David Childers and Robert Deshawn Childers v. Leroy Darby

Summary

The Supreme Court of Alabama reversed the judgment quieting title in Leroy Darby because the evidence did not establish that Darby was in actual or constructive peaceable possession of the property, a prerequisite to relief under either quiet-title statute invoked. The court held that Darby's complaint sufficiently pleaded a quiet-title action even though it did not expressly use the phrase "peaceable possession," but the proof at trial was legally insufficient to support the judgment. Chief Justice Moore, concurring specially, agreed that Darby could not proceed by quiet title and noted that an ejectment-type action could be available to a titleholder facing another person's actual possession.