Pierce v. Paschall, No. W2013-00478-COA-R3-CV, 2013 Tenn. App. LEXIS 839 (Tenn. Ct. App. Dec. 30, 2013)

(plaintiff purchased his property in 1976; defendant purchased his adjoining property at a public auction in November of 2003; defendant recorded his deed on January 9, 2004, which contained an improper description stemming from a mistaken land survey; on January 5, 2011, plaintiff filed an action asserting that defendant’s tract encroached upon his property and that he was entitled to recover the profits attributable to the disputed three-acre tract; defendant asserted the defenses of laches and adverse possession; the trial court entered judgment in favor of plaintiff in the amount of $2,628, finding that the disputed area was contained within plaintiff’s tract and that defendant had failed to prove adverse possession or tacking; on appeal, the court affirmed; defendant could not assert adverse possession under color of title because he filed his deed within the seven-year statutory period for adverse possession under Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-2-102; the trial court’s credibility determinations regarding the finding that defendant did not exercise possession of the disputed property before  recording his deed were entitled to weight; defendant failed to prove gross laches because he was aware that the boundary line was disputed when he purchased the property).