Bazzell v. Cain

235 So. 2d 805, 285 Ala. 661, 1970 Ala. LEXIS 1094
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedMay 28, 1970
Docket3 Div. 427
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 235 So. 2d 805 (Bazzell v. Cain) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bazzell v. Cain, 235 So. 2d 805, 285 Ala. 661, 1970 Ala. LEXIS 1094 (Ala. 1970).

Opinion

HARWOOD, Justice.

This case originated when Alva Cain filed a bill seeking to enjoin Clifton Bazzell and Mattie Bell Bazzell, owners of the [663]*663lot adjoining Cain’s lot on the west, and the Capitol Fence Company, from erecting a fence on or near the line separating the Cain and Bazzell lots. The bill asserted that erection of the fence would block a driveway between the two lots, and that “for the past forty years your complainant has had the undisturbed joint use of said alleyway with the respondents and their predecessors in title, and during all this period of time, the respondents and their predecessors in title have recognized the right of the complainant to the use of said alleyway.”

A temporary injunction was issued prohibiting the erection of the fence upon the complainant filing a specified bond.

Demurrers were filed to the bill and overruled.

The respondents then filed their answer, stating, however, that they were yet insisting on their demurrers.

The cause came on for hearing on the question of making the temporary injunction final. At the conclusion of this hearing, the court entered a decree finding that the complainant “has used this driveway for over forty years and has always asserted a right to the use thereof. The court finds that the complainant has established the right to the use of the joint driveway located between the property of the complainant and the property of the respondents and being partially on the property of the complainant and partially on the property of the respondents. Said property being more particularly described as follows

(Here followed a description of the property)

“The Court is further of the opinion that any blocking of the driveway by the fence or otherwise would do irreparable damage to the Complainant in that it would deny Complainant access to his property and the right to the use of the driveway, which right has been established; therefore the injunctive relief prayed for should be granted.”

The court then decreed that respondents remove the fence posts already erected from the driveway, and enjoined any further blocking of the driveway.

The undisputed evidence shows that the two contiguous lots in question, referred to in briefs as Lot 22 and Lot 24, front on Pickett Street in the City of Montgomery, run through the block and are bounded on the rear by Edward Street. Each lot is 75 feet in width. Originally both lots were owned by the father of the appellee Cain. In 1921 or 1922, the appellee and his father put in the driveway. According to the appellee :

“Well, we just * * * whenever he was living there * * * got it as near in the center as we could between the two houses, see, and put the driveway there.”

In 1931 or 1932, Lot 24 was deeded to the appellee by his father. Title to Lot 22 passed by mesne conveyances to the appellants in 1955.

According to witnesses for the appellee, it was the intention of the Cains, at the time the driveway was put in, that half of it should be on each lot. The driveway was built of gravel, and there was some evidence that through the years the driveway has shifted to the east. At any rate, according to a survey of the lots made in 1968 by W. E. Wood, a registered survey- or, the driveway is entirely on the lot of the appellants except possibly for some loose grave that may have been thrown onto appellee’s lot.

Indisputedly, it appears that after the gravel was placed on the driveway the owners of the two lots used the same jointly. Of course at first the lots were owned by Messrs. Cain, father and son.

As the the use of the driveway through the years, and appellee’s claim of right to [664]*664such use, we copy the following from the testimony of the appellee:

“Q. Now, Mr. Cain, you say you never claimed any interest in Mr. Bazzell’s lot?
“A. I have never claimed no interest in his lot, no sir.
“Q. And you don’t now claim any?
“A. No, sir. I don’t claim any. What he owns is his.
“Q. The use of this driveway has been understood between you that it was partly his and partly yours; is that right?
“A. It has always been there. Never been no question.
“A. Were you under the impression half of that driveway was on his lot and half was on his ? (sic)
“Q. Oh, yes. That has always been the impression and we always used it.
“Q. I will ask you further if that was the reason why you claim you had a right to use it because half of it was on your lot?
“A. Well, I knew a part of it was mine, see. And, you know, just like I said, I didn’t measure it, I didn’t go out there and measure it, but I knew part of the driveway was mine and part was his, see, and I never asked him nothing and he never asked me nothing.
* * * * * *
“Q. All right. Mr. Cain, have you ever told Mr. Bazzell, or anybody who ever lived there, that you claimed any interest in that driveway and that you owned it or you claim it as your own?
“A. No, sir. Just like I said, we never had no question about the driveway.
“Q. You never told that to anybody?
“A. No, sir. We never had any words about the driveway. It has just been there.
“Q. Would you say that your use of the driveway prior to the time Mr. Bazzell moved there was just by a joint agreement ?
“A. There has never been no agreement with nobody. The driveway is. there just like Dexter Avenue is open.
* * * * * *
“Q. You never considered the driveway as your own ?
“A. Oh, no. I knew it wasn’t mine, all of it. Some of it was, but not all of it.
“Q. And the reason you though some-of it was because you thought it was on your lot.
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. And if it turns out none of the-driveway is on your lot do you still claim any interest in it ?
“A. I claim that we have been using-the driveway all the time. I mean, I am claiming I am entitled to the use of it.”'

It is perfectly clear that what theappellee is claiming is an easement for the use of a driveway located largely, if not entirely, on the land of the appellants, the Bazzells.

In West v. West, 252 Ala. 296, 40 So.2d 873, the question of obtaining an easement in the land of another is thoroughly discused with a review of the decisions affecting this question. While numerous additional decisions could be alluded to, we-need go no further than West, supra, in-reaching a conclusion in this review.

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Bluebook (online)
235 So. 2d 805, 285 Ala. 661, 1970 Ala. LEXIS 1094, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bazzell-v-cain-ala-1970.