Title: Boros v. Palmer

State: alabama

Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court

Document:

472 So. 2d 1020 (1985)
George BOROS and Elsie Boros
v.
Gwen PALMER, and Johnston-Rast & Hays Company, A Corporation.
83-1432.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
June 7, 1985.
*1021 Jeff Bennitt, Birmingham, for appellants.
Stephen A. Rowe of Lange, Simpson, Robinson & Somerville, Birmingham, for appellees.
ADAMS, Justice.
Plaintiffs, George and Elsie Boros, appeal from the Jefferson County Circuit Court's grant of summary judgment against them and in favor of defendants, Gwen Palmer and Johnston-Rast & Hays. We affirm.
On December 4, 1979, a real estate agent employed by Johnston-Rast & Hays Company showed George Boros a house located at 3432 Meadowoods Drive in Birmingham. After Boros had inspected it with Palmer, he executed a contract for its purchase. The house was built by Shewmake Development Company, and Jack Shewmake lived in it from the time it was built until it was sold, which was approximately one and one-half years. While Boros and Palmer were looking at the house, and afterward during negotiations, Palmer made several representations about its quality, among them: "it was extremely well-built," "in excellent condition," "energy efficient," *1022 "was thoroughly waterproofed," and "had extra insulation."
Boros took possession of the house on February 1, 1980. Over the next day or so, he inspected it, in his words, "with a fine tooth comb." During this inspection, he kept detailed notes concerning the defects he found. This note-keeping practice was not peculiar for Boros, as he admitted in his deposition that he was in the habit of keeping detailed notes of the important events in his life and the dates upon which they occurred. As a result of this inspection, Boros noted approximately forty defects in the premises, including the following listing quoted from his notes:
All of these defects, as well as numerous others, were discovered by Boros on either February 1 or 2, 1980.
On February 7, 1980, Boros talked with James Stevens, the attorney who handled the closing, about the possibility that he had been defrauded, as is evidenced by the following excerpt from Boros's deposition:
Stevens declined representing Boros in a fraud action, due to his involvement as closing attorney. On February 12, 1980, Boros sought the advice of Attorney Matt Scalici concerning the possibility of fraud litigation. Boros met with another attorney, John Roach, on February 13, 1980, and later that month with Attorneys Bill Baxley and Charles Dauphin, seeking information about a possible fraud action.
During the time in which he was meeting with these attorneys, Boros was also attempting to have Shewmake repair the defects in the house. Boros's deposition reflects that this took place on or before February 12, 1980:
This action was commenced by the filing of a complaint on February 13, 1981. After depositions were taken, defendants filed motions for summary judgment, which were denied by the court. More depositions were then taken, and after the case was continued numerous times, it was tried and a mistrial resulted. Defendants then filed motions for summary judgment, which were granted. George and Elsie Boros subsequently filed this appeal.
Although there are other grounds upon which the trial judge probably could have granted summary judgment in this case, they were not argued in brief to us, and we will not address them. A trial judge's judgment can be upheld, if correct, even though he has assigned the wrong reasons. However, as postured, the sole issue for our review is whether the trial court was correct in granting defendants' motions for summary judgment based on the running of the statute of limitations.
George and Elsie Boros filed suit alleging fraud on the part of all defendants. The false statements which serve as the basis of this action were those representations made by Gwen Palmer concerning the condition of the house. These representations, however, were made to George Boros on December 4, 1979, and the suit was not filed until February 13, 1981. Therefore, the suit is barred by the one-year statute of limitations for fraud actions. § 6-2-39, Code 1975. However, plaintiffs' suit still might warrant being submitted to the jury if they could prove that the fraud claims fall under the saving provision of Code 1975, § 6-2-3, which states:
There are two reasons why plaintiffs' suit does not fall under the above-quoted saving provision. A discussion of both of these reasons is found in Johnson v. Shenandoah Life Insurance Company, 291 Ala. 389, 281 So. 2d 636 (1973), wherein this Court stated:
291 Ala. 389 at 396, 281 So. 2d  at 642, quoting Williams v. Bedenbaugh, 215 Ala. 200, 204, 110 So. 286, 289 (1926).
The first reason plaintiffs' action does not come under the saving provision is that they failed to aver with precision, as *1024 required, what prevented a discovery of the facts and circumstances constituting the fraud before the bar of the statute was complete. Moreover, there is credible evidence that George Boros was well aware of such facts and circumstances before the time period expired, as the statements were made in December 1979, and he had discovered dozens of defects in the house the first week of February 1980.
Second, according to Johnson, supra, the facts constituting fraud are to be considered as discovered when they should have been discovered by a reasonably prudent person. We are of the opinion that George Boros had sufficient facts before him concerning the condition of the house, before February 13, 1980, which would have led a reasonably prudent person to suspect something and, therefore, take affirmative action.
Since plaintiffs have not shown that their suit comes under the saving provision, it is barred by the one-year statute of limitations. The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
TORBERT, C.J., and FAULKNER, ALMON and EMBRY, JJ., concur.