Whitaker v. Jeffcoat

• Citation: 122 S.E. 495
• Decision Date: 22 April 1924
• Docket Number: (No. 11489.)
• Parties: WHITAKER et al. v. JEFFCOAT et al.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of South Carolina

122 S.E. 495

WHITAKER et al.

v.JEFFCOAT et al.

(No. 11489.)

Supreme Court of South Carolina.

April 22, 1924.

Appeal from Common Pleas Circuit Court of Lexington County; W. H. Townsend, Judge.

Action by Marcella Whitaker and others against Willie E. Jeffcoat and others. From the judgment rendered, the named defendant appeals. Affirmed.

Efird & Carroll, of Lexington, for appellant.

De Pass & De Pass and Alfred Wallace, Jr., all of Columbia, for respondents.

COTHRAN, J. Action for partition of a tract of land containing 40 acres, which in 1892 belonged to John M. Jeffcoat. The plaintiffs and the defendants, except Willie E. Jeffcoat, are the heirs at law of John M. Jeffcoat, who died in March, 1892. The defendant Willie E. Jeffcoat claims title under a deed from J. Lawton Jeffcoat, a son of John M, Jeffcoat, dated in January, 1915. He asserted title in his grantor, J. Lawton Jeffcoat, through adverse possession for 10 years and for 20 years. The legal issue of title was tried before his honor, Judge Town-send, and a jury, the trial resulting in a verdict for the plaintiffs., The defendant Willie E. Jeffcoat has appealed.

The facts are these: John M. Jeffcoat owned the land for many years prior to his death in 1892. He had a large family of children, several of whom have since died, leaving children. His son J. Larwton Jeffcoat is still living. Prior to his death, exactly when does not appear, John M. Jeffcoat put J. Lawton Jeffcoat in possession of the land, as the latter testified:

"My father put me in possession of the land, and told me to stay on it until he said get off, and he never said get off."

In the answer of Willie E. Jeffcoat, it is alleged that J. Lawton Jeffcoat held the land as a gift from his father, though the above is the only evidence explaining the entry and possession of J. Lawton Jeffcoat. It is not pretended by J. Lawton Jeffcoat that he ever paid a dollar for the land, or ever accounted to the estate for a single penny on account thereof. His only defense against the claims of his own brothers and sisters and their children is that he acquired title by adversepossession; an unconscionable claim, that the court should not sustain, except upon a clear preponderance of the evidence.

His entry was, according to his own statement, permissive, without claim or right on his part, subject to dispossession at any time by the word of John M. Jeffcoat. The latter died before he "said get off, " and there is evidence tending to show that the possession of J. Lawton Jeffcoat thereafter was by permission of his brothers and sisters, who were more charitable to him than he now appears to them. His possession for more than 20 years is marked by only the slightest evidence of proprietorship. He cultivated the land, it is true, and used the proceeds; but, beyond the erection of a small cotton house, his expenditures on improvements or other acts indicative of ownership are nil. When he was approached...