Sashinger v. Wynn
| Decision Date | 02 November 1990 |
| Citation | 571 So.2d 1065 |
| Parties | Arthurine SASHINGER v. Lonnie B. WYNN. 89-551. |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
Ronnie L. Williams, Mobile, for appellant.
Harold Lee Odom, Chatom, for appellee.
Mrs. Arthurine Sashinger appeals from a judgment holding that an existing fence between her property and the property of Lonnie B. Wynn is the true dividing line between their two parcels of land. The trial court further ordered that the fence line be surveyed and that judicial markers be placed at the end of the fence to reflect the new dividing line. We affirm.
The record reveals the following relevant facts: Arthurine Sashinger was raised, and has spent most of her life, in Washington County, Alabama, on or near what was referred to as the Holcombe tract. She has actually resided on the Holcombe tract for the past 15 years. Portions of this large tract were periodically sold so that the tract is now owned by several landowners. Lonnie B. Wynn purchased his portion of the Holcombe tract in 1963 from John E. Henson, Jr. At that time, a fence surrounded the property that was not described in the deed to Wynn. However, Wynn believed that the fence was the true dividing line and that he owned the land inside its border. Virtually all of the surrounding landowners also considered the fence to be the true dividing line and that the land inside the fence belonged to Wynn. While the record is not clear on when the fence was erected, the surrounding landowners cannot remember a time when it was not there. From the time he purchased the land in 1963, Wynn has maintained the fence and has cultivated the land inside its borders. Until 1986, no one had ever disputed Wynn's possession of the land inside the fence or asserted a claim against the property.
In 1986, the remainder of the Holcombe tract was divided among several persons by a final judgment in the case of J.C. Skinner v. Elzadie Holcombe, et al., Case No. CV-81-034(P) (Washington County Circuit Court). Sashinger was awarded two parcels in that judgment. Pursuant to that judgment, a survey of the land was conducted. The survey revealed that the fence line separating Sashinger's property and Wynn's property was not the dividing line described in Wynn's deed. Apparently, the fence bore no relationship to the property line described in Wynn's deed. Until this point, no one in the community, including Sashinger, had ever questioned that the fence was the true property line or that the land inside the fence belonged to Wynn. However, once the surveyor's marks were placed, Sashinger noticed that the fence encroached onto one of her newly acquired parcels.
On October 9, 1987, Sashinger filed an action to resolve the boundary dispute. She asked the trial court to judicially establish the boundary between her property and Wynn's property. Wynn, in his answer and counterclaim, asserted that he held title to the land inside of and up to the fence by adverse possession. He maintained that he and his predecessors had been in adverse possession for more than 20 years and that the land inside the fence had been enclosed by the fence for more than 20 years.
The case was heard without a jury. After hearing the evidence, the trial judge ruled that the fence line represented the true dividing line between the parcel owned by Wynn and the parcel owned by Sashinger. The judge held that Wynn had acquired title to the land up to the fence by adverse possession. Sashinger now asks this Court to reverse the findings of the trial court.
Sashinger's sole argument on appeal is that even though Wynn may have established title to the land inside the fence by adverse possession, he was divested of title in 1986 as a result of the final judgment in J.C. Skinner v. Elzadie Holcombe, Case No. CV-81-034(P), which awarded her the property in dispute. We disagree. At the outset, we note that this Court has held repeatedly that the findings made by a trial court carry with them a presumption of correctness under the ore tenus rule. As we stated in Bell v. Jackson, 530 So.2d 42, 44 (Ala.1988):
In the present case, the trial judge heard the evidence presented and found that the true boundary line between Wynn's land and Sashinger's land was the fence. He held that Wynn had acquired title to the land inside and up to the fence by adverse possession. This finding is amply supported by credible evidence. At trial, virtually all surrounding landowners testified that the fence had been there as long as they could remember. Further, the community regarded the fence as the dividing line and the land inside the fence as belonging to Wynn. We hold that the trial judge's findings were supported by overwhelming evidence and were correct.
Wynn's claim of adverse possession is supported...
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