Evans v. Dunkley

The trial court erred in applying a 4-year statute of limitation, instead of the applicable 7-year limitation period, to the plaintiffs' claims for cancellation of fraudulent deeds.

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This appeal involves a dispute between family members over family-owned farm land located in Brooks County. Clara Evans, Loretta Phelps, and Rosa Diann Ojikutu three of the six surviving children of Charles and Fannie Phelps, both deceased filed an action in the Brooks County Superior Court in April 2008 asserting an interest in the subject land acquired under the will of Charles Phelps and from the estate of Fannie Phelps. Named as defendants in the action were other family members with interests in the land: Cora Dunkley, Marilyn Williams, and Fanniella Lewis the three remaining children of Charles and Fannie Phelps; Josiah Phelps the brother of Charles Phelps and former executor of his will; Robert Simmons, Jr; Nathaniel H. Abrams, Jr. and Albert J. Abrams. In addition to seeking partition of the land along with an accounting and division of funds generated from management of the land, the action sought cancellation of allegedly fraudulent deeds—three executor’s deeds and a deed from Charles Phelps to Robert Simmons, Jr.

This appeal by the Plaintiffs in the action is from the grant of the Defendants’ motion for partial summary judgment, and from the denial of the Plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment. In granting the Defendants’ motion and denying the Plaintiffs’ motion, the trial court ruled that, with the exception of the Plaintiffs’ claim for partition on which genuine issues of fact remain, the Plaintiffs’ claims were barred by res judicata or by the statute of limitation for fraud. For the following reasons, we affirm in part and reverse in part.

Evans v. Dunkley

The trial court erred in applying a 4-year statute of limitation, instead of the applicable 7-year limitation period, to the plaintiffs' claims for cancellation of fraudulent deeds.

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