Ingram & LeGrand Lumber Co. v. McAllister

4 S.E.2d 558, 188 Ga. 626, 1939 Ga. LEXIS 588
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedSeptember 14, 1939
DocketNo. 12762
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 4 S.E.2d 558 (Ingram & LeGrand Lumber Co. v. McAllister) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ingram & LeGrand Lumber Co. v. McAllister, 4 S.E.2d 558, 188 Ga. 626, 1939 Ga. LEXIS 588 (Ga. 1939).

Opinion

Reid, Chief Justice.

This writ of error presents exceptions to the refusal of an interlocutory injunction. The case is substantially as follows: In 1912 J. E. Duke purchased a tract of land in Marion County, which included by description land lot number 221. In 1916 T. W. McAllister purchased a tract of land situated on the west and north of the tract purchased by Duke, which included by description land lot number 220, which lot lay parallel to and west of land lot 221. In 1935 Ingram & LeGrand Lumber Company, the plaintiff, purchased from McAllister certain standing timber described in part as all of the timber on land lot 220. It is the contention of the plaintiff that it was the intention of McAllister to sell and plaintiff’s intention to purchase the timber on certain land which the parties by mutual mistake thought was a part of land lot 220, but which in fact constitutes part of land lot 221 lying north of a certain fence erected thereon by Duke. In this connection it is alleged that in making said sale McAllister, who is now deceased, had his son Jack McAllister point out the timber to the plaintiff and go over the land with plaintiff’s representatives, and that he pointed out to plaintiff on lot number 221 north of said fence “as a part of the timber which McAllister was offering to sell and your petitioner proposing to buy; that it was the purpose and intention of said McAllister to sell all the pine timber that he had, and this was the understanding of both parties; that your petitioner took into consideration the timber on the north part of this lot 221 when it agreed on the price it would pay for said timber, and would not have made the offer and contract it did, with this timber left out.”

It is the further contention of plaintiff that the fence above [627]*627referred to, which was erected by Duke shortly after he purchased the land, was erected by him as the dividing line between the two tracts of land. This fence extends across land lot 221 running in a southwesterly direction, and across the southeast corner of lot 220, “thus taking for himself' part of lot 220, which belonged to the Miller place (the property purchased by McAllister), and leaving to said Miller place a part of 221 which belonged to him, thus in effect swapping the north part of 221 for the south part of 220;” that McAllister thereafter recognized the above-mentioned fence as the boundary line between his land and the land belonging to Duke,” and permitted said Duke to cultivate a part of the part of said lot 220 south of said fence as his own land, and to cut the timber from the timbered part of said south part of 220, while on the other hand said Duke cut the timber on lot 221 only on that part of the same south of said .fence, and allowed the said McAllister to sell and have cut the timber on that part of 221 north of said fence;” that McAllister sold the pine timber on said tract to Alexander & Burgin in 1922, and had the timber cut to said fence on both 220 and 221, and sold the hardwood on said land in 1936 and had it cut to said fence; that after the execution of the lease by T. W. McAllister to plaintiff and after the death of T. W. McAllister, Wesley McAllister, a son of one of the heirs of T. W. McAllister, “went to the said Duke and told him that he had discovered that the fence above referred to did not run on the line between the two properties as called for by the deeds, that the north part of 221 according to the deeds belonged to Duke and the south part of 220 to the McAllisters, and that as Duke had been cultivating this south part of 220 and cutting the timber from it, he thought he ought to give to him, McAllister, a timber lease on the timber on the part of 221 north of the fence for the nominal sum of $1.00;” that Duke accordingly executed to Wesley McAllister a timber lease to said property and for said consideration ; “that in equity and good conscience said timber on said north part of lot 221 belongs to your petitioner, and said Wesley Mc-Allister is holding the same as trustee for your petitioner, but he refuses to turn over the same to petitioner without the payment of a large sum of money, and is threatening to sell it to other parties unless petitioner will pay such'sum to him for it; that the timber lease conveying the timber on said tract of land to petitioner fails [628]*628to describe this timber by a common mistake and inadvertence and mutual oversight in checking the description in the documents against the survey of the land, it being the purpose of both parties that all pine timber owned by T. W. McAllister should pass under this lease, and said timber on the north part of 221 really belongs to him.”

This action was brought against J. F. Duke, Wesley McAllister, Julius McAllister, and Jack McAllister, it being alleged that the three parties last named are heirs of T. W. McAllister, and through inheritance and purchase from other heirs have succeeded to all the title, right, and interest in and to the property of T. W. Mc-Allister. The prayers are: “1. That petitioner’s said lease be reformed so as to include in the description of the land from which the timber is sold the part of lot 221 north of the fence, and said timber be decreed to [be?] the property of petitioner. 2. That said defendant Wesley McAllister be required to convey the timber on said part of lot 221 to petitioner or to transfer to petitioner his lease to the same upon payment by petitioner of said sum of one dollar, which petitioner herewith tenders to him. 3. That said defendant Wesley McAllister, be restrained and enjoined from selling or encumbering the timber on said part of lot 221, or from transferring his lease thereto to any other person. 4. That petitioner have such other and further relief as to the court seem meet and proper.”

Wesley McAllister filed an answer in material part as follows: “This defendant admits that he knew all of lot 221 belonged to Duke, and that he had known this to be the truth for more than 20 years, and that the said wire fence erected by Duke on said land was not on the land line, and that the same had never been considered to be the land line between himself, his father, T. W. Mc-Allister, and Duke. For further plea and answer in his behalf this defendant says that on the 14th day of November, 1938, for a valuable consideration he leased from J. F. Duke all the merchantable pine timber on 99 acres, more or less, off the north side of lot of land 221 in the 32th district of Marion County, State of Georgia, as will appear in deed book 32, page 163, records in the clerk’s office Marion superior court. And for further plea and answer this defendant says that for the past 30 years and more the said J. F. Duke and his predecessor in title E. H. Hughes have [629]*629respectively been, in the open, notorious, adverse, public, continuous, exclusive, uninterrupted, and peaceable possession in their own right, in good faith, of said lands.” Duke’s answer was in Inaterial part as follows: “This defendant admits that he erected a fence on said lands, . . but denies that he endeavored to erect such fence on the lines that divided his lands from the lands of Mc-Allister; further denies that said fence was to have been the dividing line between his land and the lands of McAllister, and denies that there was ever any agreement between this defendant and McAllister or any one else that such fence was to be the dividing line between lands of defendant and lands of McAllister. Further, this defendant denies that there was ever any swap or agreement for a swap of the lands north of the fence on lot 221 for lands south of the fence on lot 220, as in said paragraph of said petition alleged.

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

Related

Eddie Lee Denhardt v. Carl E. Jones
Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2022
Ingram & Legrand Lumber Co. v. Burgin Lumber Co.
18 S.E.2d 774 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1942)
McNeal v. Carter
12 S.E.2d 332 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1940)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
4 S.E.2d 558, 188 Ga. 626, 1939 Ga. LEXIS 588, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ingram-legrand-lumber-co-v-mcallister-ga-1939.