Crews v. Stokes
Crews v. Stokes
Opinion of the Court
P. 0. Stokes filed his petition against Julian Crews and J. W. Cooper, seeking damages and injunctive relief on account of the alleged trespass of the defendants upon lands owned by the plaintiff. On the trial, the court directed a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, awarding damages in the amount admitted by the defendants to be due the plaintiff for the timber cut, and granting a permanent injunction against the defendants, upon which a final decree was entered. The defendants’ amended motion for a new trial was denied, and error is assigned on that judgment.
Ground 1 of the amended motion for a new trial assigns error on the admission, over objection, of evidence as to the plaintiff’s prescriptive title to the 35.6-acre tract of land on which it was claimed the defendants had cut timber. The objection was that the plaintiff had, by amendment, attached to his petition an abstract of title to the land in question; and not having pleaded title by prescription, any evidence showing prescriptive title was inadmissible. The record discloses that, in a colloquy between counsel for both parties and the court when the defendants’ objections were being argued, the following occurred: “The Court: Now what is the position as to the abstract? Are you going to strike it or are you going to leave it in? Mr. Wilson (counsel for plaintiff): We are willing to strike it because it serves no useful purpose in this case. The Court: Do you have any objection? Mr. Russell (counsel for defendants): Except, your Honor, that puts us in this position, now. They have relied on an abstract saying that this 20 acres and the 15 acres was a part of a certain piece of land lying within this property. Of course, the defendant has prepared his defense along those lines,
Regardless of whether the amendment containing the abstract of title remained, or did not remain, in the case as a part of the plaintiff’s pleadings, the court did not err in admitting the plaintiff’s evidence of title by prescription. In his petition, the plaintiff asserted that he was the true owner of a described tract of land containing 35.6 acres, on which the defendants were cutting timber. In his amendment, he attached to the petition “his abstract of title covering lands in controversy.” The petition was predicated upon the assertion -that he was the true owner of the property, and this ownership not being limited to a claim of title as shown by the abstract, evidence was admissible to show title by prescription with possession for seven years under color of title. James v. Riley, 181 Ga. 454 (3) (182 S. E. 604); Palmer v. Pennington, 179 Ga. 76 (175 S. E. 380); Gray v. Bradford, 194 Ga. 492 (1, 2) (22 S. E. 2d 43); Kirkland v. Odum, 156 Ga. 131 (118 S. E. 706).
Special ground 2 asserts that there were issues of fact, and thus the court erred in directing a verdict for the plaintiff. In their answer, the defendants admitted that they owed the plaintiff $166.18, representing the value of pulpwood cut from about 14 acres of the 35.6-acre tract of land, their contention being
It is contended that the plaintiff was not entitled to- the grant of a permanent injunction because the defendants had ceased cutting timber and had promised not to cut any more timber before the suit for damages and injunction was filed, and therefore there was no grave danger of an impending trespass which would authorize the court to grant an injunction. The plaintiff sought to restrain the defendants from trespassing on any part of the 35.6-acre tract. The defendant Cooper promised not to cut any more timber on 15 acres of this tract of land, but made no promise as to the remaining 20 acres of the tract, and in fact claimed title to the 20 acres and the right to cut timber thereon. It thus appears that this contention is without merit.
It is further claimed that, under certain admissions by the
3. The evidence demanding a verdict fox the plaintiff, the court did not err in directing a verdict in his favor, nor in denying the defendants’ motion for a new trial.
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.