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Smith v. Evans3/15/2002
Lester Jack Smith and Linda S. Smith, the sellers of certain real property in Bridgeport, appeal from a judgment entered by the Jackson Circuit Court on a jury verdict in favor of Ricky D. Evans, the purchaser of that property, on Evans's claim of fraud as to the location of the boundary lines of the property conveyed. Because we conclude that the Evans's fraud claim is barred by the applicable statute of limitations, we reverse and remand.
The record reveals that Evans called upon Mr. Smith in April 1988 in response to a newspaper advertisement concerning the availability of real estate for sale in Bridgeport close to a National Guard armory. When Evans told Mr. Smith that he wanted to purchase property for the possible placement of a manufactured home, Mr. Smith accompanied Evans and Evans's brother to the two lots he proposed to sell to Evans; these unimproved lots were adjacent to both Fifth Street and "Gunter Avenue" (which apparently was an unopened thoroughfare at that time). According to Evans's testimony, Mr. Smith made several representations at that time, including that he had had the property surveyed, that the two lots measured 150 feet by 100 feet, and that the back corners of the two lots (i.e., those farthest from Fifth Street) were marked by a fence row and a large tree that he pointed out to Evans while they were on the land.
Evans subsequently agreed to pay $2,000 for the two lots, and in consideration of that sum the Smiths on April 21, 1988, gave Evans a deed to the two lots that Mr. Smith had shown Evans. That deed contains the following description of the land made the subject of the conveyance:
"Lots twenty-three (23) and twenty-four (24) of Block 236, in the City of Bridgeport, Alabama, as shown by the official map or plat of the City of Bridgeport, Alabama, as the same is recorded in Plat Book A at pages 41-45 in the Probate Office of Jackson County, Alabama, and to which reference is hereby made for a more complete or accurate description of said lots."
The plat of the City of Bridgeport shows that the lots in Block 236 are contiguous rectangles, numbered 1 to 12 on one side of a 10-foot gap and 13 to 24 on the other side of that gap; the lots measure 150 feet by 50 feet. According to the plat, one 150-foot-long side of lot 24 faces Fifth Street, while the other 150-foot-long side of lot 24 abuts one long side of lot 23, whose other long side abuts lot 22, and so on. The plat also shows that both lot 24 and lot 23 have a 50-foot-long short side that is adjacent to "Gunter Avenue" and another 50-foot-long short side that abuts the 10-foot-wide gap separating lots 24 and 23 from lots 12 and 11. It is undisputed that Evans did not examine the probate records concerning the plat before purchasing the property and that he did not have the two lots surveyed at the time the property was conveyed.
Evans subsequently cleared and improved the lots and placed a manufactured home "in the middle" of where Mr. Smith had indicated the boundaries to be. In 1996, he replaced that home with a larger structure in the same approximate location. However, in 1997, Evans was contacted by the owner of lots 11 and 12, who informed him that the manufactured home was encroaching on those lots. Evans then commissioned a survey of his property, which revealed that his manufactured home indeed was encroaching on lots 11 and 12 (as well as on the 10-foot-wide gap between those lots). Evans then moved the manufactured home so that it was located upon his own property, incurring, among other things, costs of just over $11,000 to level lots 23 and 24 and to move the home off lots 11 and 12.
Evans sued the Smiths in February 1998, alleging that
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