## Facts

- A subdivision plat for Charles Park Addition Subdivision in Alexandria, Louisiana was recorded in 1977.
- The plat dedicated streets and utility easements to public use and also depicted a 4.053-acre vacant tract across Wycliff Way labeled “PARK,” without expressly mentioning that tract in the written dedication clause.
- Subdivision lots were sold by reference to the recorded plat.
- The original developer later sold the “PARK” tract to private buyers; the Whites ultimately acquired it in 1985 and sought to develop it.
- The City and neighboring owners opposed development, asserting the tract had been dedicated as a public park.
- The Whites filed a possessory action; defendants moved for summary judgment based on implied dedication.
- The Levee District had executed a 1985 renunciation of servitude affecting the tract, which the Whites argued validated their ability to develop the property.

## Issues

1. Whether recording a subdivision plat labeling a tract “PARK,” followed by sales of lots by reference to the plat, constitutes an implied dedication of the tract to public use despite the absence of an express dedication of the tract in the dedication clause.
2. Whether the implied dedication renders the tract a “public thing” owned by the municipality in its public capacity.
3. Whether a later renunciation of servitude by a levee district can defeat or undo the dedication and resulting public character of the tract.

## Decision

- The court affirmed summary judgment for the City and neighboring owners.
- The court held that the plat’s designation of the tract as “PARK,” combined with lot sales by reference to the plat, created an implied and irrevocable dedication of the tract to public use as a park.
- The court concluded the tract was a public thing owned by the City in its capacity as a public person.
- The court rejected the argument that the Levee District’s renunciation of servitude negated the dedication or restored private ownership inconsistent with the public use.

## Legal Principles

- A developer’s recording of a subdivision plat designating a tract for public use, coupled with sales of lots by reference to that plat, can create an implied dedication of the tract to public use.
- Such a dedication may be found even if the written dedication clause expressly lists only other dedicated features (e.g., streets and easements), where the plat’s depiction communicates the public use and purchasers rely on it.
- Once established through plat and sale, the dedication is irrevocable; later purchasers take subject to the public rights created by the dedication.
- Property dedicated to public use becomes a “public thing” owned by the municipality in its public capacity.
- Later acts affecting private or servitude interests cannot retroactively nullify an existing public dedication to vest private rights inconsistent with the dedication.

## Conclusion

The court held that a recorded subdivision plat labeling land as “PARK,” followed by lot sales by reference to the plat, effects an implied, irrevocable dedication of that land to public use, making it a public thing owned by the city and defeating later private development claims.


White v. Kinberger, 611 So. 2d 810 (La. Ct. App. 3d Cir. 1992)