Pierson v. Case

• Decision Date: 14 September 1961
• Docket Number: 1 Div. 763
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court
• Parties: Stephen N. PIERSON et al. v. A. B. CASE et al.

Page 239

133 So.2d 239

272 Ala. 527

Stephen N. PIERSON et al. v. A. B. CASE et al.

1 Div. 763.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

Sept. 14, 1961.

Sam W. Pipes, III, and Lyons, Pipes & Cook, Mobile, for appellant pierson.

Howell & Johnsson, Mobile, for unknown respondents.

Jere Austill, Jr., Austill & Austill, Mobile, for appellee Case.

Thornton & McGowin, Mobile, for appellee Keisker.

Albert Tully, Mobile, for appellee Cole.

Slepian & Byrd, Mobile, for guardian adlitem of certain unknown respondents, appellee.

GOODWYN, Justice.

This is an appeal from a final decree of the circuit court of Mobile County, in equity, in an in rem proceeding brought pursuant to Code 1940, Tit. 7, § 1116 et seq., as amended by Act No. 882, appvd. Sept. 12, 1951, Acts 1951, p. 1521, quieting title to a five-acre tract of land (East half of Northeast quarter of Northeast quarter of Southwest quarter, Section 26, Township 2 North, Range 3 West, Mobile County) in the Citronelle oil field.

The pleadings are rather involved. It would probably be more confusing than halpful to attempt to recite them. For an understanding of the decisive questions before us, we think it will suffice to state the following:

Appellants Stephen N. Pierson and Wallace Henry Pierson claim to be the owners of the land and seek to have the fee simple title thereto quieted in them. They also seek to redeem from a state tax sale made in 1919. There appears to be no dispute that this was not a valid tax sale. In view of our conclusion that the trial court did not err in denying relief to said appellants, there seems no need to set out the chain of title relied on by them. For purposes of this appeal, we will assume, without deciding, that the record title is in them.

In 1945 the state, the purchaser at the 1919 tax sale, quitclaimed the property to W. M. Wright, which is the source of color of title relied on by appellees, as hereinafter shown. Appellees also rely on the exclusive payment of taxes on the property for ten years by W. M. Wright and his grantee of the surface, J. J. Cole, one of the appellees, as being conclusive evidence of their respective titles, as decreed by the trial court, by virtue of the provisions of Code 1940, Tit. 7, § 1123, as amended by Act No. 882, appvd. Sept. 12, 1951, supra; also, on Wright's adverse possession of the property coupled with Cole's adverse possession of the surface, under color of title, for the statutory periods of three years, as prescribed by Code 1940, Tit. 51, § 295, the so-called 'short statute of limitations', applicable to actions for recovery of real estate sold for the payment of taxes, and ten years, as prescribed by Code 1940, Tit. 7, § 828. Although the doctrines of prescription and laches are also relied on, we see no need to discuss them.

A. B. Case, one of the appellees, claimed, and the trial court decreed in his favor, title to an undivided one-half interest in the minerals in, on, or under said five-acre tract. His claim is based on the following chain of paper title, together with the exclusive payment of taxes and adverse possession by Wright and Cole, above noted, as inuring to his benefit, viz.:

1. State tax deed to W. M. Wright, dated May 9, 1945, and recorded May 16, 1945.

2. Quitclaim deed from W. M. Wright to Louis Lilly, dated July 8, 1945, and recorded July 16, 1945, conveying an undivided one-half interest in the minerals. This interest was conveyed by Lilly to A. W. Hutchings by deed dated September 18, 1948, recorded November 8, 1955, and by deed dated October 1, 1949, recorded November 14, 1955, and then conveyed by Hutchings to A. M. Keisker, one of the appellees, by statutory warranty deed dated January 26, 1956, and recorded on January 27, 1956.

3. Quitclaim deed from W. M. Wright to J. J. Cole, dated October 12, 1945, and recorded December 31, 1945, conveying all of the grantor's 'right, title, interest or claim' in or to the five-acre tract, but containing a reservation to the grantor of one-half of all minerals.

4. Statutory warranty deed from W. M. Wright to A. B. Case, dated October 12, 1945, and recorded December 8, 1955, conveying all the minerals on, in and under the five-acre tract. (Although this deed purports to convey all the minerals, the trial court decreed title to only one-half to be in Case. No question as to this is presented on this appeal.)

J. J. Cole claimed title to the surface and one-half of the minerals by virtue of the quitclaim deed to him from W. M. Wright, dated October 12, 1945, supra, and exclusive payment by him and Wright of taxes on the property for ten years, and also by virtue of their adverse possession under both the 'short' and the ten year statutes, as above noted.

A. M. Keisker based his claim to one-half of the minerals on the chain of title set forth in paragraph 2 of the A. B. Case chain, supra, together with Wright and Cole's exclusive payment of taxes and adverse possession, above noted, as inuring to his benefit.

After an oral hearing of the testimony, the trial court rendered a final decree quieting title to the surface in J. J. Cole, title to an undivided one-half interest in the minerals in A. B. Case, and title to the other undivided one-half interest in the minerals in A. M. Keisker. This appeal is from that decree.

No question is presented concerning Cole's claim to one-half the minerals, which was denied by the trial court; nor do the other appellees question that part of the decree quieting title to the surface in Cole. In fact, there appears to be no controversy on this appeal between Cole, Keisker and Case concerning their respective interests in the property as decreed by the trial court.

Our conclusion is that there is sufficient evidence to support a finding that Cole acquired title to the surface by adverse possession for ten years, under § 828, Tit. 7, and for three years under § 295, Tit. 51; that the exclusive payment of taxes on the property by Wright and Cole for ten years, together with their color of title, was sufficient to constitute 'conclusive evidence of title' to the surface to be in Cole; and that such adverse possession and exclusive payment of taxes inured to the benefit of Case and Keisker so as to ripen in each of them title to one-half the minerals. Our reasons for these conclusions follow:

There seems to be no dispute that the tax deed from the state to Wright, even if invalid, was sufficient to furnish color of title. Clanahan v. Morgan, 268 Ala. 71, 76, 105 So.2d 429; Merchants National Bank of Mobile v. Lott, 255 Ala. 133, 135, 50 So.2d 406; Odom v. Averett, 248 Ala. 289, 292, 27 So.2d 479; Pugh v. Youngblood, 69 Ala. 296, 299. Nor is there any question that the other conveyances stemming from that deed furnish color of title to the several interests purportedly conveyed. So, the first question is whether the tacked possession of Wright and Cole was adverse for the statutory period of ten years (Code 1940, Tit. 7, § 828, supra) so as to ripen title to the surface in Cole. Having concluded that there is evidence to support such finding, the second question is whether such adverse possession of the surface inured to the benefit of Case and Keisker (each being the holder of color of title to one-half the minerals and neither having actual possession of them) so as to mature title to one-half the minerals in each. The answer is 'yes'.

As already noted, the evidence was taken orally before the trial court. Hence, its conflicting tendencies must be considered in the light most favorable to appellees, the same as if there had been a jury trial. While there are conflicting tendencies in the evidence from which the trial court could have found against appellees' contention with respect to adverse possession, we think there is sufficient evidence supporting the decree quieting title to the surface in Cole under both the ten year and the three year statutes. In this situation, in order to reverse, insofar as the decree quiets title to the surface in Cole, we would have to say that the trial court's conclusion from the evidence on the issue of Cole's adverse possession was plainly and palpably wrong. This we are unable to do.

There are tendencies in the evidence establishing the following:

The five-acre tract is principally 'swampy' wild land, containing a small amount of timber. It is located in the corner of a forty-acre tract, the other thirty-five acres in said tract belonging to the family of Mr. Blakely Young when Wright acquired his tax deed in 1945. At that time, Mr. Young's daughter, Mrs. Birdie Walker, was living with him. When Wright acquired his tax deed he went on the land and posted it with 'keep out' or 'no trespassing' signs. He took Mr. Young on the land and tried to sell it to him. He arranged with Mr. Young to look after the land for him, at the same time giving Mr. Young permission to water his cattle on the property. Neither Mr. Young, until his death in 1951, nor his daughter, Mrs. Walker, who continued to water the cattle there after her father's death, ever claimed any interest in the land. In fact, Mrs. Walker, at the trial, disclaimed any interest in it. When Cole acquired his deed in 1945 he also went to Mr. Young and arranged with him to look after the property--to look after the green timber--and told him he could 'have the stove wood off of it'; and had an arrangement with him about the cattle--'I just told him to keep it, use it and watch it', which he did. About 1949 Cole cut the timber, and between 1945 and the time the suit was filed he went on the place about twenty times. There is no road adjoining the five-acre tract. It is accessible by going across the Young-Walker 35-acre tract. It is not susceptible to cultivation or use as a pasture or other improvement. The only reasonable use to which it could have been put was the growing of a small amount of timber, watering cattle and hunting. Cole gave permission to at least one person to hunt on it. While...