the south twelve acres were Sheila's.

Later, on June 7, 2006, an act of correction was confected, stating that Vanessa was mistakenly included in the donation of May 10, 2004. Nevertheless, on July 10, 2006, Sheila donated a one-half interest, consisting of the north twelve acres, to Vanessa. Subsequently, on June 25, 2008, Sheila revoked the donation, and Vanessa specifically stated that she did "hereby transfer, assign, and donate unto [Sheila] all of her interest in and to the subject property, with full subrogation to all rights and actions against all previous owners."

On May 8, 2009, Joseph and Rose entered into an act of exchange with Ave Maria. It is alleged that this exchange was necessitated because Ave Maria erected constructions beyond the eastern boundary of the one-acre parcel donated to it in 2000. In the exchange, Joseph and Rose conveyed a strip of property of 0.114 acres which abutted the eastern side of the 1-acre tract they had earlier donated to Ave Maria. And, in return, Ave Maria conveyed to Joseph and Rose a strip of property of 0.114 acres which was within and along the southern side of the one-acre tract earlier donated to it. These properties were more fully described in...