Title: Mardis v. Nichols

State: alabama

Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court

Document:

393 So. 2d 976 (1981)
Danny MARDIS
v.
Bailey M. NICHOLS.
79-664.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
January 29, 1981.
J. G. Speake of Speake, Speake & Reich, Moulton, for appellant.
Don R. White, Moulton, for appellee.
FAULKNER, Justice.
This is an appeal from a judgment in the Circuit Court of Lawrence County determining a boundary line between two coterminous landowners in favor of plaintiff, Bailey Nichols. We reverse.
This case involves a boundary dispute between plaintiff, Bailey Nichols, and defendant, Danny Mardis, over Nichols's south boundary and Mardis's north boundary. The facts are undisputed by the parties. The disputed strip is approximately thirty-five feet wide and runs the length of the boundary between the two tracts. In 1974 or 1975, Nichols purchased twenty acres from his father, who had purchased the same from William R. Mardis, Danny's brother, in 1969. Danny Mardis owned the *977 land on both sides of Nichols's property. He acquired the twenty acres adjacent to Nichols's south side from his father, Jack Mardis, who had inherited the property from his father in 1928. Danny received his record title in 1974, pursuant to a 1966 deed designed to take effect upon the death of his last surviving parent. There was testimony, however, indicating that Danny had been put in possession of the property as early as 1956, that he had worked the property since that time, and that he had paid taxes on the property prior to 1966.
Mardis maintained that the boundary in dispute was, and always had been, a fence built in 1929 or 1931. Mr. Lee Oliver, a seventy-two year old native of Lawrence County, testified that he helped build the fence, which, at that time, was intended to be the line between two twenty-acre tracts that "Grandpa" Mardis had given to his children, Melvina and Jack (Danny's father). Mr. Oscar Owens, an eighty-two year old resident, testified that many years ago, while picking blackberries on the property with Danny's father, he had inquired about the boundary. In response, the older Mardis had pointed out the fence and stated that it was the line. Other witnesses who had been aware of the fence for at least twenty-five years or more testified that the fence was recognized by surrounding landowners and the community as a boundary line fence.
Nichols, however, based his boundaries on a 1978 survey and erected an electric fence along the survey lines. Mardis then notified Nichols that he would have to move that portion of the fence along Mardis's north boundary because it was on his land. Mardis did not contest the fence along Nichols' northern boundary. Nichols responded that he wanted his twenty acres and that Mardis would have to move his line since he owned the land on both sides of Nichols. When Nichols continuously refused to remove his fence and to recognize the old line fence as the true boundary, Mardis tore down the new fence and retook possession up to the old fence.
On February 28, 1979, Nichols filed a complaint alleging a boundary dispute. Mardis counterclaimed, alleging that the boundary was marked by an existing line fence. A non-jury trial resulted in a judgment for Nichols. Mardis appeals.
The sole issue that we must determine is whether the judgment of the trial court, establishing the survey line as the true boundary, was contrary to the weight of the evidence and the law. The following principles, recognized and followed by this Court in determining boundary line cases, are instructive in the present dispute.
In Carpenter v. Huffman, 294 Ala. 189, 314 So. 2d 65 (1975), Justice Jones summarized the applicability of our adverse possession statute, Code 1975, § 6-5-200, to boundary disputes, as follows:
In an earlier decision, Sylvest v. Stowers, 276 Ala. 695, 166 So. 2d 423 (1964), this Court reversed the decree of the trial court establishing the survey line as the true boundary. In reversing, the Court reemphasized, as set out below, the intent of the landowner as a controlling factor in boundary determinations.
In Salter v. Cobb, 264 Ala. 609, 88 So. 2d 845 (1956), we said:
This court has made it abundantly plain that one does not have to be a willful landgrabber or dishonest in order to acquire title by adverse possession. We quote from Brantley v. Helton, 224 Ala. 93, 139 So. 283 (1932):
Furthermore, this Court has repeatedly recognized that a fence is an outstanding symbol of possession. Kubiszyn v. Bradley, 292 Ala. 570, 298 So. 2d 9 (1974); Graham v. Hawkins, 281 Ala. 288, 202 So. 2d 74 (1967). In Hinds v. Slack, 293 Ala. 25, 299 So. 2d 717 (1974), we stated: "Where one coterminous owner erects a line fence and holds actual and adverse possession to it for a continuous period of ten years, he obtains title to the property enclosed by his fence." See also, W. T. Smith Lumber Co. v. Cobb, 266 Ala. 146, 94 So. 2d 763 (1957).
Appellant, Mardis, contends that the fence, erected by 1931 as a line fence, became the true and exclusive line ten years later in 1941. This contention is supported by precedent as expressed in Sylvest v. Stowers, supra:
Appellee, Nichols, however, contends that because Mardis's deed does not contain a description of the disputed property, Mardis cannot rely upon the adverse possession of his predecessor in title in order to gain entitlement to the disputed strip. Nichols further contends that because Mardis did not acquire record title until 1974 and, therefore, has not satisfied the ten-year statutory adverse possession period under claim of right, the judgment of the trial court is due to be affirmed. We disagree. This Court's holding in Watson v. Price, 356 So. 2d 625 (1978), as set out in pertinent part, is dispositive of this issue:
The rule established in Watson is based upon the rationale that "[t]he transfer of the possession alone is sufficient to create the privity for this purpose [tacking of adverse possession periods], and written evidence of the transfer is not necessary when the property is held by the transferee under the claim of the first entryman." Holt v. Adams, 121 Ala. 664, 25 So. 716 (1898).
In the instant case, the evidence clearly established that the old fence had been in existence at least twenty-five yearsat most fifty years; that the fence was generally recognized by surrounding landowners and the community as a line fence; that Danny Mardis's predecessor in title had expressed his belief and/or intent that the fence marked the true boundary line; that this intent had been evident from the origin of the fence; and that both generations of Mardises consistently worked the property cultivated and pastured itup to the fence.
The record further indicates that Jack Mardiseven prior to the conveyancehad put Danny into actual possession of the property all the way up to the fence. Basing our opinion on the undisputed facts of this case, therefore, we hold, consistent with Graham v. Hawkins, supra, that because Danny Mardis "entered into possession of the whole area up to and including the fence, ... the deed, taken into consideration with such transference of possession, was sufficient to raise the privity essential to the tacking" of Danny's father's claim of title by adverse possession to Danny's own claim of title to the disputed area.
Accordingly, the judgment of the trial court is reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
TORBERT, C. J., and SHORES, EMBRY and ADAMS, JJ., concur.