Shamblee v. Wilson

Citation170 So. 769,233 Ala. 164
Decision Date19 November 1936
Docket Number5 Div. 233
PartiesSHAMBLEE v. WILSON et al.
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama

Appeal from Circuit Court, Randolph County; W.B. Bowling, Judge.

Bill in equity by J.W. Shamblee against W.C. Wilson and others. From a decree sustaining a demurrer to the bill, complainant appeals.

Affirmed.

Paul J Hooton, of Roanoke, and Ed Perry, of Wedowee, for appellant.

Merrill Jones & Whiteside, of Anniston, for appellees.

BROWN Justice.

The appellee W.C. Wilson brought the statutory action in the nature of ejectment against appellant, Shamblee, seeking to recover possession of "All of Fraction 'A' in Section 5 and all of NE- 1/4 of Section 6, except the N 1/2 of NE- 1/4 of NE- 1/4, all in Township 18, Range 10, Randolph County, Alabama," and on motion of the defendant the case was transferred to the equity docket, as authorized by section 6490 of the Code, 1923.

Shamblee thereupon filed the bill in this case, bringing in as additional parties defendant, J.A. (Gus) Morgan (through whom, it is alleged, Wilson claims title) and D.D. and R.A Perryman, partners engaged in the mercantile business under the name of Perryman Bros.

Shamblee seeks by the bill to cancel a deed, made Exhibit A to the bill, executed by the complainant and his wife to said Morgan on July 2, 1931, then an employee of the said Perryman Bros in consideration of $1 and the satisfaction of Shamblee's claimed indebtedness to said Perryman Bros., on the ground that its execution was procured by the fraud of the respondents.

The bill also seeks, in the alternative, to reform said deed so as to omit from the description of the property therein conveyed a certain tract or tracts of land, on the ground that said tract or tracts were included with the lands intended to be conveyed through mistake of the grantors and the fraud of the respondents who procured its execution.

The bill also seeks in the alternative to settle and quiet the title to all of said lands, and an accounting by Perryman Bros., for cotton and other property delivered to and disposed of by them, and for general relief.

The defendant Wilson demurred to the bill, and to said bill in its several aspects, on sundry grounds. The court sustained the general demurrer for want of equity, and grounds 2-A, to the aspect of the bill seeking cancellation, and 1-B, seeking reformation.

The bill, though its averments are prolix, is not subject to the objection that it is without equity. If, in considering the general demurrer for want of equity--interposed to the whole bill, and not to the bill in its separate aspects--and taking as true all the averments of the bill, whether well or ill pleaded, the bill states an equitable cause of action in favor of the complainant, the general demurrer is due to be overruled. McDuffie et al. v. Lynchburg Shoe Co. et al., 178 Ala. 268-271, 59 So. 567; Shannon et al. v. Long, 180 Ala. 128, 60 So. 273; Whiteman v. Taber, 203 Ala. 496, 83 So. 595; Seeberg v. Norville et al., 204 Ala. 20, 85 So. 505.

Nor is the bill as a whole subject to any of the stated grounds of demurrer directed to it as a whole.

It has been ruled here that it is permissible on the removal of a case from the law to the equity docket, under §§ 6486-6490 of the Code, for the party who becomes the mover in the equity court to bring in new parties if their presence is proper or necessary to give the court jurisdiction to grant full relief. Pickens County et al. v. Williams, Superintendent of Banks, et al., 229 Ala. 250, 156 So. 548.

The aspect of the bill seeking to cancel the deed was subject to the objection pointed out by ground 2-A of the demurrer, directed to that aspect--that the complainant did not offer to do equity. Cross et al. v. Bank of Ensley, 203 Ala. 561, 84 So. 267; Carey v. Hart, 208 Ala. 316, 94 So. 298.

The aspect of the bill seeking reformation of the deed is indefinite and uncertain in its averments as to whether complainant seeks relief as to both "Fractions A and B" or only "Fraction A," and this defect is pointed out by ground 1-B of the demurrer directed to this aspect.

The aspect of the bill seeking an accounting is subject to the objection that the complainant does not offer to do equity, a point taken by ground 5-C of the demurrer directed at the bill in that aspect.

That aspect of the bill seeking to settle and quiet the title, in the absence of an averment that the...

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11 cases
  • Springdale Gayfer's Store Co. v. D. H. Holmes Co., 1 Div. 259
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Alabama
    • August 17, 1967
    ...to appropriate demurrer. Kilgore v. Redmill, 121 Ala. 485, 25 So. 766; Amberson v. Patterson, 227 Ala. 397, 150 So. 353; Shamblee v. Wilson, 233 Ala. 164, 170 So. 769; Atlas Assurance Co., Limited, of London, England v. Byrne, 235 Ala. 281, 178 So. 451; Ballentine v. Bradley, 236 Ala. 326, ......
  • Southeast Enterprises, Inc. v. Byrd
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Alabama
    • February 13, 1998
  • Sun Oil Co. v. Oswell
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Alabama
    • January 19, 1953
    ...Sims Chancery Practice, section 292, p. 185. The cases cited by appellant showed such a duty on the part of complainant. Shamblee v. Wilson, 233 Ala. 164, 170 So. 769; Harris v. Nichols, 223 Ala. 58, 134 So. 798. These cases involved a quieting of title or cancellation of some instrument in......
  • City of Montgomery v. Brown
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Alabama
    • September 4, 1969
    ...217 Ala. 14, 114 So. 360; Wood v. Curry, 243 Ala. 136, 8 So.2d 822; Petcher v. Rounsaville, 267 Ala. 237, 101 So.2d 324; Shamblee v. Wilson, 233 Ala. 164, 170 So. 769. The failure of the bill in so far as it seeks to quiet title to allege peaceable possession in complainant was a defect goi......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

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