Bledsoe v. Price

• Decision Date: 17 June 1902
• Citation: 32 So. 325,132 Ala. 621
• Parties: BLEDSOE ET AL. v. PRICE ET AL.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

32 So. 325

132 Ala. 621

BLEDSOE ET AL. v. PRICE ET AL.

Supreme Court of Alabama

June 17, 1902

Appeal from chancery court, Marengo county; Thos. H. Smith Chancellor.

Suit to quiet title by R. W. Price & Co. against Thomas H. Bledsoe and others. From a judgment for plaintiffs, defendants appeal. Affirmed.

It was averred in the bill that in December, 1884, one R. P Bledsoe, Sarah A. Bledsoe, and J. M. Wright were tenants in common of certain lands specifically described in the complaint; R. P. Bledsoe owning an undivided two-thirds interest in said lands, and Sarah A. Bledsoe and J. M. Wright jointly owning the remaining one-third interest; that on December 30, 1884, R. P. Bledsoe, for the purpose of securing a debt, executed a mortgage to one John G. Allen upon his undivided interest in said lands; that said mortgage was transferred by said John G. Allen to Ann Allen; that in the year 1888 the lands described in the bill were voluntarily partitioned between said R. P Bledsoe, Sarah A. Bledsoe, and J. M. Wright; that, upon default being made in the mortgage it was foreclosed, and C. E. Allen became the purchaser at the foreclosure sale; that subsequent to said purchase C. E Allen, J. M. Wright, and Sarah A. Bledsoe, with the intention of ratifying and confirming the partition of said lands theretofore made, partitioned the lands among themselves, and each of said parties entered into the possession of said lands set apart to them, respectively; that said partition was made in ignorance of the fact that T. H. Bledsoe would set up any claims to the lands set apart and conveyed to C E. Allen, and that said partition would not have been made if the existence of T. H. Bledsoe's claim had been made known to said Allen; that by reason of the failure to properly index the deeds of partition between the said R. P Bledsoe, Sarah A. Bledsoe, and J. M. Wright, the interest of said Thos. H. Bledsoe in such lands could not have been discovered by said Allen or the complainants by the exercise of due diligence, or careful examination of the general indices of the record of deeds of Marengo county, Ala.; that on October 28, 1898, the said Charles E. Allen sold and conveyed to the complainants the portion of the lands sued for and conveyed to him in said partition proceedings; that the complainants "immediately took possession of said lands, and remained in peaceable possession thereof up to the time of the filing of the bill, and have made numerous and valuable improvements thereon since their purchase, and no suit is pending to test or enforce the validity of their title, or that of any other person, to said lands." It was then averred in said bill "that Thos. H. Bledsoe claims or is reputed to claim some right, title, or interest in and to the lands so conveyed to them by C. E. Allen, under some conveyance from R. P. Bledsoe to him. But orators aver that, if in fact said T. H. Bledsoe received any conveyance from R. P. Bledsoe, that the same was purely voluntary." It was then averred that said Thos. H. Bledsoe was the son of R. P. Bledsoe, and that J. M. Wright had sold and conveyed all his interest in the lands set apart to him to Henry T. Bledsoe. ...