St. Charles Par. Sch. Bd. v. P & L Inv. Corp. - 95-2571 (La. 05/21/96), 674 So. 2d 218

Rule:

When a private person owns the land on which a public road is built and the public merely has the right to use it, the land is a private thing subject to public use. The public may acquire an interest in the land on which a road is built or in the use of a road through purchase, exchange, donation, expropriation, prescription, or dedication.

Facts:

Plaintiff, St. Charles Parish school board purchased land from the respondent, P & L Investment Corporation, the company for the construction of a high school. Respondent retained a strip of the land conveyed. Later, in the process of paving a portion of a public roadway, the plaintiff governing authority paved a part of the respondent’s retained strip. Eventually, with the respondent’s consent, an additional portion of the strip was paved, and the remaining portion was covered in shells. Plaintiff performed maintenance on the concrete and shell portions of the street, including the respondent’s property. The respondent claimed ownership of the portions of the street and demanded that the plaintiff should cease using it. Plaintiff then filed a suit to seek a declaration that the said portion of the street was a public street and an injunction to prevent the defendant company from interfering with the public use of the said property. Plaintiff contended that the defendant company’s portion of the street had been dedicated to public use. The trial court declared that a street was the property of the respondent company and denied any injunctive relief to the plaintiff school board in their suit seeking a declaration that the street was a public street. The court of appeal affirmed the judgment.

Issue:

Was the said portion of the street owned by the respondent subjected to public use?

Answer:

Yes.

Conclusion:

The judgment of the court of appeal was reversed, finding that, because the respondent company's portion of the street was built, maintained, and worked by the authority of the plaintiff school board governing authority for at least three years with the respondent’s actual knowledge of such work, the respondent tacitly dedicated the asphalt, concrete, and shell roadway located on their property to public use under La. Rev. Stat. § 48:491.