Luttes v. State

Decision Date22 March 1956
Docket NumberNo. 3348,3348
Citation289 S.W.2d 357
PartiesJ. W. LUTTES et al., Appellants, v. STATE of Texas, Appellee.
CourtTexas Court of Appeals

Davenport & Ransome, Brownsville, W. G. Winters, Jr., R. H. Whilden, Houston, for appellants.

John Ben Shepperd, Atty. Gen., J., Arthur Sandlin, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

TIREY, Justice.

The action is one in trespass to try title (non jury). Appellants' statement of the nature and result of the suit is substantially as follows: F. W. Luttes and the Shell Oil Company brought this suit against the State of Texas by authority of resolution passed by the 53rd Legislature, and the action involves title to 4,086.61 acres claimed by plaintiffs as an accretion to the estward face of Potrero de Buena Vista Grant, which bounds on Laguna Madre in Cameron County, Texas. It is undisputed and the trial court found:

1. The Potrero de Buena Vista Grant was originally granted by the State of Tamaulipas, Republic of Mexico, a former sovereign, to Manuel de la Graza Sosa by proceedings begun September 1, 1827, and completed January 24, 1829, through an act of Judicial Possession under the laws then in effect.

2. At the time of the grant by the State of Tamaulipas to Manuel de la Garza Sosa, the Potrero de Buena Vista was a riparian grant fronting on the Laguna Madre.

3. The estern boundary of the Potrero de Buena Vista Grant at the time it was titled to Manuel de la Garza Sosa was Laguna Madre.

4. The grant by the State of Tamaulipas, Republic of Mexico, to Manuel de la Garza Sosa was duly recognized and confirmed by an act of the Legislature of Texas approved February 10, 1852, entitled 'An Act of Relinquish the Right of the State to Certain Lands Therein Named,' being Confirmation No. 38 in said act to Manuel de la Garza Sosa of 'six and a fraction leagues,' called 'Buena Vista.'

5. Through mesne conveyances and a regular chain of title from and under Manuel de la Garza Sosa, J. W. Luttes holds title to all of the Potrero de Buena Vista Grant which is material to a determination of the issues in this suit, subject only to an oil and gas lease in favor of Shell Oil Company.

6. Shell Oil Company holds an oil and gas lease from J. W. Luttes covering all of the Potrero de Buena Vista Grant which is material to a determination of the issues in this suit.

The trial court also found that in 1829 the waters of the Laguna Madre completely covered the lands in controversy at the time of the original Mexican grant involved in this suit, or at least if not completely covered at all times, such area was a part of the bed or shores of the Laguna Madre. The trial court likewise found that the area involved is a low-lying, flat area. It is a little above actual sea level and, while not circular in form, it has a flat, saucer-like topography, with the outer edges being somewhat higher than the inner portions, so that the general slope of the over-all area is from the outer edges toward the center. There are, however, several inner saucerlike depressions, located generally near the center of the area and running generally from southeast to northwest. The elevations over said mud-flats area, generally, runs from .25 feet above sea level to .80 feet above sea level, but with a few places reaching an elevation of 1.0 feet at the southeastern and northeastern permimeter, toward and near North Three Islands. West of the flats area, which is bounded on the west by the toe of the bluff of the mainland, lies the mainland bluff proper, which bluff, between the line thereof and the toe thereof, is at places an abrupt drop of several feet, while along such bluff line itself running generally from one foot above sea level at some places to something over five feet above sea level at other places. These elevations, as well as the line of the toe of the bluff and that of the bluff line, are reflected on Plaintiffs' Exhibits Nos. 4 and 5, said Exhibit No. 4 reflecting the elevation contour lines of the flats area and the line of the toe of the bluff, while said Exhibit No. 5 reflects points of elevation over the flats area as well as up to the bluff line but without contour lines appearing thereon, and that the area involved in this action comprises some 4,086.61 acres, and consists of what has been referred to in the record as 'mud-flats,' lying to the east of the toe of the bluff on the Texas mainland and extending out into the Laguna Madre, and reflected pictorially as to shape, and by metes and bounds description, on Plaintiffs' Exhibit No. 4, which exhibit likewise reflects some of the surrounding territory, including Yucca Island and North Three Island. The portion of the area near Yucca Island between the red lines drawn near such Island and said Island itself, and the portion of such area near North Three Island east of the red line drawn west of said Island, all on said Plaintiffs' Exhibit No. 4, has in effect been disclaimed by the plaintiffs, through their motion for judgment and through their testimony offered on the trial to the effect that such portions of said area represented accretions to Yucca Island and to North Three Island, respectively, and did not represent accretions to the mainland.

Trial before the court resulted in a judgment that plaintiffs take nothing and that defendants recover from plaintiffs the area in question; from which judgment plaintiffs, J. W. Luttes and Shell Oil Company, have perfected their appeal.

The trial court filed Findings of Fact at plaintiffs' request, to many of which plaintiffs excepted, and requested amended and additional findings; and the court, responding to such exceptions and requests, made some minor corrections and a few additional findings.

In the last paragraph of appellants' statement we find the following view: 'It is apparent from the record that the trial judge began this case with a fixed conviction that the line of demarcation between fast land and seashore 'under the civil law is the highest tide in winter,' based on dictum in some of the older Texas cases, which has been considered and twice overruled by this Honorable Court; (State .v Balli (Tex.Civ.App.), 173 S.W.2d 522; Giles v. Ponder (Tex.Civ.App.), 275 S.W.2d 509) and at least twice by our Supreme Court (State v. Balli, 144 Tex. 195, 190 S.W.2d 71; Giles v. Basore, 278 S.W.2d 830). That conviction remains implicit in the trial court's Conclusions of Law and Findings of Fact, which are best considered as an able argument in support of the validity of that dictum as applied to the special facts of this case.'

We also quote in full what appellants designate as a preliminary statement:

'The crux of this action is the location of the shore line of Laguna Madre along the Buena Vista Grant.

'On this question, appellants contend: First, the decision of the Supreme Court of Texas in State v. Balli, 144 Tex. 195, 190 S.W.2d 71, is stare decisis for the proposition that there is no substantial difference between the line of mean high tide and the line of highest tide in winter in Laguna Madre; Second, the Republic in adopting the common law in 1840 (2 G.L. of Tex. 177) and the Legislature in enacting the Relinquishment Act of February 10, 1852 (3 G.L. of Tex. 941) in effect, redefined the shore line of the Buena Vista Grant at the line of mean high tide; Third, there is actually no substantial difference in the Spanish and common law rules defining the shore; and Fourth, all the evidence in this action shows the periodic tide in Laguna Madre to be negligible. For these reasons, and because the uncontroverted evidence in this action shows that the 4,086.61 acre mud flat in controversy here was formed through the imperceptible deposit of alluvion and is above both the line of mean high tide and the line of mean high tide for the winter months, the lands in controversy are now fast land.

'All of Eastern Cameron County is a part of the deltaic plain of the Rio Grande River. The lands involved in this suit lie in the middle of the north flank of this Rio Grande delta.

'This delta developed in three stages. In ancient times the Rio Grande emptied into the sea in what is now northern Cameron County, and in those ancient days, the Resaca de los Cuates was one of the main channels of the Rio Grande. This first period in the development of the Rio Grande delta has been identified in the evidence as the Colorado-de los Cuates phase.

'Through successive overflows and floods the Rio Grande built its deltaic plain higher and higher until finally it turned south in search for an easier path to the sea. This second period in the development of the Rio Grande delta has been identified in the evidence as the Del Tigre phase. Again, through successive overflows and floods, the Rio Grande built its delta higher and higher until it had to find an easier path to the sea. This last period in the development of the Rio Grande delta has been identified in the evidence as the Modern phase and is the present status of the Rio Grande.

'These three phases in the development of the Rio Grande delta are shown on Plaintiffs' Exhibit No. 8.

'A river delta has two principla characteristics: (1) beach and pro-delta deposits and (2) the river features. The beach and pro-delta deposits are the alluvion which is dumped by the river when it enters the sea. The river features are: (1) the channels and channel deposits, (2) the natural levees, and (3) the back swamps. All flowing streams carry alluvion and in time of flood they carry vast quantities of sand, silt, and other soils. When a river floods and overflows, it deposits this material on the banks. As flood follows flood, this bank grows higher and higher and forms what is called a natural levee. The low lands behind these natural levees are the back swamps and the former river beds are the channels.

'The Rio Grande built a substantial delta during the Colorado-de los Cuates phase in the region of northern Cameron and...

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6 cases
  • State v. Valmont Plantations
    • United States
    • Texas Court of Appeals
    • March 29, 1961
    ...law instead of the civil law line. The Buena Vista Grant was there in suit, as it is here. The Court of Civil Appeals in Luttes v. State, 289 S.W.2d 357, 359, rejected the argument because it was contrary to the rule announced in the Balli case, 144 Tex. 195, 190 S.W.2d 99. The Supreme Cour......
  • Butler v. Sadler, 86
    • United States
    • Texas Court of Appeals
    • January 27, 1966
    ...that the decisions of the Supreme Court of Texas in Lottes v. State, 159 Tex. 500, 324 S.W.2d 167 (1958), and the Court of Civil Appeals 289 S.W.2d 357, Tex.Civ.App. (1956), are of controlling effect. In the Luttes case, supra, title to a specific 4086.61, acre mud flat lying along the east......
  • Kenedy Memorial Foundation v. Dewhurst
    • United States
    • Texas Supreme Court
    • August 29, 2002
    ...dispute the location of the shoreline boundary of two early nineteenth century land grants, one by Spain and the other by Mexico. In Luttes v. State,4 we determined that the law of those two sovereigns governing such grants was that a shoreline is to be found where the mean daily higher hig......
  • Luttes v. State
    • United States
    • Texas Supreme Court
    • June 18, 1958
    ...fact findings by the trial judge, judgment went for the State and was affirmed by the Waco Court of Civil Appeals upon transfer. 289 S.W.2d 357. The property claim of the State in the premises is, of course, that of successor (since 1836) to the Mexican nation or state, which latter, prior ......
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