Recent Development by L.C. Friedmann
Elizabeth Camel brought suit for partition by licitation against parties whose chain of title derived from her former husband, Patrick Camel. In 1975, after the couple had voluntarily separated, Patrick Camel purchased two pieces of immovable property. In the acts of sale, he falsely declared that he was ‘judicially separated’ from his wife. Because the couple was still married, Elizabeth Camel became one-half owner of her husband's interest in the properties under Louisiana's community property laws. In 1977, Elizabeth Camel obtained a judgment of separation, but this judgment was never recorded. Eight months after the judgment of separation, Patrick Camel sold the two properties and declared accurately that he was judicially separated from Elizabeth Camel. In December of 1983, Elizabeth Camel filed suit claiming to be an owner in indivision of the two pieces of immovable property. Her claim was rejected by the trial court and by Louisiana's First Circuit Court of Appeal. Relying on Humphreys v. Royal, the court of appeal held that the preservation of the security of title to immovables prevails over protection of a spouse's community property interest when the spouse has failed to take legal measures to protect his or her interest. The Louisiana Supreme Court affirmed, holding that although a third-party purchaser could not rely on the misstated marital status in Patrick Camel's acquisition, the third party could rely on the absence from the public record of the judgment of separation that would have signaled that Patrick Camel was no longer in singular control of the property. Camel v. Waller, 526 So. 2d 1086 (La. 1988).
About the Author
L.C. Friedmann.
Citation
63 Tul. L. Rev. 193 (1988)