Green v. Cottrell

188 So. 3d 656, 2012 WL 415465
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Alabama
DecidedFebruary 10, 2012
Docket2100920 and 2101086
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 188 So. 3d 656 (Green v. Cottrell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Green v. Cottrell, 188 So. 3d 656, 2012 WL 415465 (Ala. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

MOORE, Judge.

This is the second time this land dispute, which involves a total of 6 parcels; which collectively total between 270 and 280 acres located in Elmore County, -has been before this court. See Stokes v. Cottrell, 58 So.3d 123 (Ala.Civ.App.2008) (“Stokes I ”), judgmént vacated in part, writ quashed in part, and cause remanded with instructions by Ex parte Green, 58 So.3d 135 (Ala.2010). The complex procedural and factual history of this case is set forth in this court’s opinion in Stokes I and in the supreme court’s opinion in Ex parte Green and will not be restated here, We state only those facts necessary for an understanding of these present .appeals and to resolve the specific issues presented.

In April 2007, the Elmore Circuit Court (“the trial court”) .entered a judgment quieting title to three of the six parcels, which previously had been owned by Estelle Haggerty Alexander, in “the heirs of Larenda Jenkins,” through whom Frank Stokes, Jr., claimed title. (The three parcels awarded to the heirs of Larenda Jenkins in April 2007 are hereinafter referred to as “the farmed parcels.”) The trial court also purported to quiet title to the remaining three parcels (hereinafter referred to as “the three parcels”) in the heirs of Johnny Alexander, Sr. (“Johnny Sr.”), who were identified as Johnnie Mae Alexander Green, Lillie Robinson, Oscar C. Alexander, Bertha Mae Humphrey, Shirley. Alexander, Cathy Alexander, Johnny Alexander, Jr., and Althea Alexander (hereinafter referred to collectively as “the Alexander plaintiffs!’).and, E’Stella Alexander Webb Cottrell.1 Although the Alexander plaintiffs disputed whether Cottrell was entitled to any interest in the property, the trial court .certified its judgment as final, pursuant to Rule 54(b), Ala. R. Civ. P., without resolving that dispute, finding the judgment appropriate for appellate review.

Stokes appealed from that portion of the trial court’s judgment awarding the three parcels to the Alexander plaintiffs and Cottrell. Cottrell and the Alexander plaintiffs separately cross-appealed, challenging that portion of the trial court’s judgment' awarding the farmed parcels to the heirs of Larenda Jenkins.

In Stokes I, supra, this court affirmed the trial court’s judgment in part and reversed it in part. We concluded that title to all six parcels had passed through intestate succession to the heirs of Larenda Jenkins uppn Jenkins’s death and that the Alexander plaintiffs and Cottrell had failed to present the evidence necessary to establish superior title to any of the property; we also concluded that the Alexander plaintiffs and Cottrell, had failed to obtain title through adverse possession. 58 So.3d [658]*658at 131-34.. We, therefore, affirmed the trial court’s judgment to the extent it quieted title to the three farmed parcels in Stokes, as an heir of Larenda Jenkins; we reversed the trial court’s judgment to the extent it purported to quiet title to the three parcels in the Alexander plaintiffs and Cottrell. 58 So.3d at 134.

The Alexander plaintiffs and Cottrell then petitioned the Alabama Supreme Court for certiorari review of that portion of this court’s decision in Stokes I reversing the portion of the trial court’s judgment quieting title to the three parcels in them; See Ex parte Green, supra. The supreme court concluded that the trial court’s judgment, insofar as it quieted title to the three parcels in the Alexander plaintiffs and Cottrell, was not a final judgment because it had not fully resolved their competing claims to the property. 58 So.3d at 144-46. The supreme court thus vacated the judgment of this court in Stokes I to the extent it reversed the trial court’s judgment quieting title to the three parcels in the Alexander plaintiffs and Cott-rell; the supreme court remanded the cause to this court with instructions that we enter a judgment dismissing the appeal in part with instructions to the trial court that it vacate its Rule 54(b) certification of its judgment as to the three parcels it had awarded to the Alexander plaintiffs and Cottrell and that it address the remaining issues. Id.

Although Cottrell had also petitioned the supreme court for certiorari review as to that portion of this' court’s decision in Stokes I affirming the trial court’s judgment awarding the farmed parcels to the heirs of Larenda Jenkins, the supreme court quashed its writ granting Cottrell’s petition as to that aspect of our decision because, it concluded, Cottrell had not had standing to maintain her quiet-title action, which she had asserted pursuant, to Ala. Code 1975, § 6-6-560. Id. at 149.

In compliance with the supreme court’s instructions, this court, on' remand, dismissed in part the appeal and the cross-appeals and remanded the cause to the trial court with instructions to vacate its Rule 54(b) certification of its judgment as to-the three parcels it had awarded to the Alexander plaintiffs and Cottrell and to address the remaining issues. Stokes v. Cottrell, 58 So.3d 166, 167 (Ala.Civ.App.2010) (“Stokes II ”).

On remand, the trial court conducted an evidentiary hearing to address the unadju-dicated claims between the Alexander plaintiffs and Cottrell. On May 21, 2011, the trial court entered a judgment finding that the Alexander plaintiffs and Cottrell had established title to the, three parcels through adverse possession; the trial court found that, although Cottrell had moved away from the property in 1965, the Alexander plaintiffs had occupied the,property in a “joint enterprise” with her and,,thus, that Cottrell and the Alexander plaintiffs had acquired title to the three parcels through adverse possession. In its judgment, the trial court also stated:

• “1. The court reaffirms and incorporates herein the findings and holdings of its order entered April 26, 2007, in this case, - except as specifically modified herein.
“2. Of that land awarded to [the Alexander plaintiffs and Cottrell] in this court’s order of April- 26, 2007, Cottrell is hereby awarded 50% of such land and is entitled to a judgment quieting title in her as a 50% owner of said property.
“3. Of that land awarded to [the Alexander plaintiffs and Cottrell] in this court’s order of April 26,2007, the [Alexander plaintiffs] are hereby awarded 50% of such land and are entitled to á [659]*659judgment quieting title in them collectively as 50% owners of said property.”

In appeal no. 2100920, the Alexander plaintiffs appeal from the trial court's judgment on remand to the extent it awarded Cott-rell a 50% interest in the three parcels. In appeal no. 2101086, Stokes appeals from that same judgment to the extent it awarded any interest in the three parcels to either the Alexander plaintiffs or to Cott-rell.2 The appeals have been consolidated by this court ex mero motu.

We first address the issues raised in Stokes’s appeal, appeal no. 2101086, because, if successful, it will render consideration of the Alexander plaintiffs’ appeal moot. Stokes challenges the trial court’s judgment on remand to the extent it vests title to the three parcels in either the Alexander plaintiffs or Cottrell. Stokes asserts that he, on behalf of the heirs of Larenda Jenkins, established superior title to the three parcels and that the Alexander plaintiffs and Cottrell failed to establish that they had acquired any interest in the three parcels through adverse possession.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Green v. Cottrell
188 So. 3d 668 (Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama, 2015)
Stokes v. Cottrell
188 So. 3d 661 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
188 So. 3d 656, 2012 WL 415465, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/green-v-cottrell-alacivapp-2012.