Ashland Oil Company, Inc. v. Palo Alto, Inc.
Louisiana Court of Appeal
615 So.2d 971 (1993)
Facts
Ashland Oil Company, Inc. (Ashland) (plaintiff) acquired servitudes from landowners for the installation and operation of a 26-mile-long gas pipeline. One of the landowners was Palo Alto, Inc. (defendant). The contract for the servitude over Palo Alto’s land designated that the servitude was to be used exclusively for the transportation of CO2 and provided for a 12-month term for prescription of the servitude for nonuse. Ashland built its pipeline and began using it to transport CO2. Within a few years, however, Ashland no longer had a need to transport CO2 through the pipeline. In an effort to prevent the servitude from being prescribed for nonuse, Ashland moved CO2 through the pipeline and vented it into the air every 11 and a half months for a few years in a row. When Ashland later again began using the servitude for the actual transportation of CO2, a dispute arose between Ashland and Palo Alto as to whether the servitude had ended from nonuse. The trial court held that the servitude had been prescribed from nonuse during the period when Ashland had ceased actual transportation of CO2 in the pipeline. Ashland appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Lottinger, C.J.)
Dissent (Foil, J.)
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