Stockstill v. Choctaw Towing Corp.

• Decision Date: 14 December 1953
• Docket Number: No. 41144,41144
• Parties: STOCKSTILL v. CHOCTAW TOWING CORPORATION et al.
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

Page 93

70 So.2d 93

224 La. 473

STOCKSTILL v. CHOCTAW TOWING CORPORATION et al.

No. 41144.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

Dec. 14, 1953.

Rehearing Denied Jan. 11, 1954.

Obier & Middleton, Plaquemine, for defendant-appellant.

E. L. Guidry, Jr., St. Martinville, for plaintiff-appellee.

McCALEB, Justice.

This is a suit to establish title, instituted under authority of LSA-R.S. 13:5062 (formerly Act No. 38 of 1908), in which plaintiff is asserting ownership of the eastern 10 acres of Lot 12 of Section 5 in Township 10 S., Range 9 E., of the Southwestern Land District of Louisiana, located in the Parish of St. Martin. The defendants are Choctaw Towing Corporation, claimant to ownership of all of Lot 12 which contains 59.48 acres, its mineral lessee, The Texas Company of Delaware, and Wirth B. Andrews, Ralph A. Bristol and George G. Walker, who hold overriding royalty interests under the lease.

Plaintiff avers that his title emanates from the original patentee of the land, Francois Verrett, who, on November 5th, 1860, made private cash entry for 144.57 acres of swamp land in the Southwestern Land District which allegedly included Lot 12 of Section 5, T. 10S., R. 9E., but which was described at Lot 12 of Section 4 of said township and range. Upon payment, the State issued patent No. 9340 to Verret for the 144.57 acres, which patent plaintiff contends erroneously designated Lot 12 as being in Section 4 instead of Section 5.

On August 8th, 1931, plaintiff purchased at tax sale Lot 12 of Section 4, T. 10S., R. 9E., which was sold in the name of unknown owners for the unpaid taxes for the year 1930. On September 5th, 1935, the State of Louisiana issued in favor of Francois Verret and his heirs Patent No. 12,698 in correction of its original Partent No. 9340. In this corrective patent, it is stated that Francois Verret purchased on November 6th, 1860 Lot 12 of Section 5 in T. 10S., R. 9E., together with other land comprising a total of 144.57 acres. Within a few days after the issuance of this patent (on September 21st, 1935), plaintiff entered into an agreement of compromise with the heirs of Francois Verret in which he conveyed to them 49.48 acres lying in the western part of Section 4 and retained for himself ten acres in the eastern part. The consideration for this act is stated to be the avoidance of a lawsuit against plaintiff by the Verret heirs, who were claiming that plaintiff's tax title was null and void.

The title of defendant, Choctaw Towing Corporation, stems from a transfer dated June 27th, 1902 by the State of Louisiana to the Atchafalaya Basin Levee District in which the State conveyed a large quantity of vacant state property situated in St. Martin Parish. Included in the list of lands was an 'Island in SE 1/4 Sec. 5, being Lot 12 of Sec. 5, T. 10S. R. 9E'.

On July 30th, 1902, Board of Commissioners of the Atchafalaya Basin Levee District quitclaimed these lands, including the island designated as Lot 12 of Section 5, to J. M. Dresser and, on July 15th, 1903, Dresser conveyed the same property to South Louisiana Land Co. Ltd. On November 23rd, 1902, South Louisiana Land Co. Ltd. sold a large quantity of land to Schwing Lumber & Shingle Company, including the island in the SE 1/4 of Section 5, which was again described as being Lot 12 of Section 5, T. 10S., R. 9E. On July 1st, 1943, Schwing Lumber & Shingle Company conveyed property to defendant, Choctaw Towing Corporation. This transfer included Lot 12 of Section 5, T. 10S., R. 9E., containing 59.48 acres.

The case was tried below on documentary evidence offered in support of the adverse claims and the trial judge, after a review of the respective muniments of title, decided that there was basically no conflict of ownership; that plaintiff, as successor of Verret and his heirs, is the lawful owner of the ten acres lying in the eastern part of Lot 12 of Section 5, and that defendant, Choctaw Towing Corporation, had acquired an island in the SE 1/4 of Section 5 which had been erroneously designated throughout its chain of title as Lot No. 12 of Section 5. In reaching this conclusion, the judge reasoned that, since the original survey of Township 10S., Range 9E. of the Southwestern Land District discloses that Section 4 does not contain a Lot 12 but othat there is a Lot 12 in the adjoining Section 5 ¹ and also an island of undertermined acreage in the SE 1/4 of Section 5, it is evident that the original alienations from the State to Verret, on the one hand, and to Atchafalaya Basin Levee District, on the other, contained erroneous descriptions; that, this being so, Verret actually purchased Lot 12 of Section 5, as recognized by the State in its corrective patent issued in 1935 and that Atchafalaya Basin Levee District and its grantees acquired the island which had been erroneously described as Lot 12 of Section 5. In accordance with these views, judgment was entered in plaintiff's favor as prayed for. Choctaw Towing Corporation has appealed.

Appellant initially contends that it has possession of the property and that therefore plaintiff is relegated to a petitory action (asserted by plaintiff in the alternative) in which he carries the burden of proof.

We think it immaterial to determine whether or not appellant is in possession of the disputed land because...