Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 10, 1994 TAG: 9408100081
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FINCASTLE LENGTH: Medium
Lawyers had added to the lore by saying the crumpled deed resembled a prune when filed in the county courthouse.
But for Guy L. Alphin and Clifford E. Wells and their families, there was pain beneath the laughter.
"I'm sorry things happened," Wells testified when the case went to court Tuesday. "Things got heated too fast."
Tuesday, a jury sided with Alphin, recommending he be awarded $22,000 from a land deal gone sour and another $5,000 for injuries he sustained in a fight with Wells.
Circuit Judge George E. Honts III said he will withhold imposing $22,000 of the jury's award until lawyers can file legal briefs.
The first step on Wells and Alphin's collision course started in August 1993, when the two men met to discuss a possible land swap.
Wells, 67, the president and chief exective officer of James River Limestone, had his eye on 29 acres in which Alphin had partial interest. Alphin, 74, a retired dentist and member of the county School Board, was interested in obtaining clear title to some nearby land that adjoined a farm he owned.
Alphin said Wells agreed to help him gain clear title to the land he wanted in exchange for the 29 acres that Wells wanted.
During that meeting, Alphin claims, Wells made an offer to pay him $22,000 to make the deal work. Wells said he can't recollect the offer.
So, when they came to the Bank of Buchanan after hours on Oct. 6, 1993, the two men had different opinions about what was expected of them.
After signing the deed that exchanged the land, Alphin asked Wells if they could discuss some tax tickets. Wells, a member of the board of directors of the bank, suggested they use the boardroom.
Once inside, their versions of events differ significantly. Both men agreed that Alphin grabbed an envelope full of deeds and tried to tear them in half after Wells refused to pay him the $22,000.
Alphin claims Wells "jumped me like a tiger," choked and beat him repeatedly in the face when he didn't relinquish the deeds.
"I was holding them over my face like a boxer," Alphin said while demonstrating for Honts and the jury.
Alphin said he developed a lesion on his mouth a month later that required plastic surgery costing $3,200.
Wells said he struck Alphin only once, and that's after he called him a "son of a b---" and threatened to get violent if he didn't get his money.
Wells later recorded the crumpled deeds in the courthouse after Alphin let go of them.
Wells' attorney, Robert Rider, said Alphin was trying to use the lawsuit to help ease his conscience over a deal he was having second thoughts about.
"The man is not supposed to go home and use this as a Lotto ticket and say, 'I got struck. Give me money,''' Rider argued.
W.T. "Pete" Robey III argued that Alphin's injuries went deeper than that.
"He's hurt. He's embarrassed. He's humiliated," Robey said. "He's out his $22,000."
by CNB