State v. Scott, 6570
| Citation | 185 So.2d 877 |
| Decision Date | 04 April 1966 |
| Docket Number | No. 6570,6570 |
| Parties | STATE of Louisiana et al. v. Albin P. SCOTT. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US |
Gravel, Sheffield & D'Angelo, Alexandria, Geo. W. Hardy, III, Baton Rouge, for appellant.
Jack P. F. Gremillion, Atty. Gen., State of Louisiana, Baton Rouge, Edward Carmouche, Asst. Atty. Gen., State of Louisiana, Lake Charles, Victor A. Sachse, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., State of Louisiana, Baton Rouge, W. Scott Wilkinson, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., State of Louisiana, Shreveport, James R. Fuller, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., State of Louisiana, John L. Madden, Asst. Atty. Gen., Baton Rouge, for appellee.
Amos L. Ponder, Jr., Cyril F. Dumaine, New Orleans, intervenors for Jean Tardan et al.
Before ELLIS, LOTTINGER, LANDRY, REID, and BAILES, JJ.
The plaintiffs in this suit, State of Louisiana, the State Mineral Board, Sinclair Oil and Gas Company, Sohio Petroleum Company, Peoples Production Company, El Paso Natural Gas Company and Western Natural Gas Company originally filed this suit as an action of jactitation or slander of title against Albin P. Scott.
The plaintiff State of Louisiana claimed to be the owner of the following described property, to-wit:
Sinclair Oil and Gas Company is a mineral lessee of said property by virtue of a mineral lease No. 2490 dated April 15, 1954, and the remaining plaintiffs are the assignees of an undivided interest in said mineral lease by assignments from the Sinclair Oil and Gas Company.
The plaintiffs alleged that they are in actual possession of said property and had been for more than one year, and had been engaged in developing minerals and producing same from said tract. They allege that Albin P. Scott had slandered their title and continued to do so by claiming the following described property, to-wit:
'Lots 2 and 3 Section 15, all of tract Sections 7, 8, 17 and (Sea Marsh) Section No. 18, Township No. 24 S Range No. 21 E. in the S.E. west of river Land District, containing 1321.26 acres, according to the official plat of survey of said lands in State Land Office, situated in the Parishes of Lafourche and/or Terrebonne, State of Louisiana.'
In addition the plaintiffs claim that the property claimed by Scott lies within the tract owned by the State of Louisiana and leased by it to Sinclair Oil and Gas Company and that said property claimed by Scott has subsided beneath the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
The slander plaintiffs complained of is that Albin P. Scott recorded in the Conveyance Records of the Parishes of Lafourche and Terrebonne on June 15, 1954 an act of sale from Jules N. Lapene Et Al to him purporting to convey the property described as claimed by Scott, but claimed that this deed would have no legal effect because the land had subsided and become by erosion a part of the bed of the Gulf of Mexico and is no longer privately owned. They prayed that they be recognized as the possessors of said property, waterbottom and subsided land within the tract claimed by the State and that the defendant be ordered to either disclaim any interest or assert within a reasonable delay such rights as he claims to have against said property.
The defendant filed exceptions to jurisdiction, prayer for oyer of State lease 2490 declared upon by the plaintiffs, exception of misjoinder of parties plaintiff, exceptions of no cause and no right of action, exception of prescription, exception of improper accumulation of action, exception of non-joinder of parties plaintiff, and exception of vagueness.
Plaintiffs filed in response to the prayer for oyer a copy of State Lease No. 2490 dated April 15, 1954.
Plaintiffs also filed a supplemental and amended petition alleging that the property in fact is in Lafourche Parish.
The Court overruled all the exceptions, except the one to jurisdiction and held that this had been cured with the filing of the supplemental and amended petition and further held that the prayer for oyer had been complied with by the filing of the copy of the lease.
Defendant then filed an answer, admitting that the State purported to grant the mineral lease declared upon in the petition but denied its validity, denied that the plaintiffs were assignees of an undivided interest in the purported lease, denied the possession of the State, admitting the recordation of the act of sale to him as set forth in plaintiffs' petition and in answer to the supplemental and amended petition admitted that the property in dispute was located in the Parish of Lafourche, further alleging that in the event subsequent surveys showed the property to be located in any other Parish defendant reserved his right to file subsequent and appropriate pleadings, and reserved his right for damages. He also alleged that he was the legal owner of the property in dispute.
Plaintiffs then filed a rule against the defendant alleging that defendant had filed an answer in which he denied State of Louisiana was the owner of the property and alleges that he is the legal owner of the property in dispute, and will within the time allowed by the Court bring a petitory action in revindication of the title; further alleged that in any action of jactitation or slander of title any defendant desiring to raise as a defense a lack of sufficient possession must do so by exceptions filed in limine litis and that all exceptions not filed in limine litis are to be considered waived and prays for judgment on a rule recognizing plaintiffs' possession of said waterbottoms and subsided land and ordering the defendant to disclaim any title whatever or assert within a time to be fixed such right as he claims to have against said property.
The Trial Court rendered judgment making the rule absolute and ordering the & defendant Albin P. Scott to assert such right as he claimed to have against the property involved herein within sixty days from date of the judgment, or to disclaim any title whatsoever thereto.
The defendant within the time limit allowed by the Court filed a petitory action alleging that he was the owner of some 1321.26 acres described heretofore as claimed by him according to the official plat of the survey of said lands in the State Land Office situated in the Parishes of Lafourche and/or Terrebonne, State of Louisiana. He alleged that he purchased said land from Jules N. Lapene and Michael H. Bagot by deed dated June 11, 1954 and recorded in Conveyance Book 181, page 375 of the records of the Parish of Lafourche and in Conveyance Book 208 records of the Parish of Terrebonne, Louisiana. He alleged that Bagot acquired a contingent interest in said property from the other co-vendor, Jules N. Lapene. He then alleged that Jules N. Lapene acquired said property through representation of his father Jules Numa Lapene, deceased, who was the acknowledged son of Jules Lapene, the original patentee, as per Probate Number 26797 on the Docket of the Civil District Court, Parish of Orleans, in the matter of Succession of Lapene reported in 233 La. 129, 96 So.2d 321.
Scott then alleges that Jules Lapene acquired said property by Patent No. 5242 of the State of Louisiana, signed by the Governor and the Registrar on June 7, 1883, and a certified copy of which was attached to the petition in the petitory action. He prays that he be recognized as the legal owner of the property and all claims of the plaintiffs be rejected, and that they be ordered to vacate the premises claimed by him, and asked for reservation of his rights to sue for damages.
Plaintiffs-defendants in the petitory action filed an exception alleging that no cause or right of action existed because insofar as the area involved there is no land above water, all the land within said area which was originally patented to Jules Lapene is now submerged beneath the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and therefore the area is no longer privately owned, but is now owned by the State of Louisiana.
Plaintiffs-defendants in the petitory action filed an answer with full reservation of their rights under their exception of no right and no cause of action, and denied the title of the defendant and plaintiff in petitory action, and alleged that the State was the owner of lands heretofore originally set out and that the other plaintiffs are mineral lessees and assignees of the mineral leases of the State of Louisiana, under State Lease No. 2490. They further allege that the State of Louisiana has been at all pertinent times in possession of the property and further answering allege that the claims of Albin P. Scott are to water-bottoms and additional lands that have subsided...
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Gulf Oil Corp. v. State Mineral Bd.
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