Paul M. Caldwell Et Al. v. D. Caffey Et

SIMPSON, Justice. This is an appeal from a final decree denying relief to appellants Caldwell and Malone, holding that Caldwell
was not the owner and Malone was not entitled to the possession, as tenant, of certain real property in the city of Montgomery. Briefly, this is the case: Appellant Caldwell acquired the property in question by deed on March 5, 1951 through Caffey Realty
Co. and mortgaged it on the same date to All-States Life Ins. Co. The loan was guaranteed by the Veterans Administration.
Caldwell employed appellee Caffey as agent to rent it and it was rented to appellant Joel Malone. Caffey collected the monthly
rentals from Malone and paid them, less his commission, to Caldwell through September. Caldwell never made any payments on
the mortgage to All-States, but in September decided to move from the state. The servicing agent of the mortgagee notified
Caffey and Caffey testified he notified Caldwell that the mortgage was not being kept current. Caffey testified that he offered
to buy Caldwell's equity in the property inasmuch as Caldwell was moving from the state, and that Caldwell agreed to this,
Caffey paying him $250 in cash and paying up the delinquent payments to All-States on the mortgage. Caldwell then executed
to Caffey a deed to the property, September 12, 1951. Caldwell testified that this was not the full agreement but that Caffey
agreed to have him relieved altogether from the V. A. mortgage so that he could procure another loan in Detroit; that in 1953
when he applied for a V. A. loan in Detroit to buy a piece of property there, he was told that he was ineligible because of
the Montgomery transaction, but at that time he did not contact Caffey or do anything about the matter. Even as late as November,
1956, when he received a letter from the Montgomery V. A. informing him of this status, he failed to take action. On August
3, 1957 Caffey recorded his deed from Caldwell and conveyed the property to Lee Esther Worthy and about the same time Caffey,
as agent for Worthy, wrote a letter to appellant Malone notifying him to vacate the premises. Malone refused to move out and
on October 17, 1957 Caffey, as agent for Lee Esther Worthy, commenced unlawful detainer proceedings against Malone in the
Court of Common Pleas in Montgomery, Alabama.