Brice v. Sheffield

48 S.E. 925, 121 Ga. 216, 1904 Ga. LEXIS 91
Supreme Court of Georgia·Decided November 11, 1904·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinion

Evans, J.

Mrs. Sarah Sheffield brought a complaint for land against,Wi^liam.Brice, in,the superior co,urt of Bibb county. The abstract, of title .attached to the petition included three deeds, (1) from Mrs. Aletha .Brice to Robert Brice, (2) .from Robert Brice to J. W. ¡Skipper ,Jr., and, (3) from J. W. Skipper Jr. to plaintiff. The defendant, by ,his. plea admitted possession, and alleged that he claimed title by virtue of a deed from Aletha, Brice to himself, of superior. date to the deed from Aletha Brice to Robert Brice, upon which plaintiff relied. Pending the trial the court permitted the plaintiff to amend her declaration by alleging, (1) that before receiving the deed from J. W. Skipper Jr., and before pur[217] chasing the land, she was induced by the defendant to purchase the premises in dispute and to give said Skipper therefor fifty acres of land of the value of $500, without disclosing his title; and (2) that the defendant knew that Skipper was in possession claiming title to the premises, and was erecting valuable improvements thereon, but did not • give to said Skipper, her grantor, any notice of his claim of title. To the allowance of this amendment the defendant filed exceptions pendente lite. Upon the trial the plaintiff introduced the three deeds included in her abstract, and also offered the following testimony: Skipper testified, that shortly after he purchased the land from Robert Brice, he built a frame house, barn, and outhouse on the premises, at a cost of $150; that defendant passed the premises after the lumber had been hauled, but prior to the construction of the buildings, and asked the witness what he was doing; that witness replied he had purchased the half acre in dispute and was going to build, whereupon defendant said he was very glad witness was going to build there, as it would be a great protection to defendant’s mother to have some neighbors near her; and that defendant never mentioned to witness at any time that he had any claim of title to the land, nor did witness ever hear that he had any claim to the land until after the completion of the buildings. Mrs. Ollie Heath testified, that she was the plaintiff’s daughter, and sometime before her mother bought the premises William Brice, the defendant, came to her house and asked why' she did not buy the same, saying he wished witness would buy the premises so she could be company for his mother; that witness said she did not have the money to buy the land, and defendant then told her to get her mother, the plaintiff, to swap her fifty acres at Mt. Hopewell Church for the premises, and witness told her mother,' while - on a visit to her, what William Brice had said; and that it was some time after the plaintiff bought the land before witness heard' that the defendant had any claim to the land. The plaintiff testified, in her own behalf, that her daughter told her what William Briee had said about buying the premises in dispute; that she traded her fifty acres, worth $500, for the place; and that' she had never heard of any claim of his until after she bought, nor did she ever have any conversation at any time with him about this land. The defendant introduced a deed from Aletha [218] Brice to himself, which deed was superior in date to the deed from Aletha Brice to Robert Brice, and which recited a valuable consideration. He testified that he built upon the land a one-room house for his mother, Aletha Brice, in consideration of her deeding the premises to him, she to have possession during her life; and that he held the premises under her deed to him. He denied telling Mrs. Ollie Heath, or any one else, to buy the place, and denied ever sending word to Mrs. Sheffield by any one to buy the land. On the contrary, he testified, just before the plaintiff bought the land she and her daughter, Mrs. Heath, came to his house and asked him if he had any showing for the place, and he told plaintiff he had and got his wife to take out his deed and read it to them. The defendant also introduced a portion of the transcript of the testimony of Mrs. Sheffield, delivered upon a former trial, as follows: “William Brice never offered me any inducement to buy tbe place and did not persuade me to buy the place. I never had any conversation with him on the subject.” The trial resulted in a verdict for the plaintiff, and the defendant made a motion for a new trial. It was overruled by the court. He excepts to the allowance of the amendment to the plaintiff’s petition, and to the overruling of his motion for a new trial.

1. There was no error in allowing the amendment. The plaintiff had a right to change her abstract by way of amendment. But in point of fact she did not do so, the effect of her amendment being merely to plead the facts on which she relied as showing that the defendant was estopped to set up against her the deed under which he claimed. Both parties claimed under a common grantor, defendant’s deed being the older. By this amendment the plaintiff sought to overcome the force and effect of the defendant’s deed. It was perfectly competent for her to show by evidence that be was estopped from asserting any title as against her; and while it may not have been necessary for her to plead the facts upon which she relied as showing an estoppel in pais, there certainly was no error in allowing the amendment,

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Brice v. Sheffield, 48 S.E. 925, 121 Ga. 216, 1904 Ga. LEXIS 91 (Ga. 1904).

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