Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 29, 1993 TAG: 9312290050
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It was followed this week by a lawsuit alleging the reasons for the deed's prune-like condition - a land swap turned sour, a tussle for the paper as it lay on a conference table, and a fistfight on the boardroom floor of a Buchanan bank.
"It was not a pretty sight," attorney W.T. Robey said.
Robey represents Guy Alphin, whom he describes as "a very prominent dentist who has filled every tooth in Botetourt County for the last 45 years."
Sometime in April, Alphin struck a deal to swap some land with Clifford E. Wells, former president of James River Limestone.
It was "a verbal agreement which was never memorialized by writing," according to a lawsuit Alphin filed Monday against Wells and Wells' wife, Norma.
Alphin and the Wellses met Oct. 6 at the Bank of Buchanan to complete the deal.
"With the deed lying upon the board room table [Alphin] called for the agreed upon sum of $22,000 from Wells," the suit states. "Much to the amazement of [Alphin], Wells vehemently denied that he was obligated to pay the plaintiff anything."
Realizing the "precarious situation" he faced, Alphin - the plaintiff - lunged for the already executed deed as it lay on the table.
"Upon the plaintiff's grasping the subject deed, Wells did then pounce upon the plaintiff and the deed, and was successful in wrestling the deed from the plaintiff's hands," the lawsuit claimed.
To put it in less legal language: "They grappled down on the floor," Robey said. "Dr. Alphin got the worst of it," coming up with a black eye and no deed.
The Wellses remember it differently. "A black eye? He wasn't even hit in the eye," Norma Wells said. "My husband popped him in the mouth, and he did have a fat lip."
Norma Wells said the whole thing was provoked by Alphin, who first agreed to an even swap, then claimed the Wells owed him an extra $22,000. "As far as we are concerned, he went back on his word," she said.
She said her husband scuffled with Alphin only after Alphin grabbed the deed and attempted to tear it up.
The much-disputed deed, now Exhibit A in Alphin's lawsuit, was later recorded in the clerk's office "in a condition bearing resemblance of a prune," the suit states.
Alphin's lawsuit asks that the deed be declared invalid on grounds of fraud and false pretenses. And he still wants his $22,000, plus another $100,000 in damages.
Staff writer Mike Hudson contributed information for this story.
by CNB