United States v. Buras
| Decision Date | 08 July 1970 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 4977. |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America v. Leon BURAS, Jr., et al. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Louisiana |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
Herbert Pittle, John J. Cain, Attys., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., Norton L. Wisdom, Sp. Asst. U. S. Atty., New Orlean, La., for plaintiff.
Phillip A. Wittmann, Warren A. Goldstein, of Stone, Pigman, Walther, Wittmann & Hutchinson, E. Drew McKinnis, Baton Rouge, La., for defendants 1-26.
Charles D. Marshall, and Wilson S. Shirley, Jr., of Milling, Saal, Benson, Woodward & Hillyer, New Orleans, La., for Chevron Oil Co.
Sidney C. Schoenberger, New Orleans, La., Luke Petrovich, Buras, La., for intervenors.
On March 1, 1955, the United States, plaintiff, instituted this action against the heirs of Pierre Leon Buras, seeking to quiet its title to property located in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. The disputed property constitutes part of the Delta National Wildlife Refuge.1 The government also made its mineral lessees, Allen L. Lobrano and the heirs of Frank J. Lobrano, parties defendant as well as The California Company (now Chevron Oil Company) and Leiter Minerals, Inc.2 "in order that all persons asserting any right or claim to the property may be before the court."
This litigation is the result of a state court suit filed on November 18, 1954, by the heirs of Pierre Leon Buras (hereinafter referred to as the Buras heirs) asserting title to the lands in dispute and seeking the eviction of the mineral lessees of the United States.3 The instant action, brought pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 13454 seeks to quiet the title of the United States and enjoin permanently the prosecution of the state court suit. A temporary injunction was not applied for due to an agreement between counsel that the state proceedings would not be prosecuted pending the final disposition of this case.
The Buras heirs answered the government's complaint admitting that the United States is presently the possessor of the disputed lands. But they denied that the government is the owner of the said lands or the mineral rights thereon, and have counterclaimed that they are the true and lawful owners of the said lands and mineral rights thereon. In addition, the Buras heirs filed a crossclaim against defendants Chevron Oil Company and the individual parties named Lobrano, seeking an accounting and money judgment against these parties for the extraction of minerals without right or legal authority. A trial by jury was demanded by the Buras heirs.
Subsequently, motions to strike the Buras heirs' demand for a jury trial were filed by the plaintiff, United States and by defendants, Chevron Oil Company and the individual parties named Lobrano. This court denied both motions and certified that decision for interlocutory appeal, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b). On February 23, 1967, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit denied the movers' application for leave to appeal from this court's interlocutory order.
On January 11, 1967, this court granted an unopposed motion for partial summary judgment on behalf of the plaintiff United States, quieting its title to an undivided one-half interest in the minerals and mineral rights in the disputed lands. This judgment was based on three compromise agreements: one between Leiter Minerals, Inc. and the Buras heirs; another between Leiter Minerals, Inc. and the United States, Chevron and others; and the third between the present parties to this suit.5
Later, cross motions for partial summary judgment on the issue of title were filed by the Buras heirs and the government, Chevron, and the individual parties named Lobrano, and were subsequently denied by this court. A pretrial conference was held and this matter was set for trial.6 However, on the scheduled date of trial, some thirteen years after the original filing of this action, a surprise motion to intervene was filed on behalf of the heirs of one Amelie Elodie Buras, purportedly the legitimated daughter of Pierre Leon Buras. These parties (hereinafter referred to as the intervenors) alleged that they are legal heirs of Pierre Leon Buras and are necessary parties to this suit. Following the court's granting of the motion to intervene, the United States, Chevron, and the individual parties named Lobrano moved for and were granted a continuance of the trial date.
The Buras heirs subsequently moved for a summary judgment dismissing the intervenors and this court denied that motion. They later sought to have the intervenors' claims tried separately from the rest of the case. This motion was also denied.
A trial by jury commenced on April 17, 1969. The court reserved ruling on all motions for directed verdict and submitted the case to the jury using two sets of special interrogatories and a map.7
The jury answered all of the interrogatories save the first one of the first set and decision of this case is complicated by their inability to agree upon an answer to that question.
The United States seeks a decree quieting its title to the land in litigation, removing and canceling all instruments of the Buras heirs which evidence any claims to the land, these claims being clouds upon the title of the United States.8 The government alleges that it is the owner and possessor of the property in dispute under a perfect record chain of title emanating from patents issued by the state of Louisiana and of record in the State Land Office at Baton Rouge. It further alleges that if any adverse claims to any of the land exist, these claims have been acquired by the government and its predecessors in title under acquisitive prescription based on ten or thirty-year adverse possession.
The property in question was acquired by the government from Thomas Leiter by deed dated December 21, 1938, and registered on December 28, 1938, in COB 92, folio 468 of the records of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. Thomas Leiter inherited the lands from the estate of his father, Joseph Leiter in 1932. The bulk of the disputed lands was acquired by Joseph Leiter from Malcolm J. Taylor and Fay S. Dean on May 29, 1916.9 Taylor, Dean and Jefferson C. Wenck together purchased these lands from Augustin A. Buras on June 2, 1911, and Taylor acquired Wenck's interest on April 22, 1912.
Augustin A. Buras had acquired on May 11, 1911, some of the disputed lands directly from the state of Louisiana under patents of record in the State Land Office.10 These lands were included in the sale by Augustin A. Buras to Taylor et al. The rest of the disputed lands included in the 1911 conveyance from Augustin A. Buras to Taylor et al. was acquired by Augustin Buras on July 17, 1906, from Dr. John N. Thomas, to whom Augustin Buras had previously conveyed on May 27, 1905. Augustin Buras originally had acquired the lands from Octave Barrois on November 12, 1903. Barrois acquired the lands under patents from the state of Louisiana dated October 23, 1903, of record in the State Land Office. It is from this chain of title that the United States bases its claim in this case.
Further, the United States has pleaded title by acquisitive prescription under the deed to it from Thomas Leiter in 1938, under the deed from Taylor and Dean to Joseph Leiter in 1916, and also under the deed from Augustin A. Buras to Taylor, Wenck and Dean in 1911.11
The Buras heirs have answered the complaint of the United States, asserting title to the disputed lands under a deed from Octave Barrois to Pierre Leon Buras, their ancestor. The deed is dated January 5, 1899, and the sale was based on patents of the state of Louisiana to Octave Barrois dated November 12, 1898. These patents were recorded in the official conveyance records of Plaquemines Parish; however, their recordation cannot be ascertained in the State Land Office. The Buras heirs assert in their brief:
Alternatively, the Buras heirs contend that if the 1898 patents issued to Octave Barrois are invalid and the later 1903 patents obtained by Octave Barrois are valid, then the title thus acquired by Barrois inured to the benefit of Pierre Leon Buras under the doctrine of afteracquired title by virtue of the 1899 recorded sale from Barrois to Buras prior to the issuance of the 1903 patents.
The Buras heirs further claim that there was no possession of the subject lands adverse to Pierre Leon Buras or his heirs, prior to 1917. Further, they contend that Joseph Leiter, one of the predecessors in title of the United States, abandoned possession of the lands from 1921 to 1927, a period of six years. This was supposedly the result of a hunting accident in which his ten year old son was killed.
Finally, the Buras heirs contend that the Government's acquisitive prescription period was interrupted when the Government "assured" the Buras heirs that their claims would be investigated; that such assurance lulled them into a false sense of security and that the Government should not be permitted to acquire by acquisitive prescription, to their prejudice.
The question of title in this case turns on (1) the validity of the 1898 patents issued to Octave Barrois and (2) the effect of the subsequent recorded sale from Barrois to Pierre Leon Buras in 1899.
Buras and Barrois were brothers-in-law who in the 1880's hunted and trapped in the area known as Cubit's Gap.12 Barrois operated on the lands immediately below Main Pass, while Buras took as his operating area the lands north of Main Pass. Eventually, in 1894, Octave Barrois, having decided to apply to the State of Louisiana for purchase of a portion of these lands on which they were operating, paid some money...
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...cases of significant local interest, such as cases involving title to land, state law has been held to apply. See United States v. Buras, 332 F.Supp. 1017 (D. La.1970), rev'd on other grounds 458 F.2d 346, rehearing denied 475 F.2d 1370 (5th Cir. 3 Because we conclude that state law will be......
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United States v. Buras, 31115.
...We must, however, apply Louisiana law in resolving this controversy. Having done so, we conclude that the judgment of the trial court, 332 F.Supp. 1017, should be This suit had its beginnings in the state courts. On November 18, 1954, the heirs of Pierre Leon Buras (hereinafter referred to ......
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