Case Name: A. S. HOLLIDAY et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. CONTINENTAL CAN COMPANY, INC., Defendant-Appellant
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1977-09-26
Citations: 351 So. 2d 181
Docket Number: No. 13328
Parties: A. S. HOLLIDAY et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. CONTINENTAL CAN COMPANY, INC., Defendant-Appellant.
Judges: Before BOLIN, HALL and JONES, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 351
Pages: 181–184

Head Matter:
A. S. HOLLIDAY et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. CONTINENTAL CAN COMPANY, INC., Defendant-Appellant.
No. 13328.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.
Sept. 26, 1977.
En Banc Rehearing Denied Oct. 31, 1977.
Baker, Culpepper & Brunson by Bobby L. Culpepper, Jonesboro, for defendant-appellant.
Whitten & Blake by John C. Blake, Jonesboro, for plaintiffs-appellees.
Before BOLIN, HALL and JONES, JJ.

Opinion:
BOLIN, Judge.
This petitory action arose after defendant allowed certain land claimed by plaintiffs to be clear cut of timber. Plaintiffs asked to be declared owners of the disputed tract and to be awarded damages for the alleged trespass. The trial court upheld plaintiffs' demands and defendant appealed. We affirm the judgment insofar as it declares plaintiffs to be owners, but reverse the award of damages.
There are two basic issues presented. We must first decide whether plaintiffs acquired ownership of the woodland tract by the prescription of thirty years. Secondly, if we determine plaintiffs are the rightful owners, has their action for damages resulting from defendant's trespass nevertheless prescribed?
In 1937 plaintiffs' predecessor in title purchased three parcels of timberland totaling eighty acres, a portion of which was under fence at the time. The property was immediately surveyed. The boundaries were painted with yellow lines and the corners marked with iron pipe in conformity with this survey. Plaintiffs had timber selectively cut from the land on three occasions. They also repainted the yellow boundary lines as needed.
Defendant owned or leased timberland south of and adjacent to plaintiffs' tracts. In 1963 defendant conducted a survey of its holdings and marked the boundary lines with white paint and concrete corner markers. Plaintiffs disputed defendant's northern boundary, complaining it encroached on plaintiffs' previously surveyed southern boundary. Plaintiffs protested to defendant by letter, met with defendant's representatives without successfully resolving the dispute, and engaged in an ongoing confrontation with defendant which involved removing and replacing painted lines and corner monuments.
Pursuant to a sale of timber by defendant, the land in contest was clear cut in May of 1971. Plaintiffs filed this suit in April of 1973. They sought to be recognized as owners of a strip of land, approximately seven-tenths of an acre (48' by 660'), and requested $30,275.30 as damages for defendant's trespass and removal of timber from the tract.
The trial court, recognizing defendant would otherwise be the record owner of the disputed strip on the basis of the accuracy of its 1963 survey, nevertheless found that plaintiffs acquired ownership of the 48' by 660' area by adverse possession for a period in excess of 30 years.
Defendant contends the ongoing boundary dispute, which commenced with defendant's survey in late 1963, interrupted plaintiffs' peaceable possession. The disturbance of possession beginning in 1963 did not constitute an interruption of possession to defeat plaintiffs' claim to a prescriptive title. Liner v. Louisiana Land and Exploration Company, 319 So.2d 766 (La.1975).
The court in Liner dealt with the possession required to bring a possessory action, but held it identical to that required for acquisitive prescription. One remains in possession until he abandons it, or another expels him, or he permits his estate to be usurped. Liner v. Louisiana Land and Exploration Company, supra; Louisiana Civil Code, Articles 3501, 3516, 3517. In this case plaintiffs' possession of the disputed tract was not interrupted until the 1971 clear cut.
Considering the nature of the land in question, there is sufficient evidence in the record to support the conclusion of open, notorious possession leading to a prescriptive title. Hill v. Richey, 221 La. 402, 59 So.2d 434 (1952); Harris v. Galloway, 348 So.2d 1263 (La.App. 2d Cir., 1977).
Suit was filed more than one year after the timber was cut from plaintiffs' property. The record indicates that plaintiffs should have known of this trespass. Defendant's exception of prescription should have been sustained to bar the action for damages for the 1971 timber cut. Louisiana Civil Code Articles 3536, 3537; National Park Bank v. Concordia Land & Timber Co., 159 La. 86, 105 So. 234 (1925); Hayward v. Noel, 225 So.2d 638 (La.App. 1st Cir., 1969).
The trial court fixed the expert witness fee of plaintiffs' consulting forester at $200 and taxed defendant with this cost. Since this witness testified solely to establish plaintiffs' damages from the timber cut, and since we disallow these damages, plaintiffs, as "the party cast in judgment" on this issue, are required to pay the forester's fee. La.R.S. 13:3666.
That portion of the trial court's judgment which awards $490.77 damages to plaintiffs and condemns defendant to pay the expert witness fee of $200 is reversed, and there is judgment rejecting plaintiffs' demands for these items.
In all other respects the judgment is affirmed at appellant's costs.