Salter v. Hamiter

• Citation: 887 So.2d 230
• Decision Date: 20 February 2004
• Docket Number: No. 1021358.,1021358.
• Parties: Frank T. SALTER v. Harold W. HAMITER and Gillis E. Ralls, as personal representatives of the estate of Mary Ellen Knowles.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

887 So.2d 230

Frank T. SALTER v. Harold W. HAMITER and Gillis E. Ralls, as personal representatives of the estate of Mary Ellen Knowles.

No. 1021358.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

February 20, 2004.

Edward T. Hines and Broox G. Garrett, Jr., of Thompson, Garrett & Hines, L.L.P., Brewton, for appellant.

J. Mark Murphy of Murphy, Murphy & McCalman, P.C., Andalusia; and John M. Peek of Peek & Weaver, P.C., Andalusia, for appellees.

LYONS, Justice.

Frank T. Salter appeals from the trial court's April 25, 2003, judgment declaring void three warranty deeds from Mary Ellen Knowles to Salter. We reverse the trial court's judgment and render a judgment for Salter.

I. Facts and Procedural History

The evidence in the record reveals the following facts. Frank T. Salter first met Mary Ellen Knowles in the early 1960s; the two became business associates and good friends. They engaged in many business ventures together in which Knowles acted as the bookkeeper. In October 1966, Knowles gave Salter power of attorney over all of her assets. On March 13, 1967, Knowles executed a will leaving everything she owned to Salter. At some point after she had executed the will, Knowles deeded all of the real property she owned in Choctaw County, Escambia County, Dale County, Conecuh County, and Covington County to Salter. The only deeds that are of issue in this case cover the real property located in Conecuh County and Covington County, totaling approximately 1,000 acres.

In an attempt to effectuate the transfer of the three parcels of property located in Conecuh County and Covington County, Knowles executed three deeds in November 1967. After executing the deeds, Knowles presented them to her attorney and told him that it was her desire to transfer title of the described properties to Salter, and she wanted to know if the deeds "looked alright." According to her attorney, Knowles, not wanting any trouble with her family, also asked her attorney what would happen if the deeds were not recorded until after her death. Knowles's attorney told her that the deeds "looked fine." Her attorney testified that he explained to Knowles the consequences of not recording the deeds and further explained that "delivery" of the deeds to the grantee was an essential element for the conveyance of real property.

A couple of months after Knowles met with her attorney to discuss the deeds, she was admitted to the hospital to undergo some tests. While at the hospital, she telephoned her attorney and asked him to come to the hospital to witness her delivery of the deeds to Salter and to make sure that the delivery of the deeds was a "good delivery." When Salter and Knowles's attorney arrived at the hospital, Knowles retrieved the deeds from her purse and handed them to Salter. Once Salter had the deeds in his hand, Knowles's attorney advised her that what had just transpired was "a sufficient delivery of the deeds." Knowles requested at this time that Salter not record the deeds until after her death. Salter retained physical possession of the deeds. After the delivery of the deeds, Salter managed the timber property on the lands conveyed to him by the deeds, possessed keys to all of the gates located on the properties, and hunted on the properties. The properties remained in Knowles's name for purposes of ad valorem tax assessments; however, the invoices for those taxes were mailed to one of two businesses operated jointly by Salter and Knowles — Salter Truck and Tractor and Salter and Knowles's Brooklyn farming operation — and many of the invoices were paid from one of the joint business bank accounts maintained by Salter and Knowles. There is also evidence indicating that, following the delivery of the deeds to Salter, Knowles sold timber off and leased mineral rights to the properties described in the deeds; she also sold parcels of land included in the properties described in the deeds. Nevertheless, several of the purchasers testified that Salter knew of and consented to those transactions and even stated that Knowles would not make a decision concerning a sale without Salter's consent.

In September 1985, Knowles executed another will; the will contained no reference to the real property located in Conecuh County and Covington County. During the consultation with her attorney in preparation for drafting this will, Knowles told her attorney that she had already deeded most of her property to Salter and that she was aware that she did not have title to any of the real property she had previously conveyed to Salter.

All three deeds remained in the exclusive possession and control of Salter until Salter recorded them several days after Knowles's death on May 28, 2000.

In October 2000, the representatives of Knowles's estate, Harold Hamiter and Gillis Ralls ("the Hamiter appellees"), filed the present action seeking to have the three deeds declared void because, they argued, (1) the deeds were not properly delivered, (2) the deeds violated the statute of wills, and (3) Salter was barred by the doctrine of laches because he had failed to assert his claim to ownership within 20 years of the date of the execution of the three deeds. The complaint was subsequently amended to assert additional claims based upon the rule of repose and the Statute of Frauds. After conducting a bench trial, the trial court on April 25, 2003, declared all three deeds void. The trial court specifically found (1) that the three deeds "were intended to be the equivalent of a will" and that, "as a will, none of the three deeds [met] the requirements of the statute of wills"; (2) that "there was no intent by Knowles to vest title, ownership and control of her lands in Salter at the time of the purported delivery of the deeds at issue"; and (3) that "Salter's lack of action until after the death of Knowles [indicated] lack of present acceptance of the delivery." Salter appeals.

II. Standard of Review

A. Ore Tenus Rule

"When a judge in a nonjury case hears oral testimony, a judgment based on findings of fact based on that testimony will be presumed correct and will not be disturbed on appeal except for a plain and palpable error." Allstate Ins. Co. v. Skelton, 675 So.2d 377, 379 (Ala.1996). Nevertheless, this principle is not applicable where the evidence is undisputed, or where the material facts are established by the undisputed evidence. See Scott v. McGriff, 222 Ala. 344, 346, 132 So. 177, 179 (1930) ("The rule that the finding and conclusion of the trial court on testimony given ore tenus will be accorded the weight of the verdict of a jury, and will not be disturbed unless contrary to the great weight of the evidence, is without application, where the evidence is without dispute and but one conclusion can be drawn from it."); see also Franklin v. State ex rel. Trammell, 275 Ala. 92, 93, 152 So.2d 158, 159 (1963); Henderson v. Henderson, 228 Ala. 438, 153 So. 646 (1934); Duggan v. Duggan, 227 Ala. 92, 148 So. 844 (1933); Marsh v. Elba Bank & Trust Co., 205 Ala. 425, 88 So. 423 (1920); Bowling v. State, 204 Ala. 405, 85 So. 500 (1920). When the trial court "improperly applies the law to the facts, the presumption of correctness otherwise applicable to the trial court's judgment has no effect." Ex parte Board of Zoning Adjustment of Mobile, 636 So.2d 415, 418 (Ala.1994).

B. Doctrine of Laches

In Horton v. Kimbrell, 819 So.2d 601, 606 (Ala.2001), this Court summarized as follows the standard of review for determining whether the doctrine of laches is applicable:

"The applicability of the doctrine of laches is `dependent upon the particular facts and circumstances' of each case. Dear v. Peek, 261 Ala. 137, 141, 73 So.2d 358, 361 (1954). `Where the question of laches is presented, the facts and circumstances of each case govern the court in the exercise of the discretion thereby invoked for the determination of the inquiry.' Jones v. Ball, 294 Ala. 654, 656, 320 So.2d 665, 667 (1975) (internal quotations omitted). The applicability of the doctrine is `committed to the sound discretion of the trial court.' Wallace v. Hardee's of Oxford, Inc., 874 F.Supp. 374, 377 (M.D.Ala.1995). Thus, whether a trial court erred in applying the doctrine of laches is reviewed under an abuse-of-discretion standard. Bishop v. Pierce, 726 So.2d 663, 666 (Ala.Civ.App.1998)."

III. Analysis

A. Deeds or Will

Salter first argues that the trial court erred by finding that Knowles intended the three deeds to be a will. Salter points out that Knowles knew the difference between a deed and a will as evidenced by the many deeds she had executed before she executed the deeds at issue here and by the three wills she had executed. Because Knowles knew the difference between the two types of documents, Salter argues, Knowles intended the documents here to be deeds as evidenced by the fact that she consulted with her attorney on how to transfer a valid present interest in the properties to Salter and by the fact that, after the deeds were delivered, she executed another will, in which she made no provision for the real property located in either Conecuh County or Covington County. Salter further argues that because deeds are irrevocable documents and wills cannot be irrevocable, it was Knowles's intent that the three documents be deeds.

The Hamiter appellees respond by arguing that Knowles did not intend the documents to be deeds, which would convey a present interest in the properties to Salter, as evidenced by the fact that Knowles remained in possession and control of the properties located in Conecuh County and Covington County for 33 years following the alleged delivery of the documents. The Hamiter appellees point out that, between the time of the alleged delivery of the documents and her death, Knowles built a new house on one of the properties and resided there, mortgaged a portion of the properties, sold timber from the properties, leased mineral rights to the properties, executed a hunting...