Cagle v. Hammond

• Citation: 57 So.3d 150
• Decision Date: 03 September 2010
• Docket Number: 2090583.
• Parties: Rabon CAGLE and Linda Caglev.Hutch HAMMOND and Ann Hammond.
• Court: Alabama Court of Civil Appeals

57 So.3d 150

Rabon CAGLE and Linda Cagle

v.Hutch HAMMOND and Ann Hammond.

2090583.

Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama.

Sept. 3, 2010.

S. Sanford Holliday, Roanoke, for appellants.Mac M. Moorer and Ivan B. Cooper of Lightfoot, Franklin & White, L.L.C., Birmingham; and Jason M. Jackson of Radney, Radney & Jackson, LLC, Alexander City, for appellees.THOMPSON, Presiding Judge.

Rabon Cagle and Linda Cagle, husband and wife, appeal from the judgment of the Randolph Circuit Court in favor of Hutch Hammond and Ann Hammond, also husband and wife, on the Cagles' claim of adverse possession as to certain real property located at the boundary between property owned by each set of parties. For the reasons set forth herein, we reverse the judgment and remand the cause for the entry of a new judgment.

The Cagles own a 22.9–acre parcel of property located in Randolph County (“the Cagle parcel”). The Cagle parcel is bordered on the east by a 154–acre parcel of property owned by the Hammonds (“the Hammond parcel”). A county highway enters the Hammond parcel on the western side of its southern boundary and crosses the parcel in a northeasterly direction. A fence runs parallel to the north side of the county highway for several hundred feet from the point at which the highway enters the Hammond parcel from the south. The fence then deviates from the highway and runs in a northwesterly direction across the Hammond parcel and onto and through the Cagle parcel. The total area of the Hammond parcel bound on the north and east by the fence and on the west by the Cagle parcel is 4.373 acres. Hereinafter, we refer to the 4.373 acre parcel as “the disputed parcel.” The disputed parcel is composed of a pasture that extends onto the Cagle parcel.

On June 24, 2009, the Cagles filed an action against the Hammonds in which they asserted that the portion of the fence that ran through the Hammond parcel constituted the boundary line between the Cagle parcel and the Hammond parcel. The Cagles asserted that they and their predecessors in title had been in exclusive possession of all the property to the west of the fence and that their possession of that property had been open, continuous, hostile, adverse, and exclusive for a period of more than 40 years. They sought a judgment from the court declaring that the fence line constituted the boundary between the parties' respective properties. The Hammonds filed an answer in which they denied the material allegations of the Cagles' complaint.

On November 5, 2009, the trial court held a bench trial. Mr. Cagle testified that the Cagle parcel had been owned by Mrs. Cagle's family for his entire life. Deeds submitted into evidence during Mr. Cagle's testimony indicated that Mrs. Cagle's mother conveyed the Cagle parcel to Mrs. Cagle in 2001 and that Mrs. Cagle conveyed the property to Mr. Cagle and herself in 2008. During his entire life, Mr. Cagle testified, Mrs. Cagle's family, and now Mrs. Cagle and he, had used the disputed parcel as pastureland. He testified that Mrs. Cagle and he did not live on the Cagle parcel but that they leased it to Cory Robinson. Mr. Cagle stated that Robinson uses the Cagle parcel and the disputed parcel to pasture his cows and that Robinson had leased the Cagle parcel for the last 40 to 45 years. Mr. Cagle testified that Robinson had maintained the fence that bordered the disputed parcel.

Mr. Cagle testified that Mrs. Cagle's family, and now Mrs. Cagle and he, had claimed to own the disputed parcel and that Mrs. Cagle and he had held themselves out to the community as the owners of the disputed parcel. He testified that no one other than his wife, his wife's family, and him had claimed to own the disputed parcel.

Mr. Cagle testified that Mrs. Cagle and he take their grandchildren to the Cagle parcel to feed horses, to fish, to gather pecans and fruit, and to shoot guns. He stated that they did not do any of those activities on the disputed parcel. He stated that the disputed parcel is used only for grazing Robinson's cows. The Cagles' attorney stipulated that the Cagles had not paid the property taxes on the disputed parcel and that the Hammonds had paid those taxes.

Mr. Cagle testified that he contended that the portion of the fence line bordering the disputed parcel constituted the boundary between the Cagle parcel and the Hammond parcel, but he admitted that he did not consider the fence to constitute the border between those parcels when it crossed the boundary between the parcels and entered the Cagle parcel.

Cory Robinson testified that he had leased the pasture on the Cagle parcel for the last 40 to 45 years. He testified that he had maintained the fence on the eastern boundary of the disputed parcel. He testified that the fence was in place before he began leasing the pasture. He testified that, for the last 40 to 45 years, he has pastured cows on the portion of the Cagle parcel that he leased, as well as on the disputed parcel. He testified that he had never been told to keep his cows off of the disputed parcel. He stated that he checks on his cows at least three times daily. He stated that in all the time he has been leasing the pasture no one has told him that he had to remove his cows from the disputed parcel because it belonged to someone other than Mrs. Cagle's family and the Cagles.

Shaun Cagle, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Cagle, testified that he was 39 years old and that he had never known anyone, other than his father, his mother, and his mother's family, to have used the disputed parcel.

Richard Bisgard, a licenced surveyor, testified that he had surveyed the disputed parcel. A copy of his survey was admitted into evidence. Bisgard testified that the disputed parcel was part of the property described in the Hammonds' deed to the Hammond parcel.

Hutch Hammond testified that his wife and he had purchased the Hammond parcel at an estate auction in 2004. He stated that he was told at the time he purchased the parcel that the owner of the parcel had not given anyone permission to put up the fence that crossed the Hammond parcel. He testified that he was also told that every time a surveyor attempted to place a stake to show the location of the southwestern corner of the Hammond parcel, the stake was pulled up. Mr. Hammond testified that, when he purchased the Hammond parcel, he had his lawyer write a letter to the Cagles notifying them of his purchase of the Hammond parcel and requesting that they remove the fence.

On November 10, 2009, the trial court entered a judgment in which it concluded that the Cagles had failed to prove the element of hostility necessary to support their claim of adverse possession of the disputed parcel because they had “believed the [disputed parcel] to be theirs and no one ever told them otherwise.” The trial court also held that the Cagles' use of the land “was minimally invasive” and ordered the Cagles to remove the fence from the Hammond parcel. The Cagles appealed the trial court's judgment to the supreme court, which transferred the appeal to this court pursuant to § 12–2–7(6), Ala.Code 1975.

“It is well established that when a trial court, after ore tenus proceedings, enters a judgment setting a boundary line between coterminous landowners, that judgment is presumed correct if it is supported by credible evidence. Valentine v. Ireland, 580 So.2d 581 (Ala.1991). Further, the presumption of correctness that attaches to the findings of fact made by the trial court when it hears ore tenus testimony is particularly strong in adverse-possession cases. Lilly v. Palmer, 495 So.2d 522 (Ala.1986). In an adverse-possession case, the party asserting a claim to the property through adverse possession must show by clear and convincing evidence that there was ‘actual, hostile, open, notorious, exclusive, and continuous' possession for the statutory period. Grooms v. Mitchell, 426 So.2d 820, 822 (Ala.1983).

“Alabama recognizes two types of adverse possession: (1) statutory adverse possession pursuant to § 6–5–200, Ala.Code 1975, and (2) adverse possession by prescription. Sparks v. Byrd, 562 So.2d 211 (Ala.1990). Specifically,

“ ‘ “Adverse possession by prescription requires actual, exclusive, open, notorious and hostile possession under a claim of right for a period of twenty years. See, Fitts v. Alexander, 277 Ala. 372, 170 So.2d 808 (1965). Statutory adverse possession requires the same elements, but the statute provides further that if the adverse possessor holds under color of title, has paid taxes for ten years, or derives his title by descent cast or devise from a possessor, he may acquire title in ten years, as opposed to the twenty years required for adverse possession by prescription. Code 1975, § 6–5–200. See, Long v. Ladd, 273 Ala. 410, 142 So.2d 660 (1962).” ’

“562 So.2d at 214 (quoting Kerlin v. Tensaw Land & Timber Co., 390 So.2d 616, 618 (Ala.1980) (emphasis omitted)). Further, our Supreme Court has consistently held that boundary disputes between coterminous landowners are hybrid types of adverse possession subject to a unique set of requirements and a period of adverse possession of only 10 years, even if none of the three additional elements described in § 6–5–200 is present. E.g., Sashinger v. Wynn, 571 So.2d 1065 (Ala.1990); Johnson v. Brewington, 435 So.2d 64 (Ala.1983).”Henderson v. Dunn, 871 So.2d 807, 810 (Ala.Civ.App.2001).¹

The trial court's judgment that the Cagles had not proven their claim of adverse possession of the disputed parcel rested on two findings of fact: (1) that the Cagles had not proven that their claim to the disputed parcel was hostile because “[t]hey believed the land to be theirs and no one ever told them otherwise”; and (2) that the Cagles' use of the disputed parcel was “minimally invasive.” On appeal, the Cagles contend that the trial court's judgment is not supported by the evidence.

The undisputed facts demonstrate that, for the 40 to 45 years preceding the trial in...