Opinion

Tompkins v. Steagall

  • 247 Ala. 350
  • 24 So. 2d 446
  • 1946 Ala. LEXIS 20
Court
Supreme Court of Alabama
Filed
Jan 17, 1946
Status
Published
Author
Brown
On the bench
Brown, Gardner, Livingston, Simpson
Cited by
1 cases
Authority
More cited than 51.9%

The opinion

BROWN, Justice.

This is an action of unlawful detainer by appellants against the appellee and was instituted in the common pleas court of Montgomery, the trial in that court resulting in a judgment for the defendant, from which the plaintiffs appealed to the circuit court where the trial, likewise, resulted in favor of the defendant. The complaint on which the case was tried avers: “The plaintiffs sue

to recover

possession of premises known as 109 Clanton Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama, and 109-A Clanton Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama,

of which plaintiffs zvere in possession,

and upon which

pending such possession

and before the commencement of this suit the defendant entered and now unlawfully detains.” [Italics supplied.]

No evidence was offered on the trial showing or tending to show that the plaintiffs had ever been in possession of the property sued for, nor that defendant entered into possession of the property by their permission or authority. Plaintiffs’ counsel read into the record that plaintiffs

“claim title to the two houses, known as 109 Clanton Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama, and 109-A Clmiton Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama; that they claim said property by virtue of the will of John P. Sanders,

and a copy of the will of said Sanders is introduced in evidence.”

Under the express provisions of the statute, Code 1940, Tit. 7, § 975, where right of parties rests upon claim of title to the property, pure and simple, the action of unlawful detainer will not lie. In such cases the action of ejectment or an action in the nature thereof is the appropriate remedy. Patterson v. Folmar, 125 Ala. 130 , 28 So. 450 , 451; Brown v. Beatty, 76 Ala. 250 ; Dent v. Stovall, 200 Ala. 193 , 75 So. 941 ; Jefferson County v, Parker, 211 Ala. 289 , 100 So. 338 .

*351

Under the evidence in the case, the court, sitting without a jury, rendered judgment for the defendant, and correctly so. The judgment is affirmed.

Affirmed.

GARDNER, C. J., and LIVINGSTON and SIMPSON, JJ., concur.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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