The Alabama Department of Transportation has filed a civil action in Hale County Circuit Court to take physical possession of a small parcel along the West Alabama Highway corridor after securing title to the land through a probate court action earlier this year.
In a complaint filed Oct. 3, the State of Alabama, acting through ALDOT Director John R. Cooper, names Mae Francis Eppes and Micah Hall as defendants and says they “unlawfully withhold and detain” the property, identified as Tract 757 on Project RAED-068- 000-160. The suit asks a judge to issue a writ of possession, award the state fair rental value for the period the occupants remained after notice, and grant damages for trespass along with attorney fees and court costs.
According to the filing, ALDOT already holds legal title to the tract based on a Final Order of Condemnation entered by the Hale County Probate Court in April. That order vested fee-simple title in the state upon payment of compensation assessed by a threemember commission. The handwritten award in the order sets compensation at $300,000. The probate judge also directed that owners remain responsible for ad valorem taxes due Oct. 1, 2025, and advised the parties of a 30-day appeal window to circuit court.
ALDOT’s court exhibits show the agency sent Eppes a certified 30-day relocation notice dated May 29 stating that title had been acquired May 5 and that occupancy could continue until June 30, at which point the state expected the property to be vacated. The letter was signed by a relocation consultant for Volkert, Inc., an ALDOT contractor.
A legal description attached to the complaint places the 0.41-acre tract along Alabama 69 at David Campbell Road, within the West Alabama Highway right-of-way footprint. The complaint asks that Eppes and Hall be served at a Moundville address on AL- 69.
The new circuit-court case is an “ejectment” and trespass action—essentially a follow-up step ALDOT sometimes takes after a probate condemnation to gain actual possession of land it has already purchased through the court. It does not revisit the amount of compensation; instead it asks the judge to order turnover of the property and to set any rent or damages the state says are owed for holding over after the June 30 deadline.
The West Alabama Highway project is a multicounty corridor plan. In Hale County, recent filings reflect multiple tracts being acquired through condemnation when the state and owners cannot agree on price. In the Tract 757 case, the probate judge appointed three local commissioners: Bill Mackey, Dexter Thornton, and John Woodham, to assess just compensation before issuing April’s final order.
As of press time, the circuit court had not set a hearing date in the ejectment case, and no responsive filing from the defendants appeared in the record.
