Holmes v. Alabama Title Co.

A 1943 deed reserved mining rights to Woodward Iron Company's successors, including immunity from surface-damage liability, and that reservation ran with the land through later owner U.S. Steel (defendant), which mined the property from 1968 to 1975. Holmes and 128 other landowners (plaintiffs), who bought surface plots between 1976 and 1981 with title insurance from Alabama Title (defendant) that excluded mineral and mining rights coverage, later suffered subsidence damage after the abandoned mine's ceiling collapsed. They sued U.S. Steel for negligence, wantonness, trespass, and nuisance, and sued Alabama Title for fraud, breach of contract, and negligence in failing to explain the covenant's significance; the trial court granted all defendants summary judgment.