Lowry v. Atlantic Refining Company, Civ. A. No. 8975.
| Decision Date | 16 July 1964 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 8975. |
| Citation | 231 F. Supp. 775 |
| Parties | Ruffin T. LOWRY v. The ATLANTIC REFINING COMPANY. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Louisiana |
Davidson, Meaux, Onebane & Donahoe, J. J. Davidson, Jr., and Lawrence E. Donohoe, Jr., Lafayette, La., for plaintiff.
Liskow & Lewis, Richard E. Gerard, Lake Charles, La., and William M. Hall, Jr., Lafayette, La., for defendant.
Plaintiffs in this case are Ruffin T. Lowry, a resident of Lafayette, Louisiana, and his co-owners in a mineral lease affecting certain lands in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, owned by the family of George J. LeBourgeois, now deceased. Suit is against Atlantic Refining Company, which also claims leasehold rights on the property by virtue of a mineral lease held by it.
Originally filed in the Sixteenth Judicial District Court of Louisiana, the suit was removed by defendant. There is diversity of citizenship between the parties, and the property in question has an undisputed value in excess of $10,000.00, consequently the jurisdictional requirements are met.
One of the primary issues in the case involves the question of whether or not the heirs of Alcide A. LeBourgeois, a son of George J. LeBourgeois who predeceased his father, had, by their actions in dealing with their interests in the property, accepted the succession falling to them at his death purely, simply and unconditionally under the pertinent provisions of the Louisiana Civil Code. Because of the strong protestations of plaintiff in brief, defendant's motion for summary judgment was denied, and this issue was tried to a jury, on special verdicts pursuant to F.R.Civ.P., Rule 49(a), 28 U.S.C.A.
At the conclusion of the evidence, defendant moved for a directed verdict. This motion was denied by the Court, although it was felt to have considerable merit. The Court is of the opinion that in this situation the better practice is to allow the jury's findings to be made, since any error can be corrected on motion for judgment n. o. v. or for a new trial.
The jury found that the heirs had not accepted the succession of Alcide A. LeBourgeois. On the return of the special findings, the evidence was concluded, and the parties stipulated in open court that the delays for filing motions for judgment n. o. v. or for a new trial would not begin to run until after final judgment had been entered by the court.
The facts and the issues of law are complex, and exhaustive briefs were filed by both sides. Before the court had completed its study of the record and the law, defendant moved for judgment notwithstanding the special findings of the jury, in accord with its motion for directed verdict.
This motion was briefed and argued. We now proceed to a final decision of the issues.
From the stipulations of the parties and the testimony of the witnesses, the facts pertinent to this decision may be condensed as hereinafter set forth.
The lands involved consist of 160 acres in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, title to which was originally vested in undivided proportions as follows: Mrs. Aimee Coudroy LeBourgeois, the first wife of George J. LeBourgeois, one-fourth (¼th.), Mrs. Viola Segura Coudroy, one fourth (¼th.), and Mrs. Septime R. LeBourgeois, second wife of George J. LeBourgeois, one-half (½).
At the time of the execution of the lease to Atlantic on May 4, 1955, the thirteen lessors named therein claimed title to the entire tract of 160 acres through inheritance from the four co-owners above named, or their descendants. The chain of title and correct proportionate ownership, by stipulation of the parties, is set forth in detail in letter dated March 28, 1958 from Mrs. Margaret Wooster, a prominent title attorney of this State practicing in Franklin, Louisiana, referred to in the pretrial stipulation, paragraph 2.
There was, however, an adverse claim to the western 80 acres of the property by Alphonsine Decuir and others, this claim being finally settled as we will discuss hereafter in this opinion.
Alcide A. LeBourgeois, one of four children of the marriage between George J. LeBourgeois and Aimee Coudroy, died on April 20, 1955 shortly before confection of the Atlantic lease. He was married to Marcie Geiling, who survived him, and who was made his universal legatee by last will. There were no children by this marriage, and Marcie would have taken all of his estate but for the fact that his father, George J. LeBourgeois, survived him and was a forced heir in his succession, entitled as such to share in the separate estate of his son, which included Alcide's interest in the land.
The one-fourth interest primarily owned by Mrs. Viola Segura Coudroy is not involved in this controversy so that the lessors, Ruby Annie C. Koch, Odette Mary C. Mason, Paul Adolph Coudroy, Thelma Margaret Coudroy, and Pearl Viola Coudroy Meyer, named in the lease are not concerned in this discussion.
Hereinafter we refer to Marcie Geiling LeBourgeois and to George J. LeBourgeois individually, and to the remaining children of George: Alcee J. LeBourgeois, Ernestine L. Navarro, Inez L. Seidel, Rose Aimee Duplantis, Aimee B. Parro and Cecile B. Wilson, simply as the LeBourgeois heirs.
Two children of Aimee C. LeBourgeois survived her, and died without issue, their interests passing to their father and their siblings under the Louisiana law of descent and distribution. They were Angelle and Rachon (Rachelle) LeBourgeois, referred to in the stipulation of facts. Their successions were never opened and no formal judgment of possession was ever entered in the records of St. Mary Parish. This was not necessary as the successions were intestate and the legal heirs were immediately seized of their respective inheritances.
A third child, Georgette, married and subsequently died leaving two daughters, Aimee B. Parro and Cecile B. Wilson, issue of her marriage to Herbert Barras. Their interests were inherited from their mother.
At the time of Alcide's death and the execution of the Atlantic lease, therefore, George J. LeBourgeois and the LeBourgeois heirs owned undivided interests in the property acquired through inheritance from Aimee C. LeBourgeois and Septime R. LeBourgeois, independent of the interest left by Alcide, but subject to the dispute with the Decuirs affecting the western 80 acres of this tract of land.
It was brought out at the trial that Atlantic held a lease on the land which was executed in 1950 by the following lessors, each claiming the interest shown opposite their respective names:
George J. LeBourgeois ........ 3.515%
Septime R. LeBourgeois .......50.000%
Alcide A. LeBourgeois ........10.742%
Aimee B. Parro ................5.371%
Cecile B. Wilson ..............5.371%
Coudroy Heirs ................25.000%
Delay rentals paid under this lease were divided between the lessors in the proportions set forth. (As a matter of fact, however, these percentages were incorrect, but were accepted and generally believed to be correct by the lessors.)
Mrs. Septime R. LeBourgeois died after executing this lease, and Alcide A. LeBourgeois also died before expiration of the primary term of five years, which was about to expire at his death. Atlantic, then, was confronted with the necessity of obtaining a new lease from all of the owners and commenced negotiating with them almost immediately after Alcide's death.
As stated above, Alcide died on April 20, 1955. On April 25, Marcie Geiling petitioned the Seventeenth Judicial District Court of Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, for an order directing a search for a will. On April 27 the notary commissioned to make this search returned the will with his proces verbal to the Court, the will was duly probated, an inventory of Lafourche Parish property was ordered, and the Court further ordered that Marcie be appointed executrix as required by the testament and that letters issue to her accordingly, all on the same day. Marcie did not qualify as executrix, however, until September 6 when she took the oath, and letters did not issue to her until September 15, 1955.
We emphasize the lapse of time between the opening of Alcide's succession by his death on April 20, and the confirmation of Marcie Geiling as executrix on September 15, because it makes crystal clear the fact that when the lease to Atlantic was signed effective May 4, 1955, there was no legal representative of the estate of Alcide A. LeBourgeois, other than Marcie Geiling, in her capacity as widow and universal legatee, and George J. LeBourgeois, in his capacity as father and a forced heir of his deceased son.
It is further established without contradiction that the fly sheet appended to the lease of May 4, 1955, purporting to be a rental division order, was affixed to the lease after its execution by the lessors, by a representative of Atlantic. This rental division order shows that the delay rentals provided for in the lease, due May 4, 1956, and annually thereafter during the primary term, were to be paid, in respect to Alcide A. and George J. LeBourgeois' interests, in the following percentages:
Marcie G. LeBourgeois ......10.742%
George J. LeBourgeois .......3.515%
which indicates that Marcie Geiling was to be paid for the whole of Alcide's interest and George was to be paid for the same interest he had in the property before Alcide's death. The fact that the original cash bonus paid for the lease was divided according to the same percentages is also undisputed. After execution of the Atlantic lease no cash delay rentals were ever paid as production was obtained. Royalties accruing were paid in the same proportions as above set forth, as hereinafter discussed.
The Atlantic lease was duly recorded in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, on May 24, 1955, in Conveyance Book 9-B, page 389, under Entry No. 92333.
Marcie Geiling testified, and the record of the succession of Alcide LeBourgeois reflects, that her husband left no debts of consequence, and there were...
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