Virginia Jennings Sanford and Kenneth D. Sanford v. Geer Properties, Inc.

── Virginia Jennings Sanford and Kenneth D. Sanford v. Geer Properties, Inc. ── Case No.: CL-2025-0477 Court: Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama Date: March 27, 2026 Author: Christy Edwards Category: General Rel: March 27, 2026 Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the advance sheets of Southern Reporter. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Alabama Appellate Courts, 300 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36104-3741 ((334) 229-0650), of any typographical or other errors, in order that corrections may be made before the opinion is published in Southern Reporter. ALABAMA COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS OCTOBER TERM, 2025-2026 _________________________ CL-2025-0477 _________________________ Virginia Jennings Sanford and Kenneth D. Sanford v. Geer Properties, Inc. Appeal from Tuscaloosa Circuit Court (CV-21-900262) EDWARDS, Judge. In March 2021, Virginia Jennings Sanford and Kenneth D. Sanford filed a complaint in the Tuscaloosa Circuit Court against Billy Joe Aldridge and Ready Mix USA, Inc. ("Ready Mix"), alleging claims of CL-2025-0477 continuing trespass with contumely, private nuisance, and negligence.1 The allegations of the complaint were generally that Aldridge and the Sanfords owned adjoining parcels of property and that Aldridge had authorized Ready Mix to dump leftover concrete and to wash out its concrete trucks on a portion of his property ("the neighboring property"). The complaint further alleged that the concrete and other rubble that was dumped onto the neighboring property had flowed onto property owned by the Sanfords ("the Sanford property") and that, despite having been asked to cease the dumping, both Aldridge and Ready Mix had continued the practice. The Sanfords sought and were granted a temporary restraining order prohibiting further use of the neighboring property for the dumping of concrete. The Sanfords amended their complaint to add a claim of "Continuing Trespass/Private Nuisance" in which they complained that Aldridge had cut trees from the Sanford property and had "constructed an impoundment that has caused a lake of water and cement-laden runoff upon" the Sanford property. 1The complaint also included three fictitiously named defendants. The complaint was later amended to substitute an actual party for one of the fictitiously named defendants, but the resolution of the claims against that substituted party are not pertinent to this appeal. 2 CL-2025-0477 On February 14, 2022, the Sanfords amended their complaint a second time. In the second amended complaint, the Sanfords added Geer Properties, Inc. ("GPI"), as a defendant and alleged that Aldridge had sold the neighboring property to GPI and had transferred ownership by a deed dated October 8, 2021. The second amended complaint also added an additional claim of "Continuing Trespass/Private Nuisance" ("Count V") in which the Sanfords alleged that GPI had "maintained the [neighboring property] in a state that artificially concentrates and focuses the flow of rainwater onto the Sanford [property] to cause erosion and subsidence, through, over, and upon the Sanford [property]." The Sanfords further alleged that "[p]ieces of debris and rubble located at or near the boundary line between the [neighboring property] and the Sanford [property] constitute a danger of personal harm and injury, as the said pieces of debris and rubble roll downhill from the [neighboring property] with great momentum and force onto and over the Sanford [property]." GPI filed an answer to the second amended complaint in March 2022, generally denying the allegations therein. In September 2022, GPI filed a cross-claim against Aldridge, alleging that, if it is liable to the Sanfords, Aldridge is liable