Bearden v. Ellison
Citation | 560 So.2d 1042 |
Parties | Clifford BEARDEN and Mary Grace Bearden v. Clarence ELLISON and Lillian Ellison. 88-1291. |
Decision Date | 16 March 1990 |
Court | Supreme Court of Alabama |
J. Michael Joiner of Joiner and Kramer, Alabaster, for appellants.
J. Frank Head of Wallace, Ellis, Head & Fowler, Columbiana, for appellees.
This appeal involves a boundary line dispute between two coterminous landowners. We affirm.
After a thorough review of the record and the briefs in this case, we find that a presentation of the facts is unnecessary to resolve the issue presented and that a recitation of the facts would not aid the Bench and the Bar in any way.
The issue before us is whether there was sufficient evidence from which the trial court could find that Clarence and Lillian Ellison (referred to in the trial court's order as "Plaintiffs") adversely possessed the disputed strip of property adjacent to the property owned by Clifford and Mary Grace Bearden (referred to in the trial court's order as "Defendants").
The trial court's order reads as follows:
Where a trial court hears ore tenus testimony, as in this case, its findings based upon that testimony are presumed correct, and its judgment based on those findings will be reversed only if, after a consideration of all the evidence and after making all inferences that can logically be drawn from the evidence, the judgment is found to be plainly and palpably erroneous. See City of Birmingham v. Sansing Sales of Birmingham, Inc., 547 So.2d 464 (Ala.1989); King v. Travelers Ins. Co., 513 So.2d 1023 (Ala.1986); Robinson v. Hamilton, 496 So.2d 8 (Ala.1986); see, also, Meeks v. Hill [1990] 557 So.2d 1238 (Ala.1990). The trial court's judgment will be affirmed if there is credible evidence to support the judgment. City of Birmingham v. Sansing Sales of Birmingham, Inc., supra; see, also, American Casualty Co. v. Wright, 554 So.2d 1015 (Ala.1989). Furthermore, where the trial court does not make specific findings of fact concerning an issue, this Court will assume that the trial court made those findings necessary to support its judgment unless such findings would be clearly erroneous. See Robinson v. Hamilton, supra. The presumption of correctness is particularly strong in boundary line disputes and adverse possession cases, because the evidence in such cases is difficult for an appellate court to review. Seidler v. Phillips, 496 So.2d 714 (Ala.1986); Wallace v. Putnam, 495 So.2d 1072 (Ala.1986); Drennen Land & Timber Co. v. Angell, 475 So.2d 1166 (Ala.1985); May v. Campbell, 470 So.2d 1188 (Ala.1985).
A boundary line dispute is subject to a unique set of requirements that is a hybrid of the elements of statutory adverse possession and adverse possession by prescription. See Robinson v. Hamilton, supra. In a boundary line dispute, coterminous landowners may alter the boundary line between their tracts by agreement plus possession for ten years. See Robinson v. Hamilton, supra; see, also, Kerlin v. Tensaw Land & Timber Co., 390 So.2d 616 (Ala.1980).
In Carpenter v. Huffman, 294 Ala. 189, 191, 314 So.2d 65, 67 (1975), Justice Jones summarized the applicability of our adverse possession statute (Ala.Code, 1975, § 6-5-200) as it relates to coterminous landowners:
Quoted with approval in Mardis v. Nichols, 393 So.2d 976, 977 (Ala.1981); in Robinson v. Hamilton, supra, at 10; and in Brown v. Alabama Great Southern R.R., 544 So.2d 926, 931 (Ala.1989).
In an adverse possession case, such as this, the claimant must prove by clear and convincing evidence that his possession was hostile, notorious, open, continuous, and exclusive for a 10-year period. Mardis v. Nichols, supra; see Seidler v. Phillips, 496 So.2d 714 (Ala.1986); Lilly v. Palmer, 495 So.2d 522 (Ala.1986); see, also, Brown v....
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