Waterman v. Tidewater Associated Oil Co.

• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
• Citation: Waterman v. Tidewater Associated Oil Co., 213 La. 588, 35 So.2d 225 (La. 1947)
• Decision Date: 15 December 1947
• Docket Number: 38646.
• Parties: WATERMAN et al. v. TIDEWATER ASSOCIATED OIL CO. et al. TAMBOUR CORPORATION v. RECTANGLE RANCHE CO. et al.

35 So.2d 225

213 La. 588

WATERMAN et al. v. TIDEWATER ASSOCIATED OIL CO. et al.

TAMBOUR CORPORATION v. RECTANGLE RANCHE CO. et al.

No. 38646.

Supreme Court of Louisiana

December 15, 1947

Rehearing Denied April 26, 1948. [Copyrighted material omitted]

Appeal from Twenty-fifth Judicial District Court Parish of Plaquemines; Albert Estopinal, Jr., Judge.

Deutsch Kerrigan & Stiles, of New Orleans, for Tambour Corporation, plaintiff and appellant.

Rosen, Kammer, Wolff, Hopkins & Burke, of New Orleans, for John S. Waterman, Jr., plaintiff, appellant, and petitioner, John Vaccaro and National Royalties Corporation, interveners, appellants, and petitioners.

Robert A. Ainsworth, Jr., of New Orleans, in pro. per., amicus curiae.

Dart, Guidry & Price and Taylor Gaffery, all of New Orleans, for Benjamin W. Dart, Administrator, succession of Chas. C. Buck.

Liskow, Lewis, Gerard & Shepard, of Lake Charles, and Marion J. Epley, Jr., of New Orleans, for Tide Water Associated Oil Co., defendant and appellee.

John E. Jackson and Baldwin J. Allen, both of New Orleans, for Rectangle Ranche Co., defendant and appellee.

Claude L. Johnson, of New Orleans, in pro. per., defendant and appellee.

McCALEB Justice.

On May 13, 1942, John S. Waterman, Jr., initiated this petitory action in the Twenty-Fifth Judicial District Court, in which he claims that he is the true and lawful owner of an undivided one-fourth right, title and interest in and to the following described property in Plaquenmines Parish:

S 1/2 of Section 14,

S 1/2 of Section 15, N. of Spanish Pass,

SE 1/4 of Section 20,

N 1/2 and SW 1/4 of Section 21, W. of Spanish Pass,

SE 1/4 and SE 1/4 of Section 24, East of Red Pass, less 2/3 interest in that portion East of Tonphine Pass,

N 1/2 of NE 1/4 of Section 29,

NE 1/4 of Section 24, East of Red Pass, less 2/3 interest in that part East of Tonphine Pass,

Section 25, East of Red Pass, except that part East of Tonphine Pass,

Section 26, East of Red Pass,

Section 35, East of Red Pass, Section 36,

All in Township 21 South, Range 30 East.

He joined as defendants Rectangle Ranche Company (hereinafter referred to as Rectangle), Dr. Ade B. Pautscle, Claude L. Johnson and Tidewater Associated Oil Company, alleging that they are in actual physical possession of the property without any right or title whatsoever. Subsequently, the National Royalties Corporation and John Vaccaro intervened, as parties plaintiff, alleging ownership of 9/46 and 1/8, respectively, of the minerals under the land.

Thereafter, the defendants appeared and filed exceptions of vagueness which were based on the ground that plaintiffs had not alleged the chain of title upon which their claims were founded. These exceptions were never tried. However, after three years had elapsed, viz., on May 22d, 1945, plaintiffs filed supplemental and amended petitions in which they not only alleged the muniments of title and other instruments upon which they claimed the property but also set forth the chain of title under which the defendants held possession. A few days later, on June 5, 1945, Tambour Corporation, claiming ownership of an undivided one-half interest in the land, filed a separate action in the court based upon the same muniments of title as those of Waterman and the intervenors in his suit. In its petition, Tambour joined the same defendants named in the Waterman suit and, in addition thereto, Herbert J. Harvey, Donald L. Madden, Harry P. Gamble Jr. (later dismissed for lack of interest), H. L. Carnahan, John E. Jackson and Baldwin J. Allen.

The objections contained in their exceptions in the Waterman suit having been satisfied by the supplemental and amended petitions, defendants joined issue in both cases by answers in which they denied the claims of plaintiffs and affirmatively alleged the validity of their respective titles and possession thereunder. In due course, the cases were consolidated for trial and, after hearing and submission, the demands of all plaintiffs were rejected by separate judgment in each case. Appeals have been prosecuted by all those adversely affected and the cases have been here consolidated again for our decision.

The property in dispute is located in the Parish of Plaquemines in Township 21 S., Range 30 E., in the Southeastern Land District of Louisiana, west of the Mississippi river and is contained within Sections 14, 15, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 29, 35 and 36, as hereinabove described.

Plaintiffs' main chain of title, which has been referred to as the 'Lacey' title, is as follows: Buras Levee Board to Lacey, January 4, 1896; Lacey to Buck, same date; Buck to Rectangle, October 23, 1905; Rectangle to Rose, January 11, 1923 and Rose to plaintiffs by a series of conveyances which are neither questioned nor important.

Defendants' chain, referred to as the 'Leovy' title, is as follows: State to Leovy by patents issued in 1893 and subsequent years; heirs of Leovy to Hayne, November 17, 1905; Hayne to Kranebell, November 3, 1913; Kranebell and wife to Rectangle, February 4, 1927, and Rectangle to Johnson, Pautsch and other defendants of various interests, including a mineral lease acquired by Tidewater Associated Oil Company, by a series of transactions not important to the controversy.

Since this is a petitory action, plaintiffs must recover on the strength of their own title and not on the weakness of that of their adversaries. Code of Practice, Article 43, 44; Dugas v. Powell, 197 La. 409, 1 So.2d 677; Simmons v. Carter, 186 La. 377, 172 So. 425.

Plaintiffs' primary contention is that, since the land claimed is embraced within T. 21 S., R. 30 E., they own it because their author in title, Emile J. Rose, acquired all of the land in that township by deed from Rectangle on January 11, 1923. The pertinent part of the deed from Rectangle to Rose reads as follows:

'That the said party of the first part, for and in consideration of the sum of one dollar ($1.00) and other good and valuable consideration ^[1] in hand paid by the said party of the second part, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, and the said party of the second part forever released and discharged therefrom, has remised, released, sold, conveyed, and quitclaimed, and by these presents does remise, release, sell, convey and quit claim unto the said party of the second part, his heirs and assigns forever, all the right, title, interest, claim, and demand which said party of the first part has in and to the following described piece of land, situated in the Parish of Plaquemines, County of _____ and State of Louisiana, and known and described as follows, to wit: 'All the land in the Parish of Plaquemines, in the State of Louisiana, being all the land in Township Twenty-one (21) South, Ranges Twenty-nine and Thirty (29 & 30) East, in the Southeastern Land District of Louisiana, West of the Mississippi River, comprising an area of 46,060 acres more or less, except Lots 1, 2, 3, and 4, inTownship Twenty-one (21) South, Range Thirty (30) East, containing 109.05 acres, and also excepting 320 acres lying in the rear of said Lots 1, 2, and 3, which were sold by the State of Louisiana to C. C. Packard, by Patent Number 526 dated September 30, 1869; being the same lands which were acquired by said Rectangle Ranche Company, from Chas. C. Buck on Oct. 23rd., 1905 by Act of Sale passed before Louis A. Hubert, Notary Public, in New Orleans, Louisiana, and recorded in the Parish of Plaquemines, State of Louisiana, in C. O. Book No. 39, Folio 812, and in Book P. No. 188, Folio 470 of Conventional Mortgages; and being a portion of the lands which were granted by Act No. 18 of the Session of 1894 of the General Assembly of the State of Louisiana to the Board of Commissioners for the Buras Levee District; and being a portion of the lands conveyed by the said Board of Commissioners for the Buras Levee District to Jas. D. Lacey, and a portion of the lands conveyed by the said Jas. D. Lacey to Chas. C. Buck, both of said latter conveyances having been made by Acts of Sale passed before J. C. DeArmas, Notary Public, at Buras, Louisiana, on January 4th., 1896'--with the exception of the South East Quarter (S.E. 1/4) of the South East Quarter (S.E. 1/4) of Section Twelve (12) Township Twenty-one (21) South, Range Thirty (30) East.

'To have to hold the same, together with all and singular the appurtenances and privileges thereunto belonging, or in any wise appertaining thereunto; and all the estate, right, title, interest, and claim whatever, of the said party of the first part, either in law or equity, to the only proper use, benefit and behoof of the said party of the second part, his heirs and assigns forever.'

Defendants maintain that the deed does not convey the land in suit (this land is particularly described in the 'Leovy' chain of title under which defendants claim); that the description would be considered too vague to identify any particular lands whatever were it not for the special reference in the deed to the acquisitions of Rectangle, its vendor Buck, Buck's vendor Lacey and Lacey's vendor, the Board of Commissioners for the Buras Levee District; that a perusal of these deeds will show that the only land acquired by Lacey from the Board of Commissioners in Township 21 S. R. 30 E. was the first 12 sections thereof; that no other land within that Township subsequently inured to the Buras Levee District under the provisions of Act No. 18 of 1894; that such land could not inure, as it was 'sovereignty' land and that, accordingly, Lacey did not and could not transfer the land in controversy to Buck and the latter did not and could not convey to Rectangle and so on.

In answer to this contention, plaintiffs submit (1) that the description...