Lester v. Commisky

459 So. 2d 868, 1984 Ala. LEXIS 4647
Supreme Court of Alabama·Decided October 19, 1984·No. 83-244·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinions

TORBERT, Chief Justice.

On September 24, 1948, W.V. Lester, a non-resident of Alabama, died, leaving a will, which was probated in Texas that same year. In the will, Lester devised all his real and personal property to his widow, Lillian M. Lester. His property included an undivided one-half mineral interest in some Alabama real property. When Lester died in 1948, there was no time limit for the probate in Alabama of non-residents’ wills that had been proved out of this state. Code 1940, tit. 61, § 46.

In 1951, the legislature amended the statute to provide that a foreign will must be presented for probate in Alabama within five years from the date of the testator’s death. Acts of Alabama 1951, Act No. 988, September 12, 1951, pp. 1663-65. The plaintiffs, who claim title as though Lester had died intestate, argue that this amendment vested a property right in Henry V. Lester, W.V. Lester’s son, as heir at law, and that any rights vested in him could not constitutionally be taken away.

From 1956 to 1958, Lillian M. Lester conveyed all of her interest in the Alabama real property to Mrs. C.L. Henry and Mrs. Walter Payne. Mrs. Payne reconveyed the interest conveyed to her back to Lillian M. Lester; and Mrs. Henry reconveyed one half the interest conveyed to her back to Lillian M. Lester.

In 1959, the legislature passed an act providing that foreign wills must be filed for probate in the state of the testator’s domicile within five years from the date of the testator’s death. This act removed the requirement that the will be probated in Alabama within five years of the testator’s death. Acts of Alabama 1959, Act No. 587, November 19, 1959, pp. 1475-76.

The will was probated in Mobile County on November 22, 1974, while the 1959 Act was in effect. In 1974 and 1975, Mrs. Henry, who had retained one half of the interest conveyed to her by Lillian M. Lester, conveyed her interest to Larry H. Moses. The defendants involved in this appeal obtained their interests through Larry H. Moses and his transferees. This appeal is not concerned with those interests conveyed back to Lillian M. Lester from Mrs. Henry and Mrs. Payne; the summary judgment related only to those interests passing through Larry H. Moses.

In 1976, Henry V. Lester died and left his interest to his widow, Wilma L. Lester. Wilma L. Lester then executed leases of mineral interests in the property to Southern Oil Exploration, Inc. and Ronald H. McLeod. She also conveyed a royalty interest to Ronald H. McLeod, who, in turn, [870]*870transferred portions of his interest to Larry J. Whitehead, Ray M. Marshall, and Myra K. Whatley. Myra K. Whatley transferred her interest to John Sipple, who conveyed a portion of his interest to Gary A. McLeod and A.P. Ogburn, Jr.

This action was begun on October 22, 1982, by Wilma L. Lester and those claiming under her. They sought to quiet their title on the basis that Henry V. Lester was entitled to take one-half of W.V. Lester’s mineral interest under the laws of intestacy. In the alternative, they sought a declaratory judgment construing the will of W.V. Lester and subsequent instruments transferring mineral royalty and leasehold interests. The defendants each counterclaimed, asking that the trial court enter judgments holding that plaintiffs had no right, title, or interest in or to the mineral interest claimed by each defendant and quieting title in each defendant as owner of an undivided mineral interest. The defendants joined in a motion for summary judgment to declare that they owned various tabulated interests and that the plaintiffs had no claim against their interests in oil and gas and other minerals. The trial court granted the motion and directed the entry of a final judgment.

The plaintiffs appeal, claiming that the trial court erred in granting the motions because:

“1. The appellees failed to carry their burden of proof and did not properly present evidence which would support the judgment of the trial court;
“2. The appellees failed to carry their burden of proof and did not prove that they were entitled to judgments as a matter of law;
“3. The appellees failed to carry their burden of proof and did not prove an absence of material issues of fact.”

The plaintiffs allege that the defendants did not properly present evidence that would support the trial court’s judgment because there was an incorrect name on the lower court’s judgment. In his order granting summary judgment, the trial judge said that each defendant’s interest was tabulated in an exhibit attached to the order. In the exhibit, Homer Best, Jr., rather than Julius M. Ridgway, was listed as an owner of part of the interest in controversy. Defendant Julius M. Ridg-way filed a motion pursuant to Rule 60(a), Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure, to correct this discrepancy. The trial court considered the motion and ordered the exhibit attached to the order amended so that the name “Homer Best, Jr.” was deleted and “Julius M. Ridgway” was substituted. The plaintiffs contend that the error was a judicial error and could not be corrected pursuant to Rule 60(a). In Ex parte ACK Radio Supply Company of Georgia, 283 Ala. 630, 635, 219 So.2d 880, 885 (1969), this Court explained what a clerical error is:

“[Clerical errors ... are not those alone which the clerk makes, but they include all such errors, being matters of record, whether committed by the court or counsel, to which the judicial sanction and discretion cannot be said reasonably to have been applied. Such right [of correction] exists only ‘when there is sufficient matter apparent on the record or entries of the court to amend by.’ ”

It is apparent from the motion for summary judgment and the exhibits attached thereto that all of the interest owned by Best had been transferred to Ridgway; therefore, the lower court had authority under Rule 60(a) to correct this oversight.

The plaintiffs also claim that evidence was improperly presented, in that some of the documents attached to the motion for summary judgment (including royalty deeds, mineral right and royalty transfers, and oil, gas and mineral leases) were not certified by the Probate Court of Mobile County as true and correct. We will not address this claim, since the documents were not pertinent to the resolution of the issue of whether Henry V. Lester was entitled to one-half of his father’s interest under either intestacy or testacy theories.

Most of the arguments by the plaintiffs and the defendants were based on the plaintiffs’ contention that the defendants did not prove that they were entitled to a [871]*871judgment as a matter of law. The plaintiffs argue that the 1951 act vested in them a right to. be free from the probate of the Texas will in Alabama and that the 1959 act, in order to pass constitutional muster, must be construed to be prospective only. For the reasons hereinafter stated, we need not determine the issue of the constitutionality of the 1951 and 1959 acts.

The statute imposing a time limit for probating a will is a statute of limitations. Sharpe v. Booker, 263 Ala. 592, 83 So.2d 313 (1955), and Fuller v. Qualls, 241 Ala. 673, 4 So.2d 418 (1941). The statute of limitations must be affirmatively pleaded under Rule 8(c), A.R.Civ.P. See also Sharpe, supra (although Sharpe

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Lester v. Commisky, 459 So. 2d 868, 1984 Ala. LEXIS 4647 (Ala. 1984).

459 So. 2d 868 (Lester v. Commisky) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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