Morris v. Yancey
| Decision Date | 04 April 1957 |
| Docket Number | 1 Div. 697 |
| Citation | 266 Ala. 54,94 So.2d 195 |
| Parties | J. D. MORRIS v. Claude YANCEY. |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
C. LeNoir Thompson and Telfair J. Mashburn, Bay Minette, for appellant.
Wilters & Brantley, Bay Minette, for appellee.
J. D. Morris (appellant) brought this statutory action of ejectment against Claude Yancey (appellee) to recover possession of 67.85 acres of land situated in Baldwin County, Alabama, more particularly described as all of Section 24, Township 4 South, Range 1 East, lying east of Bay Minette Creek. The case was tried on the complaint of appellant and upon the plea of the general issue filed by appellee. Under § 941, Title 7, Code of 1940, the plea of the general issue is an admission that the defendant is in possession of the premises sued for. At the conclusion of the appellant's case, when the appellant had rested, the appellee without offering any evidence moved the court to exclude the appellant's evidence and requested in writing that the general charge with hypothesis be given in his favor. The court gave the general charge with hypothesis for the appellee. There was a verdict by the jury on which the court rendered judgment for the appellee. This appeal followed.
On the trial of the case J. D. Morris (appellant) introduced in evidence a certified copy of a patent from the United States Government to Thomas Wilson of Sumter County, Alabama, dated October 1, 1846, conveying the property involved in this suit. J. D. Morris, the appellant, also introduced in evidence a quitclaim deed to the real estate here involved from Litch Wilson and wife to J. D. Morris dated January 18, 1950, and recorded January 19, 1954 and also introduced in evidence a quitclaim deed to the real estate here involved from Etta Wilson Davison and husband to J. D. Morris dated June 1, 1955 and recorded June 17, 1955.
Mary Etta Wilson Davison, an aged woman, testified that her grandfather was 'old man Henry Thomas Wilson'. He came from Sumter County up on the Tombigbee River and further that he had lived on the property involved in this suit and that she had been on the property with him and that he had showed her where he lived by some fig trees that were still standing at the time she was there. According to her testimony when she was a small girl her grandfather had shown her this piece of property and had pointed out the place where his old home had stood by some fig trees that were still standing at that time. She further testified that the place pointed out to her by her grandfather was the same property which J. D. Morris now claims.
J. D. Morris (appellant) examined Lucious B. Wilson, who testified that he was a brother to Mrs. Mary Etta Wilson Davison and Mr. Litch Wilson who testified in the cause and that Claude Yancey told him the following: 'He told me one time in a beer tavern that they had a suit over the land all right and he wanted me to come up here; that my brother had an interest in some land and was fixing to sell it to Mr. Morris and I investigated it and found it was.'
W. P. Green, a witness for J. D. Morris, identified the land in question and identified its location, testifying further that J. D. Morris was in possession of this land as far back as 1941, that he had a house on this land and had cut and removed timber from this land. According to his testimony Claude Yancey had never claimed the property which is the subject of this suit.
Fred Wilson, a witness for the appellant and a licensed Civil Engineer and Surveyor, testified that he had been hired by Claude Yancey on February 3rd through February 6th, 1950 to survey four acres which Claude Yancey claimed to own in § 24, T. 4 S, R. 1 E. The plat which Fred Wilson made at that time was introduced in evidence by the plaintiff. Fred Wilson further testified that Claude Yancey did not at the time of the survey claim any part of Section 24 except the four acres noted in the plat mentioned above.
Julius Cooper, a witness for J. D. Morris (appellant), testified that J. D. Morris built a house on the property involved in this action and cleared underbrush from the land and that he also used the land for unloading logs.
The testimony of ...
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Morris v. Yancey
...appealed to this court. We reversed the judgment of the trial court and remanded the cause for further proceedings. Morris v. Yancey, 266 Ala. 54, 94 So.2d 195. We held in effect that although neither of the parties had shown title to the property, the trial court erred in giving the affirm......
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Morris v. Yancey
...of appellee because the trial court had given the general charge for appellee, and we held that a jury question was presented. 266 Ala. 54, 94 So.2d 195. At the second trial, the court submitted the question to the jury and verdict was in favor of the appellee. We affirmed the judgment base......
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Fuller v. Yancey
...267 Ala. 542, 543, 103 So.2d 310; Merchants National Bank of Mobile v. Morris, 273 Ala. 117, 136 So.2d 193. See also Morris v. Yancey, 266 Ala. 54, 94 So.2d 195; Morris v. Yancey, 267 Ala. 657, 104 So.2d As above stated, the defendants in the court below entered a plea of the general issue,......
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