## Facts

- A 300-acre tract near the Black River in Catahoula Parish was formerly owned by W.C. Thompson and his wife.
- In November 1949, the Thompsons purportedly sold the tract to Stella Calhoun.
- In December 1949, Calhoun sold the tract to Grey Ramon Brown.
- In October 1951, Calhoun repurchased the tract from Brown and remained in possession thereafter.
- In 1977, alleged heirs of the Thompsons sued Calhoun for ownership and an accounting of revenues, alleging the Thompsons’ signatures on the 1949 sale were forged.
- Calhoun sought summary judgment, asserting ownership by ten-year acquisitive prescription based on possession and asserted good faith (including by tacking to Brown’s possession).
- The trial court granted summary judgment for Calhoun, and the court of appeal affirmed, relying on precedent read to permit a successor to claim ten-year prescription by relying on an author’s good faith despite the successor’s own bad faith.

## Issues

1. Whether summary judgment was proper on Calhoun’s claim of ten-year acquisitive prescription when plaintiffs alleged the 1949 sale was forged, putting Calhoun’s good faith and the prescriptive elements in dispute.
2. Whether a particular successor may satisfy the good-faith element of ten-year acquisitive prescription by tacking to a prior possessor’s alleged good faith when the successor’s own good faith at acquisition is contested.

## Decision

- The Louisiana Supreme Court reversed the summary judgment and remanded.
- The court held that reliance on precedent allowing a bad-faith successor to “borrow” an author’s good faith for ten-year prescription was an incorrect expansion of prior law.
- The court concluded genuine issues of material fact existed regarding good faith, title, and possession, precluding summary judgment on ten-year acquisitive prescription.

## Legal Principles

- Ten-year acquisitive prescription of immovables requires concurrence of: (1) good faith, (2) valid title sufficient to transfer ownership, (3) possession for the required period, and (4) a prescriptible object.
- Good faith is an essential statutory condition for ten-year acquisitive prescription and must be evaluated at the commencement of the claimant’s possession.
- Tacking may aggregate periods of possession, but it does not automatically cure the absence of good faith for a particular successor claiming the ten-year prescriptive period.
- Allegations of forgery in the act of sale directly implicate good faith and title and can create material factual disputes that must be resolved before applying ten-year acquisitive prescription.
- Summary judgment is improper where core prescriptive elements—especially good faith and the circumstances of acquisition and possession—are genuinely disputed.

## Conclusion

The court required factual development on whether Calhoun and her asserted chain of possession met the codal requirements for ten-year acquisitive prescription, rejecting summary judgment where alleged forgery and contested good faith made prescription unavailable as a matter of law at that stage.


Bartlett v. Calhoun, 412 So. 2d 597 (La. 1982)