United States v. Buras, 31115.

• Citation: 458 F.2d 346
• Decision Date: 23 March 1972
• Docket Number: No. 31115.,31115.
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant-Cross Appellee, and Chevron Oil Company et al., Additional Defendants-Appellants-Cross Appellees, v. Leo BURAS Jr., et al., Defendants-Appellees-Cross Appellants, v. Philibert BURAS et al., Intervenors-Appellants.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit)

458 F.2d 346 (1972)

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant-Cross Appellee, and Chevron Oil Company et al., Additional Defendants-Appellants-Cross Appellees, v. Leo BURAS Jr., et al., Defendants-Appellees-Cross Appellants, v. Philibert BURAS et al., Intervenors-Appellants.

No. 31115.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

March 23, 1972.

Lawrence K. Benson, Charles D. Marshall, Wilson S. Shirley, Jr., New Orleans, La., for Chevron Oil Co. and Allen L. Lobrano.

Sidney C. Schoenberger, New Orleans, La., Luke A. Petrovich, Buras, La., for P. Buras and others.

Turner Hudson McBaine, Donald E. Peterson, San Francisco, Cal., for other appellants.

Gerald J. Gallinghouse, U. S. Atty., New Orleans, La., Shiro Kashiwa, Asst. Atty. Gen., Edmund D. Clark, Atty., John J. Cain, Dept. of Justice, Land Div., Washington, D. C., for the United States.

Phillip A. Wittmann, New Orleans, La., E. Drew McKinnis, Baton Rouge, La., for L. Buras and others.

John H. Tucker, Jr., Shreveport, La., for other appellees.

Before TUTTLE, GEWIN and GOLDBERG, Circuit Judges.

TUTTLE, Circuit Judge:

The dispute in this case centers around certain lands located in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. Essentially, this court is asked to decide between claimants who claim to take under two different chains of title. Because one of these chains leads directly to the United States Government, which is presently both a possessor and a lessor of the lands in dispute, what, at first blush, seems clearly a problem for the state courts, finds itself before a Federal tribunal. 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 reversed.

This suit had its beginnings in the state courts. On November 18, 1954, the heirs of Pierre Leon Buras (hereinafter referred to as the Buras heirs) brought suit in state court asserting title to the lands here in dispute. They also sought eviction of certain mineral lessees, who had as their lessor, as stated above, the United States Government. The United States, however, then brought suit pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1345,¹ attempting to quiet its title and permanently enjoin the prosecution of the state court suit. To insure that all persons asserting any right or claim to the property would be before the court, the Government made its mineral lessees, Allen L. Lobrano and the heirs of Frank J. Lobrano, parties defendant (here, appellants and cross-appellants). Similarly, they also joined Chevron Oil Company and Leiter Minerals. Before dealing with the arguments raised by these parties, we briefly set forth the pertinent facts involved.

I. FACTS

In 1894 a hunter and trapper by the name of Octave Barrois applied to the State of Louisiana for entry to certain marsh lands in Plaquemines Parish. It is unlikely that Barrois had anything more in mind than ultimately acquiring an area in which he could pursue his trade. Little did he know that in 1950-51 eight producing oil wells were to come into existence.

Barrois paid a sum of money (12½ cents an acre) to the Register of the State Land Office, John Lanier, who thereupon issued a certificate to Barrois setting forth the land description, area, and amount paid in connection with this application. Barrois pursued this application and finally received allegedly formal patents from the State of Louisiana in 1898. Both the certificate issued in 1894 as well as the 1898 patents were recorded in the official Parish conveyance records in Plaquemines Parish shortly after they were received. Soon after receiving the patents Barrois executed a deed to his brother-in-law, Pierre Leon Buras, dated January 5, 1899, putting in Buras' name the lands in dispute. In this deed, Barrois gave an accounting of 5,465 acres of land which he had sought to acquire, and purportedly had acquired, under these State patents. He conveyed 2,355 acres to Pierre Leon Buras for the same price per acre that Barrois paid to the State. The parties struck out the warranty clause in the printed form of the deed, however, changing it by handwriting to read "without warranty."

At this point in the narrative, it is important to emphasize that one of the central issues in this case concerns the validity of these 1898 patents. It is thus significant to note that though these State patents were recorded at the Parish level, they were not recorded in the State Land Office. Moreover, the money paid for these patents was, apparently, never deposited in the State Treasury. Indeed, the State Official to whom payment was made—Lanier—was not only the wrong official to deal with, as we read the statutes then in effect, but was subsequently revealed to be a rogue of the highest order. The record reveals that he was involved in a number of swindles and illicit schemes which became public knowledge only after he committed suicide in 1900.

Once Lanier's defalcations had been revealed, however, Barrois, who had been in touch with the new Register, initiated a second attempt to purchase the land in dispute. He thus paid the same purchase price once again—this time to the State Treasurer, the proper State Official —and received a new set of patents in 1903. These were duly recorded in accordance with Act 75 of 1880 in the State Land Office. Shortly thereafter, Barrois conveyed the same lands he had previously conveyed to Pierre Leon Buras to Pierre Leon's son-in-law, Augustin Buras. Appellees speculate that Pierre Leon had perhaps been offered an opportunity to, but had refused to pay a second time for the same lands and that Barrois had paid the second purchase price (which was the same as the first) and, so the assumption by appellants goes, he thus assumed that he obtained the right to reconvey these lands. Whatever the motivation behind this second transaction, a second chain of title resulted, ultimately descending to the United States. It is the task of this court to determine which of the divergent paths leads to the true owner of this land.

In so doing, we note one additional fact. Though Pierre Leon Buras paid the taxes on these lands from 1899-1902, it is without dispute that in 1903, the year Barrois paid for the lands the second time and received the patents, neither Pierre Leon nor his successors ever paid any more taxes on the lands. However, Barrois then resumed payment of the taxes. From the time he conveyed to Augustin Buras to the present, the taxes have been paid by Augustin Buras' succeeding transferees. Moreover, we think it only fair to note that, though the Buras heirs made some inquiries as to the ownership of the lands, no contest in earnest began until 1954—over 50 years after their antecedents had stopped paying taxes and after the sale by Barrois to Augustin. This also was just three years after the land began producing oil. While such facts are of doubtful significance in light of the disposition we make of this case, we are not troubled with the thought that the result we feel Louisiana law compels us to reach is, in any way, inequitable or unduly harsh.

II. THE VALIDITY OF THE 1898 PATENTS

We begin with a consideration of the validity of the 1898 patents. We are met at the outset, however, with the argument that patents which are valid on their face are subject to attack only under certain strictly limited circumstances. The trial court noted that the Louisiana Supreme Court, in Albritton v. Shaw, 148 La. 427, 87 So. 32, 34 (1921) established two prerequisites for such an attack:

The two prerequisites of the right of an individual to attack the validity of a land patent are: first, that the individual making the attack had an equitable title or an inceptive right upon the land, antedating the issuance of the patent; and second, that the attack is aimed at the jurisdiction or legal authority of the officers of the land department to issue the patent. See, also, Smith v. Crandell, 118 La. 1052, 43 So. 699 (1907) (emphasis added).

We do not feel that the Albritton rationale controls this case. As the trial court itself noted in this regard:

". . . none of the cases cited above involved an attack on patents which derive their presumption of validity from La.R.S. 13:3726 et seq."

And indeed, in addition to distinguishing the Albritton case, this comment by the trial court was undoubtedly made because there were no original patents before the court. They had been lost, and in order to prove them, it was necessary for the Buras heirs to follow the procedure provided for in La.R.S. 13:-3726 et seq., which reads as follows:

Where a patent for land, or the certificate of the register, or the receipt of the receiver, whether issued, or to be issued, by the officers of the State of Louisiana, or the general government has been, or may hereafter be recorded in the office of the recorder of the parish in which the land may be situated, (which is what had been done here) a copy of such record properly certified by the parish recorder, shall be admissible in evidence in all causes pending before any of the courts, in the same manner, and shall be entitled to the same credit as the original of such instruments, or as exemplification thereof; provided, the party proposing to use such evidence shall make affidavit that the original of such patent or certificate is not in his possession or under his control. However, the opposite party shall be allowed to disprove the genuineness of such original or registry, as the case may be. (emphasis added)

The only evidence of the 1898 patents offered by the Buras claimants consisted of copies of pages taken from the handwritten conveyance records of Plaquemines Parish for 1899 purporting to set forth the "patents." Though, as the statute above states these copies are admissible into evidence, an attack on the genuineness of that which they purport to be copies of is expressly provided for. Surely, this in itself is a significant distinguishing...