Garren v. Fields

• Decision Date: 14 November 1901
• Citation: 131 Ala. 304,30 So. 775
• Parties: GARREN v. FIELDS.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

30 So. 775

131 Ala. 304

GARREN v. FIELDS.

Supreme Court of Alabama

November 14, 1901

Appeal from circuit court, Blount county; A. H. Alston, Judge.

Action by A. E. Fields against Thomas B. Garren. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Reversed.

The plaintiff showed title for the land sued for from the United States to the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company; from that company to the North Alabama Land Company, by deed of warranty of title, and by mesne conveyances from the latter company to himself.

The defendant claimed title by virtue of a deed to himself, from his brother, A. J. Garren, of date February 16, 1884, the said A. J. Garren having purchased the land from the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company on the 27th of January, 1881, and by virtue of alleged adverse possession under this deed as color of title. Both parties claim title from a common source-the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company.

On the same day said A. J. Garren, the defendant's vendor purchased the land from said railroad company, and the same was conveyed to him by said company, viz. on the 27th day of January, 1881, he, the said A. J. Garren, executed a mortgage to the said railroad company, to secure the purchase money for the land, evidenced by his three notes to the company falling due respectively, on the 1st days of January, 1882 1883 and 1884. It was stipulated in this mortgage, that on foreclosure of the same, under the power contained therein the mortgagee was authorized and empowered to become the purchaser of the land therein conveyed, and to execute a proper deed to the purchaser; that said mortgage was duly recorded, on the 9th February, 1881, and was duly and regularly foreclosed, under its power, on the 12th of December, 1885, default in the payment of two of the purchase-money notes having been made; the mortgagee became the purchaser of the same at said sale, at and for the balance remaining due on the mortgage debt, and received a proper deed to the lands. After this, on the 13th of March 1886, the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company conveyed the land for value to the North Alabama Land Company and on the 5th of August, 1886, the latter company sold and conveyed the same to the plaintiff.

The evidence on the part of the plaintiff, A. E. Fields, tended to show that the defendant became his tenant of the land in question for many years after his purchase of the same, and recognized his title thereto, even down to the year 1898, and never, at any time, till in that year, did he set up any claim or interest in said land adverse to the plaintiff. The evidence on the part of the defendant was in conflict with that of plaintiff, on the claim of adverse possession, and tended to show, that he had been in the adverse possession of the land for a period...