Opinion ID: 1816783
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: quasi-possession of a right of passage

Text: The basic requisites for a possessory action are stated in Article 3658 of the Code of Civil Procedure. In order to acquire the right of possession which is necessary to bring a possessory action, the possessor must intend to be the owner of the real right which he claims. C.C. 3424. According to Professor Yiannopoulas, in order to maintain a possessory action, the possession must manifest the factual authority over a thing with the intent to own it. 2 La.Civ.Law Treat. (Yiannopoulas) 2d Edition § 211 at page 564. Under Article 3424, the possessor attempting to bring a possessory action is required to show a clear and unequivocal intent to use the property or the real right as his own. The decisions of the courts of appeal are in accord with this interpretation of C.C. 3424. Cf. Humble v. Dewey, 215 So.2d 378 (La. App. 3d Cir.1968); McCoy v. Toms, 384 So.2d 518 (La.App. 2d Cir.1980); William T. Burton Industries, Inc. v. McDonald, 346 So.2d 1333 (La.App. 3d Cir.1977). See, for example, Thevenet v. Clause, 302 So.2d 649 (La.App. 3d Cir.1974), discussed in 49 Tul.L.Rev. 1173, 1178: ... Regardless of a party's subjective intent, he will not be allowed to maintain a possessory action unless he clearly manifested his intent to possess as owner through his acts of possession. This result advances the objective of not permitting a precarious possessor to bring a possessory action and further insulates the true owner from the danger of being prescribed against without his knowledge. In her petition, plaintiff alleges that she possessed a predial servitude on a gravel road which paralleled the boundary of Fred Lilly's property, for one year prior to the disturbance. Her possessory allegations are based on her contention that she and her lessees regularly used the road for ingress and egress to her property. Nowhere in her petition or supplemental petition does plaintiff allege facts which indicate that she or her lessees intended to acquire a predial servitude over the roadway. Plaintiff's mere intermittent passage over the gravel road without more, is not sufficient to show an intent to become owner of a real right to use the road. Plaintiff's alleged acts of possession were equivocal in nature and did not express an intent to own a right of passage. Such acts are without legal effect. C.C. 3435, 3436.