Mabry v. Southwestern Bell Telephone Co.

Steele Hays, Judge.

This appeal challenges a summary judgment granted by the trial court on motion of the defendant below, Southwestern Bell Telephone Company.

On April 24, 1978, Billy S. Mabry and Morecia Mabry filed suit alleging that the telephone company had committed a trespass on April 21, 1976, upon a parcel of land owned by the Mabrys by removing a fence, destroying trees and shrubbery, and by digging a trench some 100 feet in length for the apparent purpose by laying a telephone cable. The complaint sought compensatory and punitive damages.

The suit evoked numerous pleadings,…