Spears v. Conley
| Decision Date | 17 June 1905 |
| Parties | SPEARS v. CONLEY. |
| Court | Kentucky Court of Appeals |
Appeal from Circuit Court, Johnson County.
"Not to be officially reported."
Action by Burns Conley against Enoch Spears. Judgment for plaintiff. Defendant appeals. Reversed.
W. H Vaughan and C. B. Wheeler, for appellant.
Geo. C Middaugh, for appellee.
John Conley, Sr., and James H. Milem were adjoining landowners in Johnson county. There was a dispute between them as to the division line, and Milem sued Conley to recover the piece of land in controversy between them. In that suit the jury returned a verdict in favor of Milem for the land there in controversy, but they located the line between them so that a piece of the land which Milem had inclosed and in cultivation fell to Conley. This was in 1887. In 1888 Conley notified Milem in writing to set his fence back, but this Milem does not seem to have done. In 1892 Milem was sued by his vendor for the purchase money of the land, and pleaded as a defense the loss of the piece referred to in the suit with Conley. He and Conley gave their depositions in that case. A judgment was entered in that case on May 3, 1894, by which Milem was given credit for $50 for the loss of the five acres of land and a judgment was rendered against him for the remainder of the purchase money, subject to credits for the amounts he had paid, and a sale of the land was ordered. On July 2, 1894 Milem sold the land to Enoch Spears, he having inclosed and put in cultivation the five acres referred to, and having built a house on it, and held it since the verdict in the ordinary action. Spears was a son-in-law of John Conley, Sr., and before buying the land he went to see his father-in-law about his proposed purchase from Milem, and Conley told him that he did not want it, and for him to go ahead and buy it. Spears went on to look at the land, and his wife stayed there to dinner. After Spears left, Conley told his daughter, Mrs. Spears, to tell her husband to go ahead, and buy that land; that it would not do him any good, and that he never expected to get it. Spears then went on and bought the land. He repaired the fences, sowed the five acres in controversy in grass and oats, and put a tenant on the property. From that time on he used the land as his own, just as Milem had done before he bought it. Conley lived from a quarter to a half of a mile from the land, and from the...
To continue reading
Request your trial