Clanahan v. Morgan

• Decision Date: 11 September 1958
• Docket Number: 2 Div. 377
• Citation: 105 So.2d 429,268 Ala. 71
• Parties: Ellen Nix CLANAHAN et al. v. C. B. MORGAN et al.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Page 429

105 So.2d 429

268 Ala. 71

Ellen Nix CLANAHAN et al. v. C. B. MORGAN et al.

2 Div. 377.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

Sept. 11, 1958.

Thos. E. Skinner, Birmingham, and Lapsley & Berry, Selma, for appellants.

Adams, Gillmore & Adams, Grove Hill, and Grady W. Hurst, Jr., Chatom, for appellees.

LAWSON, Justice.

This is a suit in equity to establish title to 240 acres of land situate in Choctaw County, described as follows: 'W 1/2 of NW 1/4 of Section 1; and NE 1/4 of Section 2; all in Township 10 North, Range 3 West.'

The bill of complaint was filed in the Circuit Court of Choctaw County, in Equity, on April 15, 1950, by C. B. Morgan, Blanche Morgan, and approximately thirty others against Ellen Nix Clanahan and scores of other individual respondents and against the described 240 acres of land, pursuant to the provisions of what is known as the Grove Act, which authorizes a proceeding in rem to clear up title to land. Article 2, Chapter 32, Title 7, Code 1940, §§ 116-1132. See Act No. 882, approved September 12, 1951, Acts of Alabama 1950-51, p. 1521, which purports to amend certain sections of the original Grove Act.

C. B. Morgan and Blanche Morgan claim the title to the surface of the said 240-acre tract of land, to which we will hereafter refer as the respondent land. They also claim a portion of the oil, gas and minerals. The other complainants, claiming through the same chain of title as the Morgans, claim various mineral interests in the respondent land. The alleged ownership and interest of each of the complainants is set out in the bill and each of them prays that his, her or its title or interest in the respondent land be ascertained and quieted. The bill also prays that the title to the suit property be quieted as against the numerous parties, known and unknown, who are alleged to claim some right, title or interest in the respondent land or a part thereof.

The only persons who actually contest the title of the complainants are the numerous heirs at law of one Daniel Nix, who died intestate in 1862, survived by his widow and six children, one of whom will be referred to hereafter as the second Daniel Nix. They will be referred to sometimes hereafter as the Nix heirs. Their claim of title to the respondent land as heirs of Daniel Nix was submitted to the trial court pursuant to 'Amendment Number Eleven to Answer and Cross Bill as Last Amended Filed September 21, 1954.'

All of the testimony was taken orally in the presence of the trial court except answers of the Nix heirs to interrogatories. Testimony was taken on several different occasions. On May 30, 1956, a final decree was entered. The trial court found that the complainants were entitled to relief, decreed that the Nix heirs had no title to the respondent land, and established the title thereto in the complainants. From that decree the Nix heirs appealed to this court. Submission here was on August 30, 1957.

Throughout the brief filed here on behalf of the appellants are statements to the effect that the trial court decided this case in favor of the complainants solely under the conclusive evidence rule as it appears in § 1123, Title 7, Code 1940. We cannot agree.

There is no express finding of facts as such in the decree, although there is a long prefatory statement consisting of forty separately numbered paragraphs, wherein the trial court did recite that for at least a period of twenty years immediately preceding the filing of the bill the taxes on the respondent land had been paid exclusively by the complainant, C. B. Morgan, and his predecessor, J. W. Rudder, and that the overwhelming preponderance of the evidence was to the effect that not a single one of the Nix heirs had had any actual possession of the respondent land or had asserted any claim of title thereto or had assessed or paid any taxes thereon within the period of thirty years prior to the time this suit was instituted. In Paragraph 38 of said prefatory statement the trial court said as follows:

'The evidence in this cause is very voluminous and presents a multitude of detailed acts of possession with respect to the respondent land for the last forty or fifty years, as far back in fact as the recollection of the witnesses, some of whom were in their eighties, could go. The possession of the complainants and the assessment and payment of taxes under the applicable statutes and the decisions of the Supreme Court of Alabama, sustains the title of the complainants as herein decreed.'

This statement in our opinion does not indicate that the trial court decreed in favor of the complainants solely on the basis of the conclusive presumption rule of evidence under the original Grove Act. It seems to us that the statement just quoted can just as well be construed as showing that the trial court's decree was also based on other grounds upon which the complainants base their right to relief, that is, (a) prescription; (b) adverse possession of ten years; and (c) the short statute of limitations.

In the sixteen paragraphs of the decree which follow the prefatory state there is no reference to either possession or taxes and there is absolutely no factual situation referred to in the decree proper, that is, in the part of the decree where relief is granted to the complainants and denied to the respondents-cross complainants.

In any event, if the decree correctly determined the equities of the case, the reasons upon which the trial court acted are unimportant and the case will be affirmed. A correct decision will not be disturbed even if the court gave a wrong or insufficient reason therefor. Pitts v. Hawkins, 264 Ala. 428, 87 So.2d 835; Cherokee County v. Cunningham, 260 Ala. 1, 68 So.2d 507; Carrett v. Federal Land Bank, 239 Ala. 191, 194 So. 530.

The question presented here is whether or not there was legal evidence before the trial court sufficient to sustain its decree vesting all of the title to all of the respondent land in the complainants and decreeing that the Nix heirs have no interest therein. As we have shown, most of the testimony was taken orally before the trial court, hence our review is guided by the settled rule that the finding of the trial court, where testimony is taken orally before it, or partly so, has the effect of a jury verdict and will not be disturbed on appeal unless plainly and palpably wrong. Parrish v. Davis, 265 Ala. 522, 92 So.2d 897, and cases cited; Laney v. Dean, Ala., 100 So.2d 688, and cases cited.

We see no reason to encumber this opinion with the procedural history and the details of the background of this litigation, which in the trial court covered the period from April 15, 1950, to May 30, 1956, and which on two phases has already been before this court. Ex parte Arrington, 259 Ala. 243, 66 So.2d 96; Ex parte Clanahan, 261 Ala. 87, 72 So.2d 833, 50 A.L.R.2d 134.

On July 25, 1925, A. H. and A. P. Chesnut conveyed the respondent land to Dr. J. W. Rudder, reserving one half of the mineral interests. On January 25, 1946, Dr. Rudder conveyed the respondent land to C. B. and Blanche Morgan, reserving one half of his mineral ownership. Taxes for the year 1925 were assessed and paid by the Chesnuts. Dr. Rudder assessed and paid the taxes for the years 1926-1946. Subsequent to 1946, the taxes were assessed and paid by the Morgans.

The Chesnuts acquired a deed to the W 1/2 of NE 1/4 of Section 2 from E., Sid, Leddie and Annie Abston on December 12, 1922, which land has been referred to as the Abston 80. They acquired a deed to the E 1/2 of NE 1/4 of Section 2 from J. M. Hearin and wife on December 20, 1922. The property covered by that conveyance has been called the Hearin 80. The Chesnuts received a deed to the W 1/2 of NW 1/4 of Section 1 from John T. Doggett and wife on January 4, 1923. This land is referred to as the Doggett 80.

The south half of the Abston 80 (W 1/2 of NE 1/4 of Section 2) was granted by patent from the United States to one David Daniel on January 1, 1860. There is no conveyance of record from patentee. The north half of the Abston 80 was granted by patent from the United States to the Daniel Nix under whom the Nix heirs claim. This is the only part of the respondent land to which Daniel Nix or his wife Adeline had any paper title. The Abston 80 was purchased by the State for unpaid taxes assessed against 'owner unknown.' The State conveyed its interest therein to one S. T. Ulmer on April 24, 1896. S. T. Ulmer by quitclaim deed recorded on December 21, 1896, conveyed the said eighty acres of land to O. M. Nix, who was the daughter of the second Daniel Nix, who was a son of the first Daniel Nix under whom the Nix heirs claim. From 1896 to 1916 this 80 was assessed in the name of O. M. Nix except the year 1908 when the second Daniel Nix assessed it. On December 2, 1914, O. M. Nix and the second Daniel Nix executed a warranty deed conveying the W 1/2 of NE 1/4 of Section 2 (the Abston 80) to A. and E. Abston. The heirs of A. Abston on February 10, 1922, conveyed to J. S. Abston (Sid) the north half of this 80. As we have shown above, Sid (J. S.) Abston and wife and E. Abston and wife conveyed this eighty acres of land by warranty deed to A. P. and A. H. Chesnut on December 12, 1922.

The Hearin 80 (E 1/2 of NE 1/4 of Section 2) was granted by patent from the United States to David Daniel on January 1, 1860. There is no record of any conveyance from the patentee or of the administration of his estate. His heirs are unknown. The Hearin 80 was purchased by the State for unpaid taxes assessed against 'owner unknown.' The State conveyed its interest therein to S. T. Ulmer on April 24, 1896. S. T. Ulmer by quitclaim deed recorded on December 21, 1896, conveyed the said eighty acres of land to O. M. Nix, the same person who acquired the deed to the Abston 80. On March 7, 1907, the second Daniel Nix, the father of O. M., executed a mortgage to Z. T. Harrison conveying the NE 1/4 of the NE 1/4 of Section 2, that is,...