Case Title: Edwards v. McCord

Citation: 461 So. 2d 1319

Docket Number: 

State: alabama

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date: 1984-12-21T00:00:00Z

Document:
461 So. 2d 1319 (1984)
John D. EDWARDS and Bertha Edwards
v.
Bonnie Lou McCORD.
83-1132.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
December 21, 1984.
Joe M. Dawson of Dawson & McGinty, Scottsboro, for appellants.
Robert S. Thomas of Thomas & Proctor, Scottsboro, for appellee.
MADDOX, Justice.
In this case, the purchasers of land, sought in a prior proceeding to reform a deed, claiming that the seller had intended to convey tracts 1, 2, and 3, but that the deed had only covered tracts 1 and 2. The seller counterclaimed in that proceeding and averred that she intended to convey tract 3 instead of tract 2. She also sought reformation of the deed to substitute tract 3 for tract 2. The trial judge found insufficient evidence to support either party's position. Thereafter, the seller sued in ejectment, claiming that she was the owner of tract 3. Obviously, this position was inconsistent with the one she had taken in the first proceeding. Was she estopped? The trial court held she was not, because she was unsuccessful in maintaining her position in the prior proceeding. We agree.
In Russell v. Russell, 404 So. 2d 662, at 665 (Ala.1981), this Court addressed this issue and stated the following:
Furthermore, in Davis v. Wakelee, 156 U.S. 680, 689, 15 S. Ct. 555, 558, 39 L. Ed. 578 (1894), the United States Supreme Court stated the following:
It is essential, in order to invoke the operation of the legal doctrine of estoppel, that the inconsistent position first asserted must have been successfully maintained. Here, neither party was successful in maintaining the position each took in the first proceeding. We, therefore, find that the lower court properly denied the purchasers' motion for summary judgment, and did not err in entering a judgment for the seller in her ejectment action. The judgment of the trial court is due to be affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
TORBERT, C.J., and JONES, SHORES and BEATTY, JJ., concur.