Brown v. Norvell

• Citation: 86 S.W. 306
• Parties: BROWN et al. v. NORVELL.
• Decision Date: 18 March 1905
• Court: Supreme Court of Arkansas

86 S.W. 306

BROWN et al. v. NORVELL.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

March 18, 1905.

Appeal from Crittenden Chancery Court, Edward D. Robertson, Chancellor.

Suit by Mrs. Laura Norvell against W. N. Brown, Jr., and others. From a judgment in favor of plaintiff, defendant Brown appeals. Reversed.

Geo. W. Norman and W. A. Roby, for appellant. Wm. N. Randolph, Geo. Randolph, Wassell Randolph, and R. C. Brown, for appellee.

HILL, C. J.

The appellee, Mrs. Norvell, filed her complaint in equity in Crittenden chancery court against W. N. Brown, Jr., L. Pickett, and other defendants therein mentioned. She alleged that Josiah E. Earle, her brother-in-law, made her a gift in fee of the N. W. ¼, section 32, township 8 N., range 6 E.; that the gift was not in writing, but was verbal; that, after the gift was made, she, in accordance therewith, entered upon and took and kept and continued the possession of the said land until the defendants Brown and Pickett wrongfully deprived her of the possession of it; that a portion of the land was cleared and fenced and cultivated by her for a long time, and she built houses thereon, and had uninterrupted and exclusive possession and enjoyment thereof, and no one asserted claim thereto adversely. She then alleges the various tenants who held the land for her, and the length of each one's tenancy, beginning in the year 1882, and ending in 1897, when she alleges that Brown and Pickett forcibly took possession of the land from her then tenant and subtenant; that the possession was obtained through the collusion of a subtenant, who had previously been on the place under plaintiff's tenant, who permitted them to take possession, and he then rented from them; that she brought suit of forcible entry and detainer against Brown and Pickett, and after judgment in her favor the judgment was set aside, and the case was pending in the circuit court; that since such ouster Brown and Pickett had unlawfully been in possession of said property, claiming it as their own; that for the unlawful use of said property the said defendants are indebted to her in the sum of $200 per annum from January 1, 1897. Then the complaint alleges the existence and record of the various deeds under which Brown and Pickett assert titles, which briefly are as follows: (1) A commissioner's deed from commissioner in chancery to Pickett in case wherein board of directors of St. Francis levee district was plaintiff, and various landowners were defendants. This deed is alleged to be void for various reasons set forth in the complaint. (2) The death of Josiah F. Earle was alleged, and that he left a will leaving one half his estate to his wife, Mrs. L. R. Earle, and the other half to his children, Ben R. and Ruth Earle, who were defendants herein, and that Mrs. Earle died, and under orders of the probate court this land was sold to pay her debts, and the administrator conveyed it to Pickett. The complaint alleges this deed was void because the land did not belong to Mrs. Earle's estate, but belonged to her long prior to Mrs. Earle's death, and she was in possession of it. (3) Deed from Pickett to Brown, dated January 18, 1897, just after the alleged ouster by Pickett and Brown. This deed was alleged to be void because the said Pickett...