Bethea v. Bethea

Citation136 Ala. 584,34 So. 28
PartiesBETHEA ET AL. v. BETHEA ET AL.
Decision Date28 February 1903
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama

Appeal from City Court of Montgomery; A. D. Sayre, Judge.

Bill by Kate Bethea and others against Theodore Bethea and others for partition. From an order denying an application to set aside a sale of the property, Theodore Bethea and another appeal. Affirmed.

At the sale the property was purchased by one of the defendants to the bill (Henry Bethea) for $9,500. Mamie and Theodore Bethea, parties to the suit, filed objections to the confirmation of the sale on the grounds (1) that the property sold at a price greatly disproportioned to its real value (2) that at a resale largely more than $9,500 would be bid for the property by a solvent purchaser; (3) that a portion of the property in which the parties were interested was not included in the decree of sale. Fourteen witnesses were examined in support of these objections, who valued the property at various sums, ranging from $11,000 to $16,650. Ten of these witnesses were real estate agents in the city of Montgomery. The evidence showed that a guaranty had been filed by a solvent person that the property would bring at resale at least $10,000, and that she had instructed her agent to bid that much at the sale.

Watts Troy & Coffey, for appellants.

Elmore & Elmore, for appellees.

DOWDELL J.

We approve the reasoning and concur in the conclusions of the learned judge who tried this case. We are satisfied to adopt as the opinion of this court the opinion accompanying the decree, and copied into the transcript, and which is as follows: "The sale is shown to have been fairly made after unusual advertisement, and in the presence of a large crowd, and some of whom were men of ample means, and seven or eight of whom took part in the bidding. The property was offered in lots, and then as a whole. As a whole, it brought $9,500. Persons who desired to buy would pay no more. In the face of such a showing, the opinion of real estate dealers cannot be taken for much. The minors interested in the property ask for a confirmation. Adult parties oppose confirmation on two grounds (mere opinion as to value having been eliminated): (1) An advance offer of $500; (2) a mistake in the description of the property. The advance offer is not enough. If sales were to be set aside on such considerations confidence in them would be diminished, bidders would be discouraged, and...

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8 cases
  • Spence v. Spence, 5 Div. 296.
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Alabama
    • March 28, 1940
    ...... to bid a much larger sum at a resale. Glennon v. Mittenight, 86 Ala. 455, 5 So. 772; Bethea v. Bethea, 136 Ala. 584, 34 So. 28; DeLoach v. White, 202 Ala. 429, 80 So. 813; Schloss-Sheffield. S. & I. Co. v. Borden, 201 Ala. 628, 79 So. ......
  • Martin v. Jones, 3 Div. 814
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Alabama
    • October 16, 1958
    ...the amounts realized. Sieben v. Torrey, supra; Campbell v. Carter, supra; Taylor v. Wilson, supra; Littell v. Zuntz, supra; Bethea v. Bethea, 136 Ala. 584, 34 So. 28. In the light of authorities adverted to above we must hold that appellants have failed to sustain their claims of Affirmed. ......
  • Roy v. O'Neill
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Alabama
    • June 2, 1910
    ...Am. Dec. 415; Helena Coal Co. v. Sibley, 132 Ala. 651, 654, 32 So. 718; Mahone v. Williams, 39 Ala. 202, 220. The case of Bethea v. Bethea, 136 Ala. 584, 34 So. 28, was a bill for sale for partition among joint owners, and court does not state distinctly whether the above principle governs,......
  • Campbell v. Carter
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Alabama
    • October 10, 1946
    ...render judicial sales generally unstable, thereby resulting in discouraging bidders and diminishing the amounts realized. Bethea v. Bethea, 136 Ala. 584, 34 So. 28; 35 C.J. 105, § This general principle cannot be overlooked in sales for distribution in the progress of the administration of ......
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