Rhodes-Carroll Furniture Co. v. Webb, 6 Div. 701

Citation230 Ala. 251,160 So. 247
Decision Date28 February 1935
Docket Number6 Div. 701
PartiesRHODES-CARROLL FURNITURE CO. v. WEBB.
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama

Rehearing Denied April 4, 1935

Appeal from Circuit Court, Jefferson County; C.B. Smith, Judge.

Action of trespass by Molian Webb against the Rhodes-Carroll Furniture Company. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals. Transferred from Court of Appeals under Code 1923, § 7326.

Affirmed.

Wm. S Pritchard, Jas. W. Aird, and David R. Solomon, all of Birmingham, for appellant.

Drennen & Perrine, of Birmingham, for appellee.

GARDNER Justice.

Defendant by its agents (two white men and a negro driving the truck) took from plaintiff's home certain furniture, which he had purchased, on what is known as a "lease-sale" contract, and upon which there was still due $15.50.

Plaintiff's case rests upon the theory of a wrongful and unlawful taking though defendant had the title and right to possession of the furniture. Unlawful force forms the essential element of the trespass. This question was fully discussed in the recent case of Cox v. Stuart (Ala.Sup.) 157 So. 460, and needs no repetition here.

Defendant insists, however, there was no force used, no violence or threats of violence, no physical resistance, and therefore there was no unlawful taking.

But the argument overlooks the gist of plaintiff's case as disclosed by that part of the proof, to the effect that one of the agents in asking admission to the house and taking the furniture represented to plaintiff's wife (who alone was at home at the time) that he was an officer, a "detective," as she says. That he was not an officer is without dispute. And the jury could reasonably infer from the proof that possession was thus obtained against the consent of the wife, though without any active resistance on her part. Possession thus obtained may nevertheless constitute a trespass, a wrongful taking, as decided by this court in Thornton v. Cochran, 51 Ala. 415.

Plaintiff therefore made out a case for the jury's determination. The representation relied upon by plaintiff was denied by defendant's agents, and this issue of fact was squarely presented to the jury. The trial court saw and heard these witnesses testify, that for plaintiff, a negro woman, and for defendant, two white men. There must be here indulged a presumption in favor of the correctness of his ruling ( Cobb v. Malone, 92 Ala. 630, 9 So. 738), and upon due consideration, under the rule by which we are here guided in questions of this character, the conclusion has been reached that the case is not; one in which the judgment of the trial judge should be here disturbed.

Plaintiff in addition to the Code form of trespass, which would have served all purposes, added several other counts to his complaint, and demurrer thereto was overruled. It may be that some of these counts were objectionable, as argued, but that...

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20 cases
  • Matter of Turner
    • United States
    • United States Bankruptcy Courts. Eleventh Circuit. U.S. Bankruptcy Court — Northern District of Alabama
    • 3 d2 Junho d2 1997
    ...... as exempt property pursuant to Ala.Code § 6-10-6 (1975). The hearing on confirmation has been ... of possession pass to creditor." Rhodes-Carroll Furniture Co. v. Webb, 230 Ala. 251, 160 So. 247 ......
  • In re Greene, Bankruptcy No. 99-04505-TBB-13. Adversary No. 99-00282.
    • United States
    • United States Bankruptcy Courts. Eleventh Circuit. U.S. Bankruptcy Court — Northern District of Alabama
    • 18 d4 Maio d4 2000
    ......         On September 6, 1996, John Greene purchased for his personal use ... of the quote from Rainey is "in Rhodes-Carroll Furniture Co. v. Webb, 230 Ala. 251, 160 So. 247 ......
  • Dollar v. McKinney, 7 Div. 380
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Alabama
    • 29 d4 Maio d4 1958
    ......        This charge was refused to defendants:. '6. Court charges the jury that if from the evidence you are ...Huff, 241 Ala. 119, 1 So.2d 390; Rhodes-Carroll Furniture Co. v. Webb, 230 Ala. 251, 160 So. 247; Southern ...Co. v. Russell, 254 Ala. 701, 48 So.2d 249; Ford v. Sellers, 257 Ala. 404, 59 So.2d 799. ......
  • General Finance Corp. v. Bradwell, 1 Div. 242
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Alabama
    • 17 d4 Março d4 1966
    ...... in favor of the plaintiff, Bradwell, in the amount of $6,800. A judgment in accord with the verdict was rendered in ...Huff, 241 Ala. 119, 1 So.2d 390; Rhodes-Carroll Furniture Co. v. Webb, 230 Ala. 251, 160 So. 247; Southern ......
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1 books & journal articles
  • RACE IN CONTRACT LAW.
    • United States
    • University of Pennsylvania Law Review Vol. 170 No. 5, May 2022
    • 1 d0 Maio d0 2022
    ...of the white men on demanding the property advanced on him with his hands in his overcoat pockets"); Rhodes-Carroll Furniture Co. v. Webb, 160 So. 247, 248 (Ala. 1935) (describing the plaintiff as "a negro woman"). Race was not mentioned, for example, in Scroggins v. Alabama Gas Corp., 158 ......

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