McCone v. Butts

616 So. 2d 535, 1993 Fla. App. LEXIS 3308, 1993 WL 84473
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMarch 26, 1993
DocketNo. 91-2460
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 616 So. 2d 535 (McCone v. Butts) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McCone v. Butts, 616 So. 2d 535, 1993 Fla. App. LEXIS 3308, 1993 WL 84473 (Fla. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

PETERSON, Judge.

The appellants (McCone), who are heirs of Andrew D. McCone, appeal the summary final judgment which quieted John Henry Butts’ title to real property in Putnam County and which established a common law way of necessity. We vacate the judgment.

Andrew D. McCone and Susie McCone, husband and wife and titleholders of Government Lots 24 and 3, conveyed the following parcel of property to L.W. Wilson by warranty deed recorded in 1946 in Official Records Book 167, Page 35:

Begining [sic] at the South West Corner of Lot 24, section six (6) Township Eleven, S.R.23E. Running East on South line of said lot 24, Three Hundred Forty Yards. (340Yds.) Thence North Three Hundred Yards, (300 Yds), Thence West Three Hundred Forty yards (340 [536]*536Yds.) To west line of said lot 24. Thence South Three Hundred Yards, (300 Yds.) to point of begining [sic], And containing Ten Acres more or less[.]

(A sketch of the described lands which was attached to a McCone amended counterclaim is appended hereto as Exhibit “A.”)

The grantee, Wilson, later subdivided the lands conveyed to him by the McCones. In 1970, Wilson conveyed the following portion of the lands to Butts’ immediate predecessors in title, Herbert G. Searcy and Janet S. Searcy, husband and wife, by warranty deed recorded in Official Records Book 237, Page 277:1

Commence at the Southwest corner of Lot 24, Section 6, Township 11 South, Range 23 East; thence run East along the South line of said lot 24 a distance of 996 feet; thence run North 481 feet to a cement monument, being the point of beginning; thence run East 10 feet, more or less, to the East Boundary line of property conveyed by Andrew D. McCone and Susie McCone to L.W. Wilson, as per deed recorded in Deed Book 167, page 35, public records of Putnam County, Florida; thence run North along said East line 415 feet; thence run West a distance of 300 feet into Bream Lake; thence run South 315 feet to North line of property now owned by Henry Searcy and wife, Levere D. Searcy; as per deed recorded in O.R. Book 208, page 410, public records of Putnam County, Florida; thence run East along North line of said Searcy property 290 feet, more or less, to the northeast corner of said Sear-cy property; thence run South, along the East line of said Searcy property 100 feet to the point of beginning.

Just prior to the conveyance by Wilson, Wilson’s son-in-law allegedly set a concrete monument purported to be the “cement monument” in the last described deed and defined as the “point of beginning.” The Searcys in turn conveyed the property to Butts in 1988 by warranty deed, using the same description used in their deed from Wilson. Butts retained a surveyor to prepare a boundary survey, appended hereto as Exhibit “B.” After this litigation arose, Butts had the same surveyor prepare another survey, appended hereto as Exhibit “C”, to depict an existing “dirt drive” and an additional desired common law way of necessity.

Butts moved for summary judgment based upon his surveys, his occupation of the lands depicted on the surveys, and various affidavits including one from his surveyor in which the surveyor stated that, when “there is an inconsistency with distances stated in a deed and actual locations as shown by monuments on the ground which I refer to in the description ... it is reasonable and correct surveying practice for the monuments to control over distance.” We understand the monument to which he refers to be 1119.43 feet from the west boundary of Lot 24. This is a difference of 123.43 feet when compared with the call in the Butts acquisition deed of 996 feet and a difference of 99.43 feet when compared with the original east line of the Wilson acquisition deed that was 1020 feet from the west boundary of Lot 24.

McCone countered, inter alia, with an affidavit from their surveyor indicating that his review of the description set forth in the Butts acquisition deed excluded property owned by McCone and that the land in dispute and occupied by Butts was included in “McCone’s legal description,” which we interpret to mean within the description of the lands retained by Andrew D. McCone when he sold to Wilson.

We hold that the state of the record indicates that summary judgment is premature for the reason that the affidavits of [537]*537the two surveyors create an issue as to the location of the east boundary line of the land originally conveyed by McCone to Wilson. In fact, Butts’ survey alone creates that issue. The importance of that boundary line is apparent from an examination of the legal description relied upon by Butts to establish his title. While Butts believes his property begins at the monument placed by Wilson’s son-in-law, the next call is to “run east 10 feet, more or less, to the East Boundary line of property conveyed by Andrew D. McCone and Susie McCone to L.W. Wilson_” If Butts’ surveyor has ever established the location of that boundary, it is not reflected by his surveys or his affidavit. He ignores that important line and simply places the east boundary of Butts’ lands 10 feet east of the monument without attempting to locate the east boundary of the property described in the McCone to Wilson deed. The affidavit of McCone’s surveyor places the lands described in the Butts acquisition deed within the lands conveyed by McCone to Wilson and places the lands in dispute within McCone's remaining lands.

The importance of the legal description, notwithstanding that Butts has shown open, continuous, actual possession of the disputed lands, is that he has chosen to establish adverse possession by color of title based upon an instrument of conveyance. Mitchell v. Moore, 152 Fla. 843, 13 So.2d 314 (Fla.1943). The instrument must contain a description of the property legally sufficient to “identify the land with the degree of certainty essential to ascertain the boundaries and identity of the land....” Id., 13 So.2d at 315. “If the description does not identify the land with the degree of certainty essential to ascertain the boundaries and identity of the land, the deed or other instrument lacks one of the first essentials of color of title.” Id. A written instrument with a legally sufficient description of the property is a vital prerequisite to any claim of adverse possession with color of title. Ferrell v. Ashmore, 507 So.2d 691 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987).

While Butts’ surveyor indicates that he was able to locate the lands described in his client’s acquiring deed by following the rule that found monumentation is preferred by surveyors over distances called for in a deed, Mitchell, 13 So.2d at 318, he ignores the portion of the description calling for the location of the east boundary of the description in the McCone to Wilson deed. Nothing stated in his affidavit overcomes the issue created by that omission. Additionally, as indicated by the first footnote of this opinion, from the record before us, one cannot locate the north line of the Henry and Levere- Searcy property.

The trial court also held that Butts had established a common law way of necessity because the land described in the McCone to Wilson deed was landlocked. “A way of necessity was implied by the common law based on the reasonable presumption that the original parties intended the grantor to convey to the grantee whatever easement over lands retained by the grantor as was necessary ... to use the property conveyed....” Dixon v. Feaster, 448 So.2d 554, 559 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984).

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Bluebook (online)
616 So. 2d 535, 1993 Fla. App. LEXIS 3308, 1993 WL 84473, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccone-v-butts-fladistctapp-1993.