Medlock v. Ferrari

602 S.W.2d 241, 1979 Tenn. App. LEXIS 397
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedJune 29, 1979
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 602 S.W.2d 241 (Medlock v. Ferrari) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Medlock v. Ferrari, 602 S.W.2d 241, 1979 Tenn. App. LEXIS 397 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1979).

Opinions

OPINION

SHRIVER, Presiding Judge.

This is an appeal from a decree of the Chancery Court of Cheatham County, Honorable Alex W. Darnell, Chancellor, wherein plaintiff’s suit was dismissed, petition to rehear was denied, motion to dismiss as to defendants Medlin and Seigenthaler was granted, and plaintiff was allowed time for perfecting an appeal within the statutory time from the date of the entry of said decree.

On December 11,1976, Henrietta Medlock filed a complaint against Mario Ferrari, Southern Land & Associates, Inc., Harold F. Morris, Ernest Medlin, and W. R. Seigen-thaler. The basis of this complaint was Ms. Medlock’s unsuccessful defense in a previous case filed against her by Mario Ferrari, wherein a disputed boundary line was established and his possession of certain disputed land adjoining Ms. Medlock’s property was decreed. None of the other defend[243]*243ants were parties to the previous action, but Seigenthaler and Medlin appeared as witnesses in the trial of that case.

The complaint attacked the judgment on several grounds, including, inter alia, that it was obtained by fraud and that the Chancery Court of Cheatham County lacked subject matter jurisdiction. The only allegations relating to the defendants other than Ferrari were that in their testimony as witnesses at the trial they committed perjury, or conspired to commit perjury. The complaint was dismissed as to all defendants, first on the motion of Mario Ferrari, Southern Land & Associates, Inc., and Harold F. Morris, and then on the motion of W. R. Seigenthaler and Ernest Medlin.

None of the assignments of error presented by Ms. Medlock relate directly to the dismissal of the suit against Seigenthaler and Medlin, but instead are directed at the judgment in favor of Mario Ferrari. Accordingly, the defendants Seigenthaler and Medlin contend that the appeal as to them should be dismissed on its face.

However, in light of the fact that the plaintiff is proceeding pro se, the defendants Seigenthaler and Medlin have construed the complaint in the light most favorable to plaintiff and have answered the assignments of error. It is their contention that even if the allegations of the complaint purporting to charge Seigenthaler and Med-lin with perjury or conspiracy to commit perjury are taken as true, no civil action will lie for such charges and the Chancellor was correct in dismissing the complaint as to them.

The Pleadings and Proceedings Below

In the original complaint filed by Henrietta Medlock it is alleged that defendant Ferrari in his original complaint in the former suit claimed title to forty acres of land in Cheatham County, Tennessee, and asked for an injunction against trespassing by Medlock and for a declaration by the Court that the survey of the Southern Land & Associates, Inc., was correct in fixing the boundary line between the property of plaintiff in that suit and defendant Med-lock, and for removal of defendant’s claim as a cloud on plaintiff’s title.

In her answer, Ms. Medlock denied that plaintiff had fee simple title to the land described in the bill, and in Section 11 of her complaint, she states that in Ferrari’s pre-trial brief it is alleged “this is a boundary line dispute,” and that the Court so concluded in its first memorandum. She further alleges that the action was heard as a dispute over the location of the common boundary line between the lands of Medlock and that of Ferrari’s predecessor in title.

She further avers in Section 12 of her complaint that the west line on which the original action was brought is common with the southern two-thirds of her 6,336 foot east line.

Again, she alleges that on July 14, 1960 she bought from one Baucom a long narrow tract described in Book 102, page 214, Register’s Office of Cheatham County, Tennessee, describing same.

In another section of her bill she describes the boundary line in question and the monuments which she claims show where the true line is. There are numerous other allegations with respect to the location of the line between her property and that of Ferrari, and in Section 23 of her bill she complains of the survey of the Pafford land made in 1969 headed by Don Stafford, an employee of Southern Land & Associates, Inc.

In Section 29 she alleges that on May 22, 1971 defendant Ferrari, accompanied by a survey team, came on the land and personally painted the trees along the new line with white paint, which line was considerably west of the blazed marked trees in the line of 1969, and further charges that on April 16,1962, defendant Ferrari paid taxes to Cheatham County for the 1971 taxes.

In quoting from the averments of Ferrari’s complaint filed in the former suit which she is now attacking, it is averred that “the property in controversy is in Cheatham County, Tennessee; the tract purchased from the heirs of Pafford consist of approximately 158 acres, of which approximately three-fourths is in Davidson [244]*244County and one-fourth in Cheatham County.”

Much of the remainder of the original complaint of Ms. Medlock deals with alleged errors, mistakes, and false testimony as to the location of the boundary line between her property and that of Ferrari.

In Count Two of her complaint she quotes from the prior decree of the Chancery Court which, as she alleges, was affirmed on appeal to the Court of Appeals, the quoted section of said decree being as follows:

“. . . The survey made by Southern in 1969 is a true and accurate description of the property to which Mario Ferrari is entitled. Mario Ferrari may have immediate possession of all the property within the bounds of said survey.”

She then alleges in substance that the survey was incorrect and that the Court was mislead into adopting it.

In Section 57 of Count Three of her complaint, she states:

“Plaintiff would show, however, that the disputed common boundary line between her land and that of the Ferrari land north of State Highway No. 12 is located on said Map No. 64 considerably farther east and toward Mr. Ferrari than where that line is located on the Southern plat of the Pafford land, etc.”

The prayers of her complaint are:

(1) For process.

(2) For a restraining order prohibiting Ferrari or his agents, etc., from exercising dominion over the land west of the line described at the prior trial by Medlock and her witnesses.

(3) That the former decree be set aside and for nothing held because of defendant’s fraud and imposition on the Court.

(4) In the alternative, if the Court should decline to set aside the former decree, that a Special Master be appointed to determine where the boundary upheld by the former decree is located on the ground.

(5) For general relief.

The final decree in the former suit, together with the complaint filed by Ferrari are made exhibits to the original complaint. Also, the opinion and decree of the Chancellor in the case of Henrietta Medlock v. Mario Ferrari, et al., is made an exhibit, together with Medlock’s Petition to Rehear.

From the foregoing it is perfectly apparent that the gravamen of Ms. Medlock’s complaint is that' the decree in the former suit of Ferrari against Medlock was erroneous and that the Court of Appeals was in error in affirming said decree of the Chancellor.

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Bluebook (online)
602 S.W.2d 241, 1979 Tenn. App. LEXIS 397, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/medlock-v-ferrari-tennctapp-1979.