Crow v. Abernathy
Crow v. Abernathy
Opinion of the Court
By warranty deed dated October 28,1910, one Roberts and his wife conveyed to plaintiffs one hundred and sixty acres of farm, land in Butler county for the expx-essed consideration of $4500 and $2600 in incumbrances to be paid by the said plaintiffs.
At and prior to the time this deed was executed the grantor had lumber at various places on his farm; some of it under cotton that was, piled up out in the field, some piled in or about a hay shed in a field where baled hay was stacked, and some scattered around at various other places on the farm.
One of the plaintiffs says that when he was negotiating with Roberts for the purchase of the farm that he said to him that it was his (plaintiff’s) understanding that this lumber should go with the farm, to which Roberts assented. Roberts says that he had no such conversation but he claims to have sold the lumber to the defendant, and the defendant maintains his defense on the theory of such purchase. The plaintiffs did not record the deed conveying the land to them, for some time after the sale was made and there is testimony tending to prove that the former owner, Roberts, remained in apparent possession of both the land and lumber.
Soon after the land was purchased by plaintiffs the defendant hauled some of the lumber off of the
As soon as one of the plaintiffs ascertained that the defendant had hauled the lumber away, he had. a conversation over the telephone with defendant about it, which he relates as follows:
“Q. What did he say? A. He said I could have the lumber if I would go and haul it back.
“Q. Said you could have the lumber if you would go and haul it back? A. I told him I didn’t haul it away, didn’t intend to haul it back.
“Q. Did he refuse to pay for it? A. Yes, sir.”
And thereupon this suit, in which plaintiffs seek to recover for the alleged conversion of the lumber, was instituted in a justice of the peace court on December 5, 1910, alleging the value of the lumber to be $32.05. Plaintiffs lost in the justice’s court, they appealed to and lost in the circuit court, and have appealed to this court, and now present to us for review a record consisting of 114 printed pages; all of which could have been avoided and compromised by the plaintiffs’ hauling the lumber involved, 227 pieces, back to their farm, a distance of only half a mile.
At the close of all of the testimony, the plaintiffs requested several declarations in which the court was
The plaintiffs, however, asked and were given what is termed declaration of law No. 3, as follows: “The court declares the law to be, that under the testimony in case, that the lumber in controversy in this case was sold as personal property by W. D. Roberts to the plaintiffs, on October 28, 1910.”
Thereupon the court rendered and entered its judgment for the defendant and the plaintiffs have appealed to this court.
All of these questions upon which the appellants requested and were refused, declarations of law were those which declared or assumed facts upon which there was conflicting testimony and therefore upon which no question can now be raised as the findings of the court thereon are conclusive upon us.
The question as to whether or not the lumber in controversy wás a part of the real estate is necessarily in this case a mixed question of law and fact. It is,
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.