Opinion ID: 1690969
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: thirty year prescription

Text: Moreover, I find, as did the Court of Appeal, that the thirty-year prescription is well-founded as to the Powell tract, if bad faith be assumed. At the time S. D. Hunter acquired the tract, the thirty year possession of his predecessor in title, James D. Powell, from 1903 through 1933 constituted acquisitive prescription necessary for James C. Powell's ownership of the Powell tract. The record reflects corporeal possession by defendants' ancestors in titles as early as 1908. In 1908, when witness Walker Spillman, then fifteen years old, remembered it, it belonged to James C. Powell. The witness remembered that that tract was under Powell's control and that Powell had farmed the property as well as grazed his cattle on it. Cotton and corn crops were cultivated on the low-lying property. The same testimony about crops and cattle grazing by the Powells was given by younger witnesses ranging in age from sixty-three to sixty-six. Thus, it is clear that the corporeal possession of the Powell tract was continued after James C. Powell's possession either by his heirs or vendee, Frank Hemenway, Jr., until S. D. Hunter's purchase in 1948. All witnesses with knowledge of that area during the past remembered specifically that the entire Oakridge Plantation was fenced and that the fence was maintained. Moreover, even the older witnesses who remembered as youngsters passing the fence and remember the fence as an old fence then. Thus, after thirty years, James C. Powell owned the Powell tract by virtue of his prescriptive title. Although he did not transfer the title until 1946, when he transferred it to Frank Hemenway, Jr., that transfer was legally valid. Hence, in 1948, S. D. Hunter acquired a valid title from Hemenway. In my opinion, the majority holding is inconsistent with the final judgment in the earlier possessory action between the parties (286 So.2d 525). In that action, the Hunter defendants were recognized as being in possession of the Powell tract. Yet, in the present action, the Court holds that the Hunter defendants are not in possession because of the construction of a pipeline under a grant from the record owners. For the reasons assigned, I respectfully dissent.