Taylor v. Bryars

• Decision Date: 31 July 1992
• Citation: 602 So.2d 378
• Parties: Stella Mae Bryars TAYLOR, et al. v. Mason H. BRYARS and Shirley W. Bryars. 1910749.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Page 378

602 So.2d 378

Stella Mae Bryars TAYLOR, et al. v. Mason H. BRYARS and Shirley W. Bryars.

1910749.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

July 31, 1992.

Stella Mae Bryars Taylor, pro se.

Norborne C. Stone, Jr. and Martha Durant Hennessy of Stone, Granade, Crosby & Blackburn, P.C., Bay Minette, for appellees.

SHORES, Justice.

Stella Mae Bryars Taylor appeals from a judgment entered in an action for ejectment. On March 28, 1991, Mason H. and Shirley W. Bryars purchased the disputed real property, located in Baldwin County, at a mortgage foreclosure sale, and demanded possession from Mason's former sister-in-law, Stella Mae Bryars Taylor. She refused, and they sued. ¹ After an ore tenus hearing, the trial court entered a judgment for the Bryarses; Taylor appeals. We affirm.

In 1968, Taylor and Hubert Lee Bryars (who was her husband at that time), as joint tenants, executed a mortgage on the following property to secure a loan from the Farmers Home Administration (FHA):

"Lot 33 of Greenwoods' Survey of Perdido, as per plat of same duly recorded in the office of the Judge of Probate of said County and lying in Section 36, Township 1 North of Range 4 East."

In 1986, the FHA began mortgage foreclosure proceedings on the property because of delinquent payments. The appellees, Mason and Shirley Bryars (brother and sister-in-law of Hubert Lee Bryars), paid the $4,751.08 due on the mortgage. Taylor promised to repay the Bryarses in April of that year, but failed to do so. The FHA then contacted Taylor and advised her that the mortgage would not be assigned to the Bryarses until $107.90, the cost of attorney fees for the foreclosure proceedings, was paid. In late 1986, the Bryarses paid this amount also, and, on December 5, 1986, they received an assignment of the mortgage.

On August 15, 1986, Mrs. Taylor and her husband, Hubert Bryars, were divorced. As part of the proceedings, he was required to convey his interest in the property to her by quitclaim deed. He did so. In April 1987, Taylor conveyed the property to her brother-in-law, Melvin Thompson, by warranty deed.

Taylor never repaid the Bryarses, so they foreclosed on the mortgage and then purchased the property at the foreclosure sale. Taylor, pro se, appeals from a judgment requiring her to vacate the property.

Taylor contends that the assignment of the mortgage to the Bryarses by the FHA was invalid because (1) she says she did not consent to it, and (2) she says it was not in writing. However, Taylor admits that she never repaid the Bryarses for the money they paid to the FHA, and she admits that she has not made any mortgage payments on the property since the final divorce judgment. Taylor also was aware of the assignment of the...