Edwards v. Farmer, 6 Div. 711
| Decision Date | 20 November 1969 |
| Docket Number | 6 Div. 711 |
| Citation | 229 So.2d 507,285 Ala. 118 |
| Parties | Victor E. EDWARDS et al. v. B. M. FARMER et al. |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
Bland & Bland, Cullman, for appellants.
St. John & St. John, Cullman, for appellees.
This is an appeal from the Circuit Court of Cullman County, in Equity, by the complainants from a final decree in equity, locating and establishing boundary lines between their land and that of the respondents. The boundary between these co-terminus owners divides the real property of the appellants, Victor E. Edwards and Lela Edwards, on the south and west sides, from that of the appellees, B. M. Farmer and Eva Farmer, on the north and east sides. The case was heard ore tenus in open court by the trial judge. Testimony of the appellants and those called as witnesses by them was to the effect that up to the time of a survey made by Vernon Padgett, a civil engineer, in 1957, no boundary had been pointed out to them and they did not know where the division lines were located. The appellants acquired the property in 1953. The lands were unoccupied and wooded. No farming was done on the tract and, according to the appellants, there was no indication of any physical boundary between the lands of the parties. The land lines that are in dispute are referred to in appellants' deed, and those of their predecessors in title, as being the property lines of G. H. Fannin, a predecessor in title to the appellees, thus tying in the land lines of the appellants and the appellees. The appellants' deeds also describe the disputed north and south boundary line as running along the line, between the southeast forty and southwest forty, in the Southeast quarter of Section 9. The south line of this section constitutes the appellants' south boundary and a continuation of it to the east, is the utmost south line of the appellees. A survey made for the appellants by Vernon Padgett extends the appellants' property along both disputed boundaries beyond the lines as insisted upon by the appellees, so as to cause an overlapping of 100 feet or more on to the appellees' lands.
The appellees had two surveys made. Each of these undertakes to move the north and south boundary line between the parties westward and beyond the governmental subdivision line approximately 115 feet so as to thus overlap on the appellants' land according to the Padgett survey. Surveys made by James A. Kelton and Harvey Atkison which were in evidence, very nearly coincide, though made separately and independently of each other. Witnesses testified that the boundary lines between the parties located by these surveys coincide with the course of old land marks, that is, a broken down fence and fence row, and, a ditch along eact and west line. There was evidence also that prior to appellees' ownership, predecessors in title farmed the land north of appellants up to the line for a period of over 20 years. Several witnesses testified that these two boundaries were the recognized dividing lines between the properties as far back as 1918.
In its final decree, the trial court described the appellees' property, and fixed and decreed that the true dividing lines between the parties are the south line of appellees' property and the west side of appellees' property where the same are contiguous to the property of the appellants. The court directed an engineer to place markers in accordance with its decree and identify them as judicial markers.
The appellants' first assignment of error is that the trial court erred in decreeing and finding that the correct description of appellees' property is as set out in the decree. Counsel for appellants' supporting argument is based on his insistence on the correctness of the land survey made by Vernon Padgett and the incorrectness of the surveys of Kelton and Atkison. Suffice it to say that we have read the testimony of all of the witnesses in the case carefully, especially that testimony of the three surveyors having to do with their respective surveys, the property descriptions used by them, the different points of beginning, the courses and distances followed by them, and the plats and maps offered in evidence. After considering all of these matters and the testimony of the other witnesses as to the location of the true boundary lines or what was considered and recognized as such, we cannot say that there is a clear, decided preponderance of the evidence against the conclusion reached by the trial judge in finding and decreeing the description of the appellees' property. Unless we are, the rule is that we cannot reverse the decree. Bogan v. Daughdrill, 51 Ala. 312; Hall v. Hall, 280 Ala. 275, 279, 192 So.2d 727; Jones v. Kelly, 203 Ala. 170, 82 So. 420; Joiner v. Watkins, 186 Ala. 211, 65 So. 135. There were conflicts in the evidence relating to the surveys. The appellants' evidence in this respect was largely in disagreement with the two surveys offered by the appellants. The appellants commenced their survey at one point, while the appellees started from a different point. Apparently the survey for the appellants could not be reconciled...
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Anderson v. Adams
...we cannot say that there is a clear, decided preponderance of the evidence against the conclusion which he reached. Edwards v. Farmer, 285 Ala. 118, 229 So.2d 507; Rodgers v. Thornton, 254 Ala. 66, 46 So.2d 809; Lewis v. Wilkinson, 237 Ala. 197, 186 So. 150. Therefore, we must accept the tr......
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