State v. Fay

279 So. 2d 126, 291 Ala. 144, 1973 Ala. LEXIS 1072
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedJune 7, 1973
DocketSC 83, 83A-B-C-D-E-F
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 279 So. 2d 126 (State v. Fay) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Fay, 279 So. 2d 126, 291 Ala. 144, 1973 Ala. LEXIS 1072 (Ala. 1973).

Opinion

MERRILL, Justice.

This appeal is from a judgment dismissing the appeals of the State of Alabama as to six different parcels of land which had been condemned for highway use in the probate court.

All of the parcels are included in 563 acres apparently belonging to the John D. Fay Estate. The petition named the persons jointly owning or claiming an interest in the six parcels as Clara L. Fay (represented by Hon. George P. Howard), Eva Golson, Evelyn Hubbard, Bradford Golson, Eula Hubbard Dominick and Hilda G. Atkeison (represented by Hon. W. B. Reneau), Fay Golson and Julie Golson, address unknown, and W. J. Johnston, Tax Collector, Elmore County. Hon. Robert S. Milner was appointed guardian ad litem for “any and all unknown persons, minors and persons of unsound mind, firms, associations and corporations, and any persons who are in the Armed Forces of the United States, who may claim or hold any right, title or interest in the lands described in the petition for condemnation filed herein by the State of Alabama against Clara L. Fay, et als., to represent and protect their interests in said proceeding.” Fay and Julie Golson were served by publication.

The commissioners made awards totaling $38,375.00, itemized as follows: Parcel 1, 23.6 acres, $22,750.00; Parcel 2, 9.14 acres, $5,350.00; Parcel 3, .83 acres, $300.00; Parcel 4, 12.79 acres, $9,750.00; Parcel 5, .24 acres, $225.00; Parcel 6, easement 4.02 acres, zero.

The order of condemnation was entered on August 6, 1970 by the probate judge. All of the owners represented by attorneys appealed from the order, both for themselves and for Fay and Julie Golson and the tax collector on the same day, August 6, 1970. On September 2, 1970, the State also appealed from the same order.

On December 17, 1970, the State filed a motion to consolidate the cases relating to each parcel on the issue of just compensation.

On December 29, the condemnees filed a motion to dismiss the appeals and after a hearing, the circuit court, on January 4, 1971, granted the motion to dismiss without assigning any particular ground for so doing.

The State then sought to review the action of the trial court by mandamus. This court held that the State had an adequate remedy at law, vacated the stay of trial previously issued and denied the writ. State v. Cobb, 288 Ala. 675, 264 So.2d 523.

The State then appealed all parcels and each parcel separately, and the cause was submitted here on May 15, 1973.

[147]*147Appellees argue in brief that the motion to dismiss was correct because one or more of the grounds in the motion for a new trial asserted the court’s lack of jurisdiction because of failure to notify two of the named owners, Fay Golson and Julie Golson, with citation of appeal. These two people were listed as owning some interest in the six parcels and were served by publication in the probate court and never appeared in any of the proceedings up to the present.

The appeal by the represented condemnees, taken for themselves and in the names of Fay and Julie Golson, vested jurisdiction in the circuit court. We have held that an appeal by one of several owners or holders of an interest in condemned land “effectually removed the entire proceedings relating to the tract in which she was interested to the circuit court, and carried with it the other 14 defendants”; but we also stated that the better practice is “for one party to appeal in the name of all the others alleged to have some interest in the parcel or tract with the party appealing.” Harris v. Mobile Housing Board, 267 Ala. 147, 100 So.2d 719. The represented owners followed the better practice and Fay and Julie Golson were before the circuit court in a matter of which that court had jurisdiction. Their appeal was followed in a few days by the State’s appeal. The circuit court acquired jurisdiction and the grounds contesting jurisdiction were without merit.

Appellees argue that the appeal from probate court to circuit court by the State was ineffectual because notice of that appeal was not given to Fay and Julie Golson.

The only help the eminent domain statutes give is in Tit. 19, § 17, which provides that any of the parties may appeal to the circuit court by filing “a written notice of appeal, a copy of which shall be served on the opposite party, or his attorney, * * *.” In Harris, 267 Ala. 147, 100 So.2d 719 [2], we set out a procedure to be followed to protect several owners of the same tract who did not agree on the question of taking an appeal. This court said:

“The fairer rule seems to be, and we so announce — that one of the claimants to an interest in a tract may appeal in the names of the other claimants interested in that same tract, or, if he appeals in his name only within the prescribed time, the orders and decrees of the probate court are vacated and the appeal transfers the entire proceedings, insofar as that tract is concerned, to the circuit court and notice should be given to all the other interested parties who are shown by the proceedings to be interested along with the appellant. It is permissible for any parties not appealing to voluntarily appear in circuit court after the appeal is taken by one party in his name only, and when so, notice to them would not be necessary. When and if an award is finally made in the circuit court, the distribution or apportionment of the funds among the parties as provided for in Tit. 19, § 26, can be made in circuit court just as well as in probate court.
“The notice should be given by the clerk of the circhit court to such claimants as do not join in the appeal to appear before the circuit court at the time to which the appeal is returnable, and unite in said appeal if he see proper, which notice may be served upon the party, or his attorney of record in the probate court. If any of the parties not joining be nonresidents and not represented by an attorney in the probate court, the clerk may cause notice of such appeal to be sent by registered mail or published for two weeks in some public newspaper, if there be sufficient time therefor; otherwise for one week, citing nonresident to appear before the circuit court and join in the appeal, if he desires to do so; and on proof of publication, the circuit court may proceed as if said party had been served with a notice to join in such appeal; but the circuit [148]*148court can, under its existing practice, cause service of notice to be made .when service has not been perfected as herein-above outlined.
“We think this rule is a salutary one, especially when it is related to those circumstances where one of the interested parties is perfectly satisfied with the award in the probate court and refuses to join in an appeal, while another party is very anxious to have his damages passed on by a jury.”

It is noteworthy that the notice of appeal is given by the clerk of the circuit court and not by the probate court. This was done by design because the clerks of the circuit court are more accustomed to giving these notices, and since only one owner can appeal, the cause is already in the circuit court.

When the motion to dismiss was heard in. the instant case, the State repeatedly requested that proper notice be given to Fay and Julie Golson, and the Harris case was cited, but instead of giving the notice, the appeals were dismissed. In this, the trial court erred.

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Bluebook (online)
279 So. 2d 126, 291 Ala. 144, 1973 Ala. LEXIS 1072, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-fay-ala-1973.