Carpenter v. Huffman
Alabama Supreme Court
314 So. 2d 65 (1975)
In 1953, Phil Alexander built a fence 40 feet into a neighboring lot, mistakenly believing it marked his true boundary; in 1959 he sold Lizzie Huffman (defendant) a parcel whose deed description included that 40-foot strip, and Huffman built half her house, a pump, and part of a driveway on the disputed strip. The Carpenters (plaintiffs), who later bought the neighboring lot to the north and learned the fence was misplaced, sued around 1974 to force Huffman off the strip after she refused to move her house; the trial court found Huffman had acquired title by adverse possession, tacking her possession period onto Alexander's, and the Carpenters appealed, disputing the tacking.
Whether, if a grantee is put into actual possession of disputed land adversely held by her immediate grantor, the grantee may tack her period of possession onto that of the grantor for purposes of adverse possession.