Tull v. Fleming Bros. Lumber & Manufacturing Co.

52 S.E.2d 150, 189 Va. 171, 1949 Va. LEXIS 159
CourtSupreme Court of Virginia
DecidedMarch 7, 1949
DocketRecord No. 3418
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 52 S.E.2d 150 (Tull v. Fleming Bros. Lumber & Manufacturing Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tull v. Fleming Bros. Lumber & Manufacturing Co., 52 S.E.2d 150, 189 Va. 171, 1949 Va. LEXIS 159 (Va. 1949).

Opinion

Spratley, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

On June 30, 1944, Mrs. Caroline V. Tull sold, by written contract, to Fleming Brothers Lumber & Manufacturing Company, a corporation, hereinafter referred to as appellee, all of the timber located on two certain tracts of land in Accomack county, Virginia, for the sum of $3,000 cash. The contract of sale gave the appellee the right to cut and remove the timber within two years from the date of its execution. It contained the following covenants and warranties:

“And the said party of the first part covenants to and with said party of the second part, that she is seized of said premises in fee; that she has right to convey the timber above described; that said land and timber is free from all encumbrance, and that she will warrant and defend the title to the timber above described and the privileges herein granted to the said party of the second part, his successors and assigns, against the” claims of all persons whomsoever.”

Shortly after its purchase, the appellee proceeded to cut and remove the timber from one of the parcels which constituted a part of a tract of land called the Twyford Farm. This cutting was completed prior to April, 1945. In April, 1945, it attempted to enter upon the second tract, a parcel •containing about eleven acres, the title and ownership of [174]*174which is herein involved, to cut the timber thereon. William H. Waterfield advised the appellee that he and his brother, John J. Waterfield, had purchased the tract at a judicial sale on January 18, 1941; that their deed was of record in the Clerk’s Office of the Circuit Court of Accomack county; that they had been in open and continuous possession since their purchase; and that they would shoot any one who trespassed on the land for the purpose of cutting their timber.

The appellee then caused the records of the clerk’s office of Accomack county to be examined, and, being advised that Waterfield brothers held the recorded title to a parcel of land which included in its description the eleven acres in controversy, notified Mrs. Tull of the deed and the threats of the grantees to protect their property. Mrs. Tull thereafter took no steps to defend or clear her title. She merely told the appellee she claimed title and ownership of the disputed land under the will of her late father, Harry T. White.

Under these circumstances, the appellee refrained from cutting the timber on the said tract. On October 23, 1946, it filed its petition for attachment in the Circuit Court of Accomack county against Mrs. Tull, alleging damages in the sum of $2,500, for breach of warranty. After some preliminary matters were disposed of, the cause was submitted to the court for trial on its merits, without intervention of a jury. After hearing the evidence, the court entered judgment against Mrs. Tull for the sum of $1,000, with interest from June 30, 1944, and the cost of the proceeding.

The appellant asks us. to reverse" the judgment on the grounds that it was contrary to the law and the evidence; without evidence to support it; that there had been no eviction of Mrs. Tull since her purchase in 1940; and that appellee having failed to cut the timber within the two-year period granted in its contract was barred from bringing this action.

[175]*175A correct determination of the case is almost wholly dependent on the facts.

The evidence presented to us consists of the testimony of the witnesses in narrative form and the original papers in the chancery cause of “Harry E. White, Admr. c. t. a. of the Estate of Harry T. White, deceased, etc., Plaintiff v. Caroline V. Tull, et als., Defendants,” heretofore pending in the Circuit Court of Accomack county.

The evidence may be summarized as follows:

In 1934, Harry T. White, father of the appellant, Caroline V. Tull, died testate seized and possessed of a considerable amount of real estate in Accomack county, Virginia. His will, in his own handwriting, was rather crudely drawn. The pertinent portions are set out in the margin.

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Bluebook (online)
52 S.E.2d 150, 189 Va. 171, 1949 Va. LEXIS 159, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tull-v-fleming-bros-lumber-manufacturing-co-va-1949.