King, King, & King v. Drum, [Ms. CL-2024-0085, Dec. 20, 2024] __ So. 3d __ (Ala. Civ. App. 2024). The court (Edwards, J.; Moore, P.J., and Hanson, Fridy, and Lewis, JJ., concur) reverses the Etowah Circuit Court’s judgment quieting title to a parcel of real property in Lisa Drum for failure to join necessary parties. The court first determines that Drum’s quiet title action was an in rem action seeking to dispose of the claims of all persons to the property as opposed to an in personam action which “results in a judgment determining only ‘whether the defendant has any right, title, or interest in, or encumbrance upon, such lands, or any part thereof, what such right, title, interest, or encumbrance is and in or upon what part of the lands the same exists.’ Ala. Code 1975, § 6-6-543.” Ms. *19.
The court “reverse(s) the judgment and remand(s) the cause for the trial court to join as parties in the action … any person whose interest Drum desires to have adjudicated regarding the property or who are otherwise needed for a just adjudication and to conduct other proceedings consistent with this opinion, including, if joinder of an interested person or persons cannot take place, determining whether the action can properly proceed in the absence of such person or persons. See Rule 19(b).” Ms. *25.