Case Title: Adams v. Adams

Citation: 346 So. 2d 1146

Docket Number: 

State: alabama

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date: 1977-06-10T00:00:00Z

Document:
346 So. 2d 1146 (1977)
Bill ADAMS, David Troglen and Wanda Faye Troglen
v.
Melvalene ADAMS.
SC 2134.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
June 10, 1977.
Aubrey O. Lammons of Lammons, Bell & Sneed, Huntsville, for appellants.
Roscoe Roberts, Jr. of Watts, Salmon, Roberts, Manning & Noojin, Huntsville, for appellee.
ALMON, Justice.
The original suit filed by Melvalene Adams against her ex-husband, Bill Adams, and David and Wanda Faye Troglen, sought the reformation of two deeds exchanged between her and her ex-husband via a divorce decree, the reformation of a deed subsequently conveyed to Mr. and Mrs. Troglen *1147 by Bill Adams, and compensatory and punitive damages. The court severed the issue of damages and heard the issue of reformation without a jury. The equitable relief requested, namely, title to a certain 5 foot strip of property crossing Mrs. Adams' driveway, was granted. Mr. Adams and the Troglens appealed, questioning primarily the sufficiency of the evidence. We affirm.
Mr. and Mrs. Adams were married in 1956. They bought 5 acres of property near Madison in 1959. In 1966, they mortgaged 1 acre of the 5 acres to finance the construction of a house on the 1 acre. In contemplation of having a county road run along the southern boundary of the property, the 1 acre tract stopped 25 feet short of the southern boundary. In August, 1972, Mr. and Mrs. Adams conveyed a 20 foot right-of-way along the southern boundary to the county. Mr. and Mrs. Adams subsequently were divorced in September of 1973. By agreement, Mrs. Adams received the 1 acre with the residence on it and Mr. Adams, the remaining 4 acres. Mrs. Adams, being unaware that between the 1 acre and the deeded right-of-way a 5 foot strip of property (she had let Mr. Adams handle the mortgage and right-of-way deed), told her attorney to base the exchange of deeds between her and Mr. Adams on the description of the mortgage. Mr. Adams knew about the 5 foot strip, but testified that he forgot to mention it during the divorce proceedings.
(The parties stipulate that neither attorney handling the divorce was aware of the 5 foot strip between the 1 acre and the road.)
In April, 1975, Mr. Adams conveyed to his friend of many years, Mr. Troglen (deed was to Mr. and Mrs. Troglen), a lot adjacent to the 1 acre owned by Mrs. Adams, together with the 5 foot strip fronting the 1 acre. That same month Mr. Troglen put up "For Sale" signs along the 5 foot strip. The signs gave Mrs. Adams her first notice that she did not own the property up to the right-of-way. Mrs. Adams was not living at the house in April. It had partly burned the prior March and repairs took approximately 2 months. On June 27, 1975, Mr. Troglen wrote Mrs. Adams a letter offering to sell or lease to her the 5 foot strip, stating that otherwise she was trespassing, and that to protect his title he would have to erect a fence. On September 9, 1975, Mr. Troglen put up a barbed wire fence along the 5 foot strip and on September 10, filed a complaint for trespass with the Madison County Sheriff's Department.
At the time Mr. Troglen purchased the lot and 5 foot strip, he was aware of the driveway crossing the strip.
Appellants contend that Mrs. Adams' suit for reformation of the deeds is a collateral attack on the divorce decree. The question, however, is not whether the divorce decree should stand, but, rather, whether the doctrine of res judicata and collateral estoppel precludes consideration of reforming the deeds. We do not believe it does.
Facts that are merely assumed in the pleadings or decision of a prior case, but which are not placed in issue or essential to the judgment are not precluded from being raised in a subsequent suit between the same parties on a different cause of action.
In Mutone v. Mutone, Sup., 236 N.Y.S.2d 799 (1963), the court held that a husband was not precluded from seeking reformation of a separation agreement on which the wife had already sued for payment.
In Lehrman v. Lehrman, 203 Or. 30, 278 P.2d 139 (1954), the Oregon Supreme Court allowed reformation of a divorce decree to include the addition of a property description. Similarly, in Sedlacek v. Sedlacek, 107 Ill.App.2d 334, 246 N.E.2d 6 (1969), a husband was allowed to seek reformation of a divorce decree.
In the present case, the specifics of the legal description found in the divorce decree were not at issue and were not essential to the decree. See State v. Mudd, 273 Ala. 579, 143 So. 2d 171 (1962); Ashurst v. Preferred Life Assur. Soc. of Montgomery, 282 Ala. 119, 209 So. 2d 403 (1968).
Tit. 47, § 136, Code of Alabama 1940, Recompiled 1958, provides:
At the trial level the burden was on Mrs. Adams to prove her case by clear, convincing, and satisfactory evidence. Fidelity Service Ins. Co. v. A. B. Legg & Sons Burial Ins. Co., 274 Ala. 94, 145 So. 2d 811 (1962). The question presented on appeal, the evidence having been heard ore tenus, is whether the lower court's decree is supported by competent evidence, or whether it is plainly and palpably wrong. Fidelity Service Ins. Co., supra; Murphree v. Henson, 289 Ala. 340, 267 So. 2d 414 (1972); and 66 Am.Jur.2d, Reformation of Instr., § 130, pp. 653-654.
*1149 We conclude from the record that there is sufficient evidence to support the trial court's decision to reform the deeds. Our review of the weight of the evidence does not convince us that the decree is plainly and palpably wrong.
The remaining question is whether the Troglens' rights in the 5 foot strip are being prejudiced. This depends on whether Mr. Troglen took without notice of Mrs. Adams' claim of interest in the 5 foot strip.
". . . Notice of a claim of interest in real property can be inferred from knowledge of facts sufficient to put a reasonably prudent person on inquiry, which if followed up, would lead to the discovery of the title asserted by some other party. . . ." Murphree v. Henson, supra, 289 Ala. at 352, 267 So. 2d  at 425.
See also Leslie v. Click, 221 Ala. 163, 128 So. 170 (1930). Again, our scope of review is limited to whether the trial court's decision, that Mr. Troglen did take with notice, is palpably wrong and contrary to the great weight of the evidence. Murphree v. Henson, supra.
Mr. Troglen knew at the time he purchased the lot and 5 foot strip that Mrs. Adams used the driveway crossing the strip for access to her residence, and had no reason to believe Mrs. Adams was crossing property other than her own. Yet, Mr. Troglen made no inquiry as to whether Mrs. Adams claimed an interest therein.
We believe the evidence supports the lower court's conclusion that a reasonably prudent person would have made inquiry and that the Troglens would not be prejudiced by a reformation of their deed to exclude the 5 foot strip.
We therefore affirm the decision of the trial court.
AFFIRMED.
TORBERT, C. J., and BLOODWORTH, JONES and EMBRY, JJ., concur.