Opinion
1910082.
February 28, 1992. Rehearing Denied March 27, 1992.
Appeal from Mobile Circuit Court, No. CV-89-2259, Michael E. Zoghby, Judge.
Richard L. Watters of Watters Associates, Mobile, for appellant.
John C. Brutkiewicz, Mobile, for appellees.
The defendant appeals from a judgment entered in a case involving a boundary line dispute between coterminous landowners.
Terry Lee Pierce, as executrix of the estate of Lee W. Pierce, deceased, and Thelma D. Pierce sued Percy F. Martin, claiming ownership of a 5.4-foot strip of land by adverse possession. Martin, holder of record title, counterclaimed, seeking to quiet title to the property. After an ore tenus hearing, the trial court entered a judgment in favor of the plaintiffs, stating, in part:
"The court, having heard the evidence, is satisfied that the plaintiffs have met their burden of proof in that the disputed land has been adversely possessed for at least a ten-year period and that said possession was open notorious, continuous, exclusive, and hostile, pursuant to Ala. Code 1975, § 6-5-200, and hereby grants the request prayed for in the plaintiffs' complaint and denies the defendant's counterclaim. . . ."
Martin appeals.
The judgment is affirmed on the authority of Strickland v. Markos, 566 So.2d 229 (Ala. 1990), wherein this Court wrote:
"When evidence is presented ore tenus, the trial court's findings will not be disturbed on appeal unless they are unsupported by credible evidence or are manifestly unjust. . . . Moreover, [the] presumption of correctness [afforded judgments in ore tenus nonjury cases] is even stronger in adverse possession cases, because in such cases the evidence is generally difficult to weigh from the appellate court's vantage point."
566 So.2d at 231-32 (citations omitted).
AFFIRMED.
HORNSBY, C.J., and ALMON, ADAMS and INGRAM, JJ., concur.