Title: Banks v. Zippert
Citation: 470 So. 2d 1147
Docket Number: N/A
State: Alabama
Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court
Date: March 22, 1985

470 So. 2d 1147 (1985)
Ralph R. BANKS, Jr.
v.
John ZIPPERT.
83-1004.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
March 22, 1985.
Rehearing Denied May 10, 1985.
Michael D. Smith of Hall, Clark &amp; Smith, Eutaw, and Clifford Fulford of Fulford, Pope &amp; Natter, Birmingham, for appellant.
John H. England, Jr. of England &amp; Bivens, Tuscaloosa, for appellee.
PER CURIAM.
Appellant Ralph R. Banks, Jr., appeals from the judgment of the Probate Court of Greene County, Alabama, declaring the office of district judge of Greene County vacant, pursuant to an election contest filed by appellee John Zippert. We affirm.
Richard Osborne and Ralph R. Banks, Jr.,[1] were candidates for the office of district judge of Greene County in the Democratic primary election held September 7, 1982. Osborne was the victor and was certified as the party's nominee. No other party nominated candidates for that office.
On October 12, 1982, Banks learned that Osborne had been convicted of larceny in the municipal court of Montgomery in 1969, when Osborne was twenty-one years old. *1148 When he registered to vote in 1981, Osborne disclosed that he had been convicted of larceny and fined. On October 14, 1982, Banks notified the State Democratic Executive Committee that Osborne was disqualified from being a candidate for public office because of the previous larceny conviction and requested that he be made the party's nominee.
The Committee set a hearing on the matter, but on October 27, 1982, decided not to pursue it.
On October 28, 1982, Banks's son, Ralph Banks III, filed suit in Greene County Circuit Court in his capacity as a qualified voter, taxpayer, and resident citizen of Greene County, seeking a preliminary injunction and declaratory relief. The hearing on the preliminary injunction was set for November 1, 1982, but when that day came and service had not been obtained on Osborne, an application for a temporary restraining order was filed in open court. The court, without addressing the issue of Osborne's qualification, granted a temporary restraining order, restraining the defendant members of the Board of Supervisors for Greene County for the November 2, 1982, general election and members of the Board of Registrars for Greene County from posting, publishing, or certifying election results for the office of district judge, pending a hearing on the merits. The next day, November 2, 1982, Osborne received 2,672 votes in the general election. Banks, though not on the ballot, received 626 write-in votes.
Service was obtained on Osborne on November 5, 1982. In his answer, Osborne denied that he was ineligible to hold the office and alleged that the complaint should be dismissed. He admitted, however, that he had stolen automobile hub caps in the City of Montgomery and had been convicted of larceny. On November 19, 1982, following a hearing on the merits, the trial court ruled Osborne "ineligible to and disqualified from holding the office of District Judge" because of the larceny conviction. The trial court further permanently enjoined Osborne's certification as the newly-elected district judge.[2]
The 626 write-in votes received by Banks in the general election were later certified to the Secretary of State by the Greene County Board of Supervisors, and on December 20, 1982, Banks was officially declared the elected district judge of Greene County. On December 28, 1982, John Zippert, in his capacity as a qualified voter in the general election, filed a statement of contest with the Probate Court of Greene County, pursuant to § 17-15-27, Ala.Code 1975, seeking to void the November 2, 1982, general election, contending, first, that the Board of Supervisors for Greene County had certified only those votes cast for Banks and failed to certify those votes cast for Osborne, and, second, that the votes cast for Osborne were legal votes, were illegally rejected, and, had they not been so rejected, would have increased the number of legal votes for Osborne above those received by Banks.
The probate court initially set the contest for trial on February 8, 1983. The case was subsequently continued by agreement, and trial commenced on February 15, 1983. The trial was continued from time to time thereafter until the date of the final hearing on June 1, 1984, when the probate court ruled that the 2,672 votes cast for Osborne in the November 2, 1982, general election, while ineffective to elect him to the office, were legal votes, were illegally rejected, and should have been counted and considered in determining the result of the election. It then rendered judgment voiding that election because of the disqualification of Osborne, who had received the majority of the legal votes cast therein, and certified to the Governor that the office was vacant. Banks appeals.
Banks contends that the probate court was without authority under § 17-15-32, Ala.Code 1975, to declare the November 2, 1982, general election void and certify to *1149 the Governor that the office of district judge was vacant. We disagree.
Section 17-15-32, supra, reads as follows:
State v. Stacy, 263 Ala. 185, 82 So. 2d 264 (1955), controls here. There, the Court, construing § 250, Tit. 17, Code 1940 (the predecessor of § 17-15-32, supra), stated:
263 Ala. at 186-87, 82 So. 2d  at 265-66.
Osborne's disqualification in the November 2, 1982, general election required that that election be declared void as a matter of law. Pursuant to § 17-15-32, supra, the probate court declared the general election void and certified that fact to the appointing authority. The probate court was, therefore, acting within its statutory authority.
Banks also contends that the judgment of the probate court is void for lack of jurisdiction because the case was not set for trial and tried to completion within the period prescribed by statute. Again, we disagree. Section 17-15-27, Ala.Code 1975, in pertinent part, states as follows:
The statement of contest was filed by Zippert in the probate court on December 28, 1982, and a trial date was set for February 8, 1983, forty-two days from the filing of the statement and within the statutory period. We note that the case was continued by agreement and trial commenced on February 15, 1983, forty-nine days from the filing of the statement and still within the period prescribed by the statute. The probate court was not divested of jurisdiction by its discretionary continuation of the case beyond the statutory period.
Other errors argued by the appellant are without merit. Therefore, the judgment of *1151 the probate court is due to be, and it is hereby, affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
MADDOX, FAULKNER, JONES, SHORES, EMBRY, BEATTY and ADAMS, JJ., concur.
[1]  Ralph R. Banks, Jr., was the incumbent Greene County district judge.
[2]  Osborne appealed, and the judgment of the trial court was later affirmed by this Court on September 30, 1983. Osborne v. Banks, 439 So. 2d 695 (Ala.1983).