Judge hears arguments in Caddo Confederate Monument case: trial or dismissal?
Bonnie BoldenMONROE — A judge heard arguments Wednesday in a federal lawsuit challenging removal of the Caddo Parish Confederate monument.
The suit was filed by the the Shreveport chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy against the Caddo Parish Commission after it voted Oct. 19 to remove the monument.
The central issue in the lawsuit is ownership of the land under the concrete, marble and granite monument in front of the Caddo Courthouse at 501 Texas St. downtown. Both sides claim ownership.
The commission requested a summary judgment earlier this year — a judge's order to dismiss the lawsuit.
The Caddo Parish Police jury donated land for the monument in 1903, according to news accounts and meeting minutes at the time. But no paperwork has turned up showing that the policy jury formally transferred ownership. The Caddo commission is the police jury's successor.
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At the hearing in Monroe, U.S. District Judge Robert G. James allowed each side approximately 30 minutes to make oral arguments, followed by rebuttals. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Shreveport but was assigned to a judge in Monroe.
Parish attorney Donna Frazier argued that the commission owns the land on which the monument sits. She presented multiple scenarios that she says apply.
One is that the commission owns the land through a sale from Larkin Edwards to Angus McNeil or the Shreve Town Co. in the 1830s. There is debate over whether a renunciation claim filed later was meant to revoke the sale entirely or correct the date of the sale.
Dave Knadler, the attorney representing the United Daughters, argued that the commission doesn't own the property because the sale to McNeil or Shreve Town Co. was revoked, meaning the property still technically belongs to Edwards' descendants, some of whom still live in the area.
Frazier also argued that the commission could own the land because it has possessed the land for 10 or 30 years, a legal approach that is permitted under some circumstances in Louisiana and is called "acquisitive prescription."
To prove it, the parish commission would have to show it held the property for either 10 years or 30 years. For the 10-year option, the commission also would have to show that it acted in good faith and has a just title. The monument was erected in 1905 and unveiled to the community in 1906.
Knadler said the commission did not have possession of the property during the Civil War and Reconstruction era immediately after the war.
Frazier argued that, at worst, the commission maintained the property since at least the 1860s and would have owned it under 30-year acquisitive prescription by 1903.
The nature of whether the property was reserved for the monument and if that means the United Daughters owns the land also is contested.
Knadler argued that the commission violated the United Daughters' 14th Amendment rights because there was no way for the organization to appeal the removal. He also said removing the monument would infringe on the group's rights to freedom of speech and due process.
Judge James took the arguments under advisement and said he would announce a decision later. The judge, in an earlier ruling denying the United Daughters a preliminary injunction, suggested that based on the information available then the legal challenge was likely to fail.
If James denies the commission request for summary judgment, the case will proceed to trial. If the summary judgment is granted, the judge said, he expects that the United Daughters will appeal.
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