Robertson v. Arledge

• Decision Date: 22 September 2021
• Docket Number: No. 54,129-CA,54,129-CA
• Parties: David Ray ROBERTSON and Rhoda Hutchinson Robertson Plaintiffs-Appellees v. Rickie Reese ARLEDGE and Kimberly Kirkland Arledge Defendants-Appellants
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

328 So.3d 551

David Ray ROBERTSON and Rhoda Hutchinson Robertson Plaintiffs-Appellees
v.
Rickie Reese ARLEDGE and Kimberly Kirkland Arledge Defendants-Appellants

No. 54,129-CA

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

Judgment rendered September 22, 2021.
Rehearing Denied November 10, 2021

RAYMOND LEE CANNON, L.L.C., By: Raymond Lee Cannon, Counsel for Appellants

COTTON, BOLTON, HOYCHICK & DOUGHTY, L.L.P., By: M. Kyle Moore, Counsel for Appellees, David Ray Robertson and Rhoda Hutchinson Robertson

LISKOW & LEWIS, APLC By: Matthew David Simone, Counsel for Defendant/ Appellee, Trunkline Gas Company, LLC

Before PITMAN, GARRETT, and THOMPSON, JJ.

GARRETT, J.

The defendants, Rickie Reese Arledge and Kimberly Kirkland Arledge, appeal from portions of a trial court judgment that granted a permanent servitude of passage to the plaintiffs, David Ray Robertson and Rhoda Hutchinson Robertson, across a small section of the Arledges’ property, while denying the Arledges’ reconventional demand for a servitude of their own through the front gate of property owned by the Robertsons. The Robertsons answer the appeal, asserting that the trial court erred in ordering them to pay a total of $54,000 to the Arledges. We reverse and vacate the $50,000 portion of the monetary award, amend the total award to $4,000, and, in all other respects, affirm the trial court judgment.

FACTS

The Robertsons and the Arledges own neighboring tracts of land in East Carroll Parish which were originally part of the Deborah Plantation. The Robertsons bought the 47-acre tract at issue here from their son in 2016. It is bordered on the west by Bayou Macon and on the east and south sides by property owned by the Arledges; it does not have access to a public road. The Robertsons, as sole members of Black Gold Production Services, LLC ("Black Gold"), own another adjoining property known as "Deborah Farms," which was also part of the Deborah Plantation.¹ The north side of Deborah Farms is bordered by the south side of the Arledge property while its south side is bordered by Louisiana Highway 134. The Arledges acquired their property, which consists of about 440 acres, in 1993; it is frequently referred to in the appellate record as "the 440." It is surrounded on the east, west, and south sides by property owned by the Robertsons, while the Crow farm is on its north border. The Arledges and their family members have established deer stands, duck ponds, and hunting sites on their property, as well as farm crops and a crawfish farm.

The 47-acre tract purchased by the Robertsons was accepted into the Wetlands Reserve Program ("WRP"); however, its final acceptance hinged on the property having written legal access. The Arledges

328 So.3d 556

declined to sell the Robertsons a strip of land required to access the property.

On June 18, 2018, the Robertsons filed suit against the Arledges, seeking a servitude of passage to their enclosed estate, pursuant to La. C.C. art. 689, et seq.² They sought access to the other property they owned on the south side of the Arledge property as this property had access to a public road. They alleged that the shortest route to their property from Deborah Farms that was least injurious to the Arledge property would be a 30-foot right-of-way along the westernmost border of the Arledge property. The Robertsons asserted that a portion of the requested servitude, which would affect a total of 0.78 acres, would utilize an existing right-of-way road already on the Arledge property. This road was established by Trunkline Gas Company ("Trunkline").

The Trunkline Road runs along the boundary between the Arledge property and Deborah Farms. Then, at the east end of that boundary, it proceeds south, through Deborah Farms, to Highway 134. The record also suggests that, at the west end of that boundary, the road curves south a short distance onto the Deborah Farms property. In August 2018, the Arledges filed a peremptory exception of nonjoinder of parties needed for just adjudication due to the Robertsons’ failure to include Trunkline as a party. Consequently, the Robertsons added Trunkline as a defendant in their first supplemental and amended petition for servitude in September 2018. Attached to this petition was an exhibit showing the proposed eastbound route on the Trunkline Road known in the proceedings as "Option 1."

Trunkline filed an answer in November 2018. Later that same month, the Arledges filed an answer, reconventional demand, and peremptory exceptions of no right of action and no cause of action. Therein they asserted that the route sought by the Robertsons was not the shortest access to a public road and that it would disturb and cause permanent damage to their established deer stands, hunting sites, and crawfish farm. They suggested another route which involved Parish Road 6611 and the 80-foot parish right-of-way less than a mile east of the Robertsons’ property (referred to as "Option 3" in the proceedings.) In the event that the court granted the Robertsons a servitude at their requested location, the Arledges requested that they be granted a permanent servitude in their own favor along the Trunkline Road, over neighboring Deborah Plantation and through its main gate, to Highway 134.

In December 2018, the Robertsons responded to the reconventional demand with an answer and a peremptory exception of partial no cause of action. They pointed out that the Arledges failed to allege in their reconventional demand that their property was enclosed with no access to a public road when they requested a servitude. After a hearing on March 14, 2019, the trial court denied the Arledges’ exceptions of no cause and no right of action, while granting the Robertsons’ exception of partial no cause of action. The Arledges were given 10 days to file a reconventional demand to state a cause of action.

The Arledges filed a first amended reconventional demand on March 22, 2019, in which they asserted that their property was enclosed by the Robertsons’ property. They claimed that the nearest public road, Parish Road 6611, and the 80-foot right-of-way

328 So.3d 557

connecting to it, have a history of flooding from October to March, and the flooding makes otherwise passable ways impassable. In the alternative, they argued that, if the Robertsons got their requested servitude, then they requested one over Deborah Plantation to Highway 134. They reiterated their assertion that, if the Robertsons were entitled to a servitude, it should be Parish Road 6611 through the parish right-of-way and further stated that it should be used only for purposes specified by the WRP but not for hunting.

In their April 2019 answer to the first amended reconventional demand, the Robertsons asserted that the Arledges already had a legal right of passage to a public road (i.e., Parish Road 6611) and thus their property was not an enclosed estate. In February 2020, the Arledges filed a motion for summary judgment contending that they had an enclosed estate. The motion was denied in June 2020.

On July 15, 2020, Trunkline was dismissed from the suit pursuant to a consent motion to dismiss. A bench trial was held on July 20 and 21, 2020. The Robertsons presented the testimony of Jeff Messinger, a licensed land surveyor, and Elliott Colvin, a farmer and dirt contractor for Northeast Dirt Works, LLC. Messinger prepared a plat showing the three right-of-way options under consideration. They were: Option 1, which contained 4.451 acres and allowed travel in an easterly direction from the southern border of the Robertsons’ 47 acres along the Trunkline Road; Option 2, a much shorter route containing 0.78 acres on the west side of the Arledges’ 440 acres, which connected to the Deborah Farms property owned by the Robertsons and thus gave access to Highway 134; and Option 3, which contained 3.496 acres, and went 5,077 feet east across the north boundary of the 440 to an 80-foot parish right-of-way, and then connected with Parish Road 6611. Colvin provided estimates for the right-of-way road constructions³ that would be required for Option 2 ($9,041)⁴ and Option 3 ($63,687.75). Lea Bass Creech testified as an expert real estate appraiser on behalf of the Robertsons. In her market analysis appraisal, she came across similar property priced at $3,000 to $4,278 per acre. She ultimately concluded that $4,000 per acre would be the value of the right-of-way tracts. Mr. Robertson testified about the problems he had had with the Arledges, especially over their past use of the Trunkline Road through the front gate of Deborah Farms. He stated that Option 2 would be the least injurious route for the Arledge property, as well as the shortest and least expensive.

Several members of the Arledge family testified. They included the defendants, Rickie ("Mr. Arledge") and Kimberly; their sons, Rickie Jr. and Hardy; and Hardy's 15-year-old son, Owen. They discussed their farming of the 440 property, Rickie Jr.’s crawfish farm, and their extensive hunting on the property. Kendall Crow, the president of the East Carroll Parish Police Jury, testified about the condition of Parish Road 6611 and the 80-foot right-of-way and the parish's upkeep of them. A

328 So.3d 558

proffer was...