## Facts

- The dispute involved rural property in Richland Parish, Louisiana: three adjoining 20-acre parcels (Tracts 1–3) forming 60 acres in the northeast corner of a larger 80-acre area that witnesses often discussed as a single block.
- In 1936, Jules Gilley, Sr. and his family moved to a home near the 80-acre area and soon began using the land for farming operations.
- Gilley’s daughters, Barbara G. Cannon and Lydia Mae Gilley Brunson, grew up near the property and later became plaintiffs, along with Lydia’s husband, Robert L. Brunson (in his capacity as trustee of the Robert Lee Brunson Revocable Living Trust).
- Plaintiffs’ evidence described the land as continually used for agricultural purposes over many decades, including planting crops (e.g., cotton, corn, and milo) and raising cattle.
- Plaintiffs’ witnesses testified that the property was fenced by about 1938: Gilley built fencing on multiple sides, and Robert Brunson helped construct the fence. Witnesses also described long-standing fencing on the remaining side, leaving the tract enclosed for many years.
- The defendants were record-title owners of the 60 acres at issue (Tracts 1–3), consisting of multiple individuals and entities, including a trustee, administrators of an educational fund, and University of Virginia officials.
- Plaintiffs filed a petition for declaratory judgment seeking to be declared owners of Tracts 1–3 through thirty-year acquisitive prescription.
- At trial, one record-title owner acknowledged he had not been on the property since 1965; he testified he did not recall seeing fencing or farming when he last visited and stated he had leased hunting rights on the property on several occasions.
- After a bench trial, the district court rendered a declaratory judgment recognizing plaintiffs’ ownership by acquisitive prescription. The record-title owners appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether plaintiffs proved, for at least thirty years, the type of possession “as owner” required for Louisiana thirty-year acquisitive prescription of immovable property—i.e., possession that is continuous, uninterrupted, peaceable, public, and unequivocal.
2. Whether the trial court committed manifest error in crediting plaintiffs’ testimony about long-term fencing and agricultural use, despite defendants’ evidence of alleged hunting leases and limited observations by record owners.

## Decision

- The court of appeal affirmed the declaratory judgment recognizing plaintiffs as owners of Tracts 1–3 by thirty-year acquisitive prescription.
- The court held the trial court was not clearly wrong in finding that plaintiffs and their family possessed the disputed land openly and as owners for more than thirty years, supported by evidence of enclosure and long-term agricultural use.
- The court rejected defendants’ challenge based on hunting leases and infrequent visits, concluding those points did not require reversal given the trial court’s credibility determinations and the overall proof of sustained, visible possession.

## Legal Principles

- Louisiana thirty-year acquisitive prescription allows a possessor to acquire ownership of an immovable without just title or good faith by proving thirty years of possession that is continuous, uninterrupted, peaceable, public, and unequivocal.
- “Possession as owner” requires both physical control (corpus) and intent to possess for oneself (animus); the intent element may be inferred from conduct consistent with ownership.
- For rural land, fencing/enclosure and long-term agricultural use (such as planting crops and running cattle) are common acts that can establish open and unequivocal possession as owner.
- Sporadic or limited acts by record owners—such as occasional hunting leases or rare visits—generally do not defeat a well-supported showing of continuous, visible possession by another party.
- Appellate review of factual findings on possession and witness credibility is governed by the manifest error/clearly wrong standard; an appellate court will not reweigh reasonable credibility calls made at trial.

## Conclusion

Brunson v. Hemler affirmed a declaratory judgment awarding ownership of 60 acres (Tracts 1–3) to the Brunson/Cannon plaintiffs by Louisiana thirty-year acquisitive prescription because the trial court reasonably found decades of fenced enclosure and continuous, open agricultural use showing possession as owners, and the defendants’ claimed hunting leases and long absence did not show manifest error.


Brunson v. Hemler, 989 So. 2d 246 (2008)