Source: https://casetext.com/case/mary-v-qep-energy-co-2
Timestamp: 2020-04-06 22:00:36
Document Index: 772439899

Matched Legal Cases: ['art. 4', 'art. 487', '§ 2', '§ 7', 'art. 482', 'art. 482', '§ 2', '§ 11']

QEP Energy Company's petition for panel rehearing is DENIED. We withdraw our earlier opinion, Mary v. QEP…
No. 18-31107 (5th Cir. Sep. 20, 2019)
USDC No. 5:13-CV-2195 Before SOUTHWICK, WILLETT, and OLDHAM, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM:
A servitude is the same as a common law easement. Morein v. Acme Land Co., 2016-95, 2016 WL 10822278, at *4 (La. App. 3 Cir. 7/6/16) (citing Humble Pipe Line Co. v. Wm. T. Burton Indus., Inc., 217 So.2d 188 (La. 1968)).
The parties point to two potential statutory solutions to their disagreement: Article 487 and Article 670 of the Civil Code. The district court chose the latter. We first explain why that is wrong. Then we explain why Article 487 is right.
The district court also relied on the equitable power afforded courts under Louisiana Civil Code Article 4. But Article 4 is engaged only "[w]hen no rule for a particular situation can be derived from legislation or custom." La. Civ. Code art. 4. As explained in the next section, Article 487 provides the rule in this case, so Article 4 does not apply. --------
In our view, the meaning of "good faith" in Article 486 comes from the Article that immediately succeeds it—namely, Article 487. The latter provides:
La. Civ. Code. art. 487.
In our view, this dispute involves an "accession" under Article 487. For the most part, Louisiana law designates "material or intangible objects that are susceptible of appropriation" as "things." 2 A.N. YIANNOPOULOS & RONALD J. SCALISE, LOUISIANA CIVIL LAW TREATISE, PROPERTY §§ 2:1, 2:4 (5th ed. 2019) [hereinafter YIANNOPOULOS ON PROPERTY]. Land is a "thing." See YIANNOPOULOS ON PROPERTY § 7:8. And ownership of a "thing" confers on the owner "the ownership of everything that [the thing] produces or is united with it, either naturally or artificially." La. Civ. Code art. 482. These secondary "things" are known as "accessories." Id. at cmt. (b). And the right of ownership over a thing by virtue of it being an accessory is known as "accession." See La. Civ. Code art. 482. An owner is entitled to profits from a "thing" because profits are a type of accessory known as "fruits." See Aertker v. Placid Holding Co., No. 07-473, 2012 WL 4472002, at *6 (M.D. La. Sept. 27, 2012) (citing Rosenthal-Brown Fur Co. v. Jones-Frere Fur Co., 110 So. 630, 633 (La. 1926)); YIANNOPOULOS ON PROPERTY § 2:26. To put it another way, "fruits derived from a thing . . . belong to the owner of the thing by accession." YIANNOPOULOS ON PROPERTY § 11:17.
Here, the parties are fighting over the fruits (profits) of a thing (land) in which the pipelines are located. These profits accrue to the owner of the land because they are accessories of the land itself. In other words, they accrue by accession. Article 486 tells us that those profits belong to "[a] possessor in good faith." And, because accession is involved, Article 487 supplies the relevant definition of good faith. See Aertker, 2012 WL 4472002, at *3 (applying Article 487 to assess the good faith of the owner of a pipeline that extended onto plaintiff's land).