## Facts

- Rockholt owned a 35.521-acre tract in East Baton Rouge Parish.
- The State expropriated a 300-foot strip through the tract for construction of Interstate 12 (I-12), leaving two separated segments, including a northern 17.954-acre tract.
- The northern tract physically bordered I-12, but I-12 was a controlled-access highway and lawful access from the tract to I-12 was denied.
- Rockholt claimed the northern tract was “enclosed” and sought a legal servitude of passage across Keaty’s adjacent land under Louisiana Civil Code art. 699.
- The demanded passage (about 50 feet wide) would cross Keaty’s land to reach other property owned by Rockholt, not a public road.
- From that other Rockholt property, Drusilla Drive (a public road) was about 746 feet away, but no road existed on Rockholt’s intervening property at the time suit was filed.

## Issues

1. Whether a tract that physically abuts a controlled-access interstate is “enclosed” under Louisiana Civil Code art. 699 when legal access to the interstate is prohibited.
2. Whether a servitude demanded under art. 699 satisfies the requirement of passage “to the nearest public road” when it terminates on the owner’s other land rather than on a public road.

## Decision

- The Louisiana Supreme Court affirmed dismissal of Rockholt’s suit.
- The court held art. 699 did not apply because the northern tract was not “enclosed” within the meaning of the article.
- The court also held the specific passage demanded was legally deficient because it did not provide access to the nearest public road.

## Legal Principles

- An estate is not “enclosed” for purposes of Louisiana Civil Code art. 699 merely because direct access to an adjoining public highway is legally restricted under controlled-access highway law.
- A legal servitude of passage under art. 699 must run to the “nearest public road”; a route that ends on the claimant’s other property, requiring additional internal construction to reach a public road, does not satisfy the article.
- When the pleadings and undisputed facts show art. 699 is inapplicable and the demanded servitude fails the statutory endpoint requirement, dismissal on no cause of action and summary judgment is proper.

## Conclusion

The court denied a demanded servitude of passage where the claimant’s tract bordered a controlled-access interstate and the proposed route did not reach a public road, limiting Civil Code art. 699 to truly enclosed estates and requiring passage to terminate at the nearest public road.


Rockholt v. Keaty, 237 So. 2d 663 (La. 1970)