Palmer v. Palmer
| Decision Date | 05 December 1980 |
| Citation | 390 So.2d 1050 |
| Parties | Ben PALMER and wife, Ida Palmer v. Cora PALMER et al. 79-373. |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
Charles A. Sullins of Sullins & Robins, Huntsville, for appellants.
Arthur Fite, Jr. of Fite, Davis and Fite, Hamilton, for appellees.
Appellants Ben Palmer and wife Ida appeal from a jury verdict adjudging Appellees to be the owners of 10 acres of property-the subject matter of this dispute. We reverse and remand.
In 1939, Ben Palmer purchased 19 acres of land for $450.00. The 19 acres were divided by a public road, with approximately 10 acres located north of the road and 9 acres being south of the road. Ben Palmer already owned an additional 80-acre tract which joined the 10 acres on the north side of the road and gave his 80-acre tract access to the public road for the first time.
In 1949, Ben's brother, Chester, asked Ben to sell him the 9-acre parcel south of the road. There was never any conversation or discussion between the brothers about Chester's buying the 10 acres north of the road. According to Ben, he agreed to sell his brother the 9 acres for $200.00.
Ben and his wife, together with his brother Chester, went to the courthouse in Hamilton and asked Probate Judge Frank Pierce to make the deed for them. According to Ben, he and Chester told the Judge that Chester was buying the land south of the road (the 9 acres), and to make the road the property line. The Judge gave the form deed to one of his secretaries who filled it in. Ben and his wife then signed the deed and gave it to Chester. Neither Ben nor his wife ever again, until immediately prior to this action, saw the deed. Ben maintains that all of the parties were unaware that the deed purported to convey the entire 19-acre tract to Chester rather than just the 9 acres south of the road which had been agreed upon.
Chester took immediate possession of the 9 acres south of the road, while Ben retained possession of the 10 acres north of the road. Ben, in exercising continued possession and apparent ownership of the 10 acres, rented the land to different people who throughout the years used it partly as farmland. In 1957, Ben rented the farmland portion of the disputed tract to the government for a period of 10 years. That lease was extended for an additional 5-year period.
In 1973, Ben cleared the farmland portion of the 10 acres. Additionally, Ben sold pulpwood off the land, hunted thereon, and gave others permission to hunt there. Ben sold a right-of-way from the north side of the county road completely across the 10-acre tract to Alabama Power Company. At the same time, Chester sold a right-of-way from the south side of the road across all of his land. Chester died in 1969. In 1973, Ben and his wife signed a right-of-way deed giving the county access to the north side of the road. Chester's wife, Cora Palmer, signed the same deed conveying to the county a right-of-way on the south side of the road.
Everyone in the community, including Chester Palmer, during his lifetime, and Cora, after her husband's death, recognized the land in question as belonging to the Appellants because of their possession and control thereof. Cora and her son, Billy Gene, who now has record title to the disputed ten acres, both testified that they knew Appellants had claimed the land since the sale by Appellants to Chester Palmer.
In 1978, as a result of tax reappraisals, property owners in Marion County were notified as to what property was assessed to them and what they were paying taxes on. Many people discovered that they had paid taxes for years on property they did not own. The reappraisal revealed that Chester Palmer, and since his death, his wife, were assessed on the 10 acres in question since 1949.
Appellants contend, and we agree, that a review of all the testimony in the case below establishes by a clear preponderance of the evidence that the jury's verdict was palpably wrong and manifestly unjust.
The law is well settled that a presumption of validity accompanies a jury verdict on appeal. But, while this may be the rule, it is not absolute. In Insurance Company of North America v. Mays, 278 Ala. 20, 24, 174 So.2d 700, 704 (1965), Justice Lawson, quoting from an earlier case, said:
" '... this court has not renounced its duty nor neglected its power to revise the verdicts of juries and the conclusions of trial judges on questions of fact, where, in our opinion, after making all proper allowances and indulging all reasonable intendments in favor of the court below, we reach a clear conclusion that the finding and judgment are wrong....' "
Put another way, an appellate...
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