Barlow v. Rutland

174 So. 2d 361, 252 Miss. 400, 1965 Miss. LEXIS 1112
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedApril 26, 1965
DocketNo. 43128
StatusPublished

This text of 174 So. 2d 361 (Barlow v. Rutland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barlow v. Rutland, 174 So. 2d 361, 252 Miss. 400, 1965 Miss. LEXIS 1112 (Mich. 1965).

Opinion

Kyle, P. J.

This case is before us on appeal by Mrs. Effie Garrett Barlow, defendant in the court below, from a decree of the Chancery Court of Simpson County, dismissing her petition to set aside a former decree of the court rendered in this cause appointing commissioners to make a partition of 240 acres of land in said county owned by the appellant and her sister, Mrs. Mary Garrett Rut-land, complainant in the court below, and her two brothers, Henry Emmett Garrett and Robert Lawson Garrett, a non compos mentis, as tenants in common, and to have herself declared to be the legal and equitable owner of the entire 240 acres of land.

The record shows that on September 4, 1962, Mrs. Mary Garrett Rutland, one of the heirs of William H. Garrett, deceased, filed a petition in the Chancery Court of Simpson County for the partition of the above mentioned 240 acres of land among the several cotenants according to their respective interests. The defendants named in the petition were her above named two brothers and her sister, the appellant herein.

[402]*402The complainant Mrs. Mary Garrett Rutland alleged in her petition that she and the defendants were the owners in fee simple, as tenants in common of the land described as follows:

TRACT NO. 1:
E% of NE% and W% of SE% and NEi,i of SEVL Section 15, Township 2 North, Range 2 East lying and being in Simpson County, Mississippi, containing 200 acres, more or less, subject to:
(1) An oil, g*as and mineral lease executed by petitioner and the above named defendants to Placid Oil Company, Shreveport, Louisiana, dated July 16, 1959, said lease being for a primary term of 10 years; and
(2) An oil, gas and mineral lease executed by Robert Lawson Garrett, Non Compos Mentis, by his legal guardian, the above named petitioner, to Placid Oil Company, Shreveport, Louisiana, dated September 21, 1959, and being for a primary term of 10 years. TRACT NO. 2:
NW1/j. of SW^ of Section 14, Township 2 North, Range 2 East, Simpson County, Mississippi, less all oil, gas and mineral rights.

The complainant alleged in her petition that the above described land was owned by William H. Garrett, the father of the complainant and the defendants at the time of his death on March 7, 1940; that the said William H. Garrett left surviving him as his only heirs-at-law his widow, Mrs. Veda Garrett, and the complainant and her two brothers and sister, each of whom inherited an undivided one fifth interest in his estate; that Mrs. Veda Garrett died testate on January 3, 1952; that her last will and testament were duly admitted to probate in common form by a decree of the Chancery Court of Simpson County on June 8, 1954; and that in her will she devised and bequeathed dll of her property [403]*403to the complainant, Mrs. Mary Garrett Rutland. The complainant further alleged that she was the owner of an undivided two-fifths interest in the above described 240 acres of land, being an undivided one-fifth interest vested in her by inheritance at the death of her father, and an undivided one-fifth interest bequeathed to her in the will of her mother; and that each of her two brothers and her sister were the owners of an undivided one-fifth interest in the land, subject to the above mentioned oil, gas and mineral leases executed by the complainant and the above named defendants to Placid Oil Company, for a primary term of ten years, and less oil, gas and mineral rights on the above described Tract No. 2.

The complainant prayed that a decree be entered for a partition of the above described lands, less the oil, gas and mineral rights owned by said parties among the several cotenants according to their respective interests, and in the event the court should find that a division of the lands in kind cannot he made without manifest prejudice to the rights of the parties in interest, that a sale of the lands, less the oil, gas and mineral rights owned by the parties, be ordered in accordance with the provisions of the statute in such cases made and provided.

On October 18, 1962, the defendant Henry Emmett Garrett and Effie Garrett Barlow filed their answer to the complainant’s petition. In their answer the defendants admitted the allegations of the petition concerning the ownership of. the lands. The defendants, however, averred in their answer that the lands, less the mineral rights, were susceptible of a division in kind, and that it would be to the best interest of the parties thereto to have the mineral rights remain in tact with each party owning his or her undivided interest in the oil, gas and mineral rights in the entire tract. The defendants denied that there should he a [404]*404sale of the land involved, but agreed that a division in kind should be made, less the mineral rights.

The above named defendants incorporated in their answer a cross-bill in which they alleged that the 240 acres of land involved in the litigation had been in the possession and under the control of the complainant and cross-defendant, • Mary Garrett Rutland, since the death of their mother in the year 1954; that during that period of time there had been substantial amounts of timber cut and removed by the complainant and cross-defendant and her agents over the protest of the cross-complainants; and that the complainant and cross defendant should be required to account to the cross complainants and the other owner of the land for their proportionate parts of the timber cut and removed. The cross complainants therefore prayed that the complainant and the cross defendant be required to file in the cause a statement under oath of the amounts of timber, both sawlog and pulpwood, cut and removed from the lands, and giving the dates of the cutting, the names of the parties to whom the timber was sold, and the amounts received for the timber, and that a complete adjustment of the equities between the parties be decreed by the court.

On October 23,1962, a petition was filed by Mrs. Mary Garrett Rutland asking for the appointment of a guardian ad litem for her brother, Robert Lawson Garrett, a non compos mentis. In her petition the complainant stated that she was the legal guardian of Robert Lawson Garrett; that summons had been issued and served on the said Robert Lawson Garrett, individually, and upon her as his legally appointed guardian, but inasmuch as Robert Lawson Garrett could not answer for himself and his interest in the cause might be antagonistic to that of the complainant, it was necessary that a guardian ad litem be appointed for him. On the same date a decree was entered appointing Harry Sullivan a mem[405]*405ber of tbe Simpson County Bar, as guardian ad litem for the defendant, Robert Lawson Garrett, N.C.M.

On November 29, 1962, the complainant and cross defendant, Mrs. Mary Garrett Rutland, filed her answer to the above mentioned cross bill. In her answer she admitted that she was in possession of the land described in the bill of complaint, but averred that she was not in the exclusive possession thereof. By way of affirmative defense she stated that since the other co-tenants had left the state, other than Robert Lawson Garrett, N.C.M., who remained on the land and occupied the dwelling house situated on the land, it was necessary that the complainant and cross defendant protect her interest in the property and see that her afflicted brother had a home thereon.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Heirs of Wykoff v. Miller
19 So. 478 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1895)
Gilleylen v. Martin
73 Miss. 695 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1896)
Beeks v. Rye
77 Miss. 358 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1899)
Sweatman v. Dean
86 Miss. 641 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1905)
Sowell v. Sowell
57 So. 626 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1911)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
174 So. 2d 361, 252 Miss. 400, 1965 Miss. LEXIS 1112, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barlow-v-rutland-miss-1965.