Case Title: Houston v. McClure

Citation: 456 So. 2d 788

Docket Number: 

State: alabama

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date: 1984-09-21T00:00:00Z

Document:
456 So. 2d 788 (1984)
Marseille HOUSTON & Elaine Houston
v.
John T. McCLURE & Christine McClure.
83-262.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
September 21, 1984.
M.A. Marsal and Barre C. Dumas, Mobile, for appellants.
John D. Richardson and David F. Daniel of Brown, Hudgens, Richardson, Whitfield & Gillion, Mobile, for appellees.
ADAMS, Justice.
This is an appeal from the Mobile County Circuit Court's judgment ordering appellants, Marseille and Elaine Houston, to convey property to appellees, John T. and Christine McClure. We affirm.
The facts of this case are as follows:
On July 9, 1981, the Houstons agreed to sell, and the McClures agreed to buy, a waterfront lot located at Dauphin Island, Alabama. The lot is more particularly described as Lot 12, Block 1, Aloe Bay Addition. Under the contract, the McClures owed the Houstons $10,000.00, due on December 15, 1981. On July 10, 1981, the McClures had tendered the initial $10,000.00 payment by cashier's check to the Houstons, who accepted it and signed a document acknowledging its receipt. The document appears in the record as follows:
For the next three days the McClures spent a great deal of time on the property; they cut the grass, cleared the grounds, and repaired and added on to an existing pier. The McClures also placed two diesel fuel tanks on the property.
On July 14, 1981, appellant Marseille Houston advised the McClures that he wanted to buy back the lot from them. Appellant offered to return their $10,000.00, along with a check for $700.00 to cover any improvement expenses incurred by the McClures. The McClures refused to accept these checks; as a result of their refusal Houston ordered them to remove the fuel tanks, and subsequently posted "no trespassing" signs on the lot. On July 15, 1981, the McClures tendered the remaining $10,000.00 payment by letter from their attorney, which the Houstons refused.
In August 1981, the McClures filed a complaint seeking specific performance of *789 the contract. A motion for summary judgment was filed by the McClures in January 1982. After considering the pleadings and affidavits of both sides, the trial court granted the motion for summary judgment and ordered the Houstons to convey the lot to the McClures. The Houstons appealed, and we reversed and remanded the case for trial. In this court's opinion, authored by Justice Faulkner, we stated that there were issues of fact as to whether the purchaser's alleged acts of possession of the property were referable exclusively to the contract, so as to satisfy the Statute of Frauds. Houston v. McClure, 425 So. 2d 1114 (Ala. 1983).
On September 6, 1983, the case was presented ore tenus to the trial court without a jury, and judgment thereafter was entered in favor of the McClures. The Houstons were ordered to convey the lot to the McClures by warranty deed within fourteen days of the entry of the judgment. It is from this judgment that the Houstons appeal.
The dispositive issue on appeal is whether the trial court's judgment ordering appellants to convey the lot to appellees is correct.
Contracts for the sale of land are governed by § 8-9-2, Code 1975 (the Statute of Frauds), which states:
When the case was before us on the first appeal, we held that both the cashier's check and the receipt regarding it failed to comply with the primary requirements of § 8-9-2, Code 1975, set forth above. Houston v. McClure, supra. This means that for the McClures to be able to recover, they must prove that the part performance exception to the Statute of Frauds is applicable.
Id., quoting Hagood v. Spinks, 219 Ala. 503, 122 So. 815, 816 (1929).
The evidence was presented to the trial court ore tenus, and, after listening to the testimony offered by both sides, the court made the following findings of fact:
*790 As we stated previously, this case was presented ore tenus. The general rule in ore tenus cases is that we will not disturb findings of fact made by the trial court if they are supported by the evidence or any reasonable inference therefrom, unless these findings are plainly and palpably erroneous. Eagerton v. Courtaulds North America, Inc., 421 So. 2d 104 (Ala. 1982); First Alabama Bank of Montgomery, N.A. v. Coker, 408 So. 2d 510 (Ala. 1982). We are unable to find any error in the trial court's findings of fact in this case.
For the above-stated reason, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
TORBERT, C.J., and FAULKNER, ALMON and EMBRY, JJ., concur.