Ray v. Robinson

• Decision Date: 26 September 1980
• Citation: 388 So.2d 957
• Parties: Raymond E. RAY and Jewel P. Ray v. Vester ROBINSON and Lucille P. Robinson. 79-423.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Page 957

388 So.2d 957

Raymond E. RAY and Jewel P. Ray v. Vester ROBINSON and Lucille P. Robinson.

79-423.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

Sept. 26, 1980.

A. B. Foshee, Clanton, for appellants.

William D. Latham, Clanton, for appellees.

MADDOX, Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the Circuit Court of Chilton County resolving boundary disputes between owners of coterminous lands. We affirm.

By warranty deed dated October 30, 1954, Allen Waldrop conveyed to the plaintiffs/appellees, Vester Robinson and Lucille P. Robinson, inter alia, thirty-eight acres of land, more or less, located in the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 28, Township 23, Range 13. That property was described in the deed as follows:

The Northeast quarter of the Southeast quarter, less two acres on the South side along the old Randolph Road in Section 28, ... Township 23, Range 13 ....

The old Randolph Road referred to in this description is better known as the old Jemison-Randolph Public Road and the trier of fact could have found that it is now no more than an abandoned roadbed which runs approximately one thousand feet along the southern portion of the quarter-quarter. It enters the quarter-quarter on the east forty line approximately one hundred feet north of the southeastern corner of the quarter-quarter, and runs in a southwesterly direction until it intersects with the south forty line.

At the time the appellees purchased the above described property, the land described as "two acres on the South side along the old Randolph Road" was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Langston. That land was but a part of a larger twelve-acre tract, owned by Langstons, which extended into the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 28, Township 23, Range 13. The record shows that while the Langstons were in possession of the property south of the old Jemison-Randolph Public Road, the appellees recognized the old road as the northernmost boundary of the Langston property.

On June 8, 1957, the appellees conveyed to the defendants/appellants, Raymond E. Ray and Jeweldine P. Ray, ¹ sister of appellee Lucille P. Robinson, a two-acre tract of land located immediately north of the Langston property on the east forty line. The warranty deed by which this parcel was conveyed contained the following description:

Beginning at the corner of the Langston property running north along (the) Section line 2 acres deep thence West One acre thence South Two acre (sic) thence East One acre to the point of beginning, containing Two acres in the Northeast fourth of the Southeast fourth Sec. 28, T. 23, R. 13.

The record indicates that the "corner of the Langston property" was physically represented by appellee Vester Robinson to be that point at which the old Jemison-Randolph Public Road intersected the east forty line.

Following this conveyance, appellee Vester Robinson erected a barbed wire fence to mark the northern boundary of the appellants' property. According to the terms of the deed, this fence should have started at a point on the east forty line "two acres" north of the "corner of the Langston property" and run in a westerly direction a distance of "one acre." Instead, Mr. Robinson, in the presence of the appellants, estimated what he believed was "two acres" north of the Langston property; the fence began at a point on the east forty line approximately four hundred feet north of the Jemison-Randolph Public Road. From that point, the fence ran in a westerly direction until it intersected with paved county highway No. 25. Until the present suit was instituted, this fence was always recognized as the northern boundary of the appellants' property.

On November 6, 1959, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Langston, owners of the twelve-acre tract previously described, conveyed that property to the appellants. The deed by which this property was conveyed contained the following description:

Two (2) acres of land lying south of the Old Jemison-Randolph Public Road (which road is no longer in use), in the Northeast Fourth of the Southeast Fourth of Section 28, Township 23, Range 13; Also, all that part of the Southeast Fourth of the Southeast Fourth of Section 28, Township 23, Range 13 that lies north of the paved Jemison-Randolph Public Road running in a general east and west direction across said forty and containing ten (10) acres, more or less. All of the above described property containing twelve (12) acres, more or less.

With the execution of this deed, the appellants became the owners of a second tract lying in the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 28, Township 23, Range 13, this tract being composed entirely of lands lying south of the old Jemison-Randolph Public Road, and believed to contain two acres.

Approximately seven or eight years after the Langston deed was executed, appellee Vester Robinson hired a Mr. Carl Maddox for the purpose of digging a cattle watering hole along the abandoned roadbed. This water hole was dug with a backhoe and, according to a survey subsequently made on the property, lies partially on the partially south of the old roadbed, approximately seven hundred feet west of the east forty line. The testimony elicited at trial indicates that from the time this water hole was created until the present, the appellees have made exclusive use of it to water their cattle.

In May of 1966, the appellees sought to borrow money from the Federal Land Bank. In considering the appellees' loan application, the federal bank conducted a thorough title search to determine whether the appellees held clear title. After this title search, Mr. Morgan Reynolds, an employee of the Federal Land Bank, informed the appellees that an error had been discovered in the 1957 deed wherein appellees had conveyed two acres of land to the appellants. Mr. Reynolds instructed them that they were required by law to correct that deed; therefore, on May 20, 1966, the appellees filed a corrective deed amending the description contained in the 1957 deed to read as follows:

Beginning at the southeast corner of the Northeast Quarter of the Southeast Quarter, Section 28, Township 23, Range 13, and run thence north on and along the east line of said forty 420 feet, thence run west 210 feet, thence run south 420 feet, thence run east 210 feet, to the point of beginning.

This corrective deed is significant because it changes the designated "starting point" in the description of the property from the "corner of the Langston property" to the southeast corner of Section 28, Township 23, Range 13. As noted previously, the "corner of the Langston property" was recognized by the parties as that point at which the old Jemison-Randolph Public Road intersected the east forty line, a point one hundred feet north of the southeast corner of the quarter-quarter. As a result, the corrective deed described the property as lying south of the location that the parties originally agreed to. The appellants were never informed that this deed was being filed, nor were they apprised of its existence until after the present lawsuit was commenced.

It was not until the spring of 1978 that the events leading to the present suit transpired. In March or April of that year, the appellees hired a Mr. Bobby Seale, an unlicensed surveyor, to survey the land they conveyed to the appellants. In doing so, Mr. Seale discovered that there was, in fact, more than two acres (i. e., 3.19 acres) lying south of the old Jemison-Randolph Public Road and advised the appellees that they might own part of it. As a result, a dispute arose between the parties as to whether the old Jemison-Randolph Public Road was, in fact, the boundary between their respective properties. The appellees contended that they owned all the land lying south of the roadbed, less and except two acres specifically granted to the appellants. The appellants, on the other hand, claimed that the appellees had no claim to any of the property lying south of the old road. When the parties were unable to reach an amicable settlement, the present lawsuit was initiated.

On November 2, 1978, the appellees filed a petition in the Circuit Court of Chilton County alleging that the 1959 Langston deed was unclear and uncertain in its description of the property which was conveyed to the appellants. More specifically, appellees averred that this description caused confusion as to what portion of the land lying south of the old road belonged to the appellants and what portion belonged to the appellees. The appellees prayed that the court would enter an order clarifying the description of that conveyance and would ascertain a common boundary line and division between the properties. In addition, they requested the trial court to enter an order establishing that the appellants owned only two acres of land lying south of the old Jemison-Randolph Public Road and that the balance of the land lying south of the road belonged to the appellees.

In response to this petition, the appellants filed an answer denying that the Langston deed was ambiguous and denying that they owned only two acres of land lying south of the old road. To the contrary, they argued that the old Jemison-Randolph Public Road had been recognized as the permanent boundary between their properties for over twenty years. Beyond this, the appellants averred that they had been in open, notorious, exclusive, adverse, peaceful and hostile possession of all lands lying south of the old road since November 6, 1959, and that their predecessors in title had been in hostile possession of the land for more than forty years.

In addition to this answer, the appellants filed a counterclaim raising various contentions concerning the filing of the 1966 corrective deed and the boundaries of the appellees' property north of the old Jemison-Randolph Public Road. With regard to the corrective deed, the appellants averred that the deed had been filed without their knowledge,...