Bickham v. Bates

150 So. 2d 138, 246 Miss. 171, 1963 Miss. LEXIS 433
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 25, 1963
DocketNo. 42571
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 150 So. 2d 138 (Bickham v. Bates) 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
Bickham v. Bates, 150 So. 2d 138, 246 Miss. 171, 1963 Miss. LEXIS 433 (Mich. 1963).

Opinion

Kyle, J.

This case is before us on appeal by F. E. Bickham and others, defendants and cross-complainants in the court below, from a decree of the Chancery Court of Pike County rendered in favor of Mrs. Tennie L. Bates and others, complainants and cross defendants in the court below, confirming’ the appellees’ .title to a parcel of land, containing 10.91 acres, situated in the SE^ of the SE1^ of Section 5, Township 3 North, Range 7 East, as against the appellants, and permanently restraining and enjoining the appellants from trespassing upon the land.

The record shows that the appellees acquired title to the above mentioned parcel of land along with other land from the First National Bank of McComb by warranty deed dated January 16, 1942. The consideration recited in the deed was $1750 paid in cash. The land conveyed to the grantees, M. V. Bates and his wife, is described as follows: The S% of the SW% of Section 4; also 12 acres on the east side of the SE^ of the SE1^ of Section 5, all in Township 3, Range 7 East, and containing 92 acres more or less, in Pike County, Mississippi. The record shows, and the chancellor found, that the land was under fence ivhen Bates and his wife purchased it; that Bates and his wife .entered into possession of the land immediately after acquiring title to the same, and remained in possession thereafter, and [175]*175paid tlie taxes thereon. The record also shows that M. Y-. Bates died intestate on May 27, 1953, and that he left surviving him as his only heirs-at-law his wife, Mrs. Tennie L. Bates, and four children, all of whom were named as complainants in the bill of complaint filed in this canse.

The complainants filed their hill of complaint on March 31, 1961. In their hill the complainants alleged that they were the owners of the above described 12 acres of land in the SE% of the SE]4 of said Section 5, and the complainants deraignecl their title thereto as described in the above mentioned deed from the First National Bank of McComh. The complainants alleged that the defendants, F. E. Bickham and his wife, were the owners of land lying in the SE]4 of the SE]4 of Section 5, which joined the land owned by the complainants on the west side; that a fence running northwestwardly from the southeast corner of said Section 5 separated the land owned by the complainants in the SE% of the SE14 from the land owned by the defendants; that the fence had been in existence and in the same location for the last 35 years, during which time the complainants and their predecessors in title had been in continuous, hostile, notorious and exclusive possession of all of that part of the SE% of the SE]4 of said section lying immediately east of said fence, and had evidenced their ownership of the land by cutting timber therefrom, by cultivating portions thereof, and by pasturing the same; that during all of that period of time the said fence had been recognized as the property line between their property and the property owned by the defendants; and that it was not until after oil was produced from the 40-acre tract described as the SE% of the SE% of said Section 5, that the defendants ever attempted to claim any portion of the land owned by the complainants lying east of said fence. The complainants alleged that the land lying on the east side of the above mentioned [176]*176fence and which had been occupied and used by the complainants and their predecessors in title for a period of more than 35 years might not be the same identical land as that described in their deed, hut regardless of that fact the complainants had acquired a complete legal and equitable title to that part of the 40-acre tract lying east of the above mentioned fence by virtue of Sections 709, 710 and 711, Miss. Code of 1942, Rec.

The complainants further alleged that the defendants had recently gone upon the complainants’ land in the SE% of the SE% of said Section 5 and erected a new fence thereon, and had attempted to remove some of the wire which the complainants had placed upon their fence, and were threatening to commit other trespasses on the land, and that the complainants were entitled to have the defendants restrained and enjoined from further trespassing upon their land and to have their title to all of the land in the SE^ of the SE1^ of said Section 5 lying on the east side of the above mentioned fence quieted and confirmed as against the defendants. The Complainants asked that upon the final hearing a decree he entered confirming their title to the above mentioned 10.91 acres of land as against the defendants, and that the defendants he required to remove the fence recently erected by them on the complainants’ land and he required to replace the wire which the defendants had removed from the complainants ’ fence; that a surveyor he appointed to make a survey and determine the location of the fences enclosing the complainants’ land and a correct description of the land actually owned by the complainants in the SE1^ of the SE% of said Section 5. The complainants also asked that damages be awarded to them, both actual and punitive.

The defendants filed their answer to the complainants’ bill on August 28, 1961, and with their answer a special demurrer and a cross hill. In their demurrers the defendants challenged the complainants’ right to maintain [177]*177their bill to confirm title to tbe parcel of land described in tbe bill on tbe ground that tbe bill showed on its face that tbe complainants were not in possession of tbe land at tbe time tbe bill was filed. Tbe demurrers were overruled. In their answer and cross bill tbe defendants deraigned their title or claim of title to tbe parcel of land in dispute, and denied that tbe complainants bad acquired title to tbe land by adverse possession, and in their cross bill tbe defendants asked that tbe complainants’ claim of title be cancelled and that tbe complainants be enjoined from asserting any claim to tbe 12-acre parcel of land.

Tbe complainants filed an answer to' tbe cross bill, and tbe cause was beard at tbe regular April 1962 term of tbe court. More than twenty witnesses testified during tbe bearing. No useful purpose would be served by our undertaking to summarize tbe testimony of each of tbe witnesses who testified on behalf of tbe respective parties.

Tbe testimony offered on behalf of tbe complainants showed that tbe parcel of land involved in tbe controversy and referred to in tbe complainants’ deed as “12 acres” on tbe east side of tbe SE]4 of tbe SE]4 of Section 5 was a triangular plot of land, containing by actual survey 10.91 acres, lying east of tbe old barbed wire fence referred to in tbe pleadings, which ran north-westwardly from tbe southeast corner of said Section 5 to tbe point of intersection with tbe north boundary line of tbe SE% of tbe SE]4 of said Section at a point 750.10 feet west of tbe northeast corner of tbe 40-acre tract; that M. V. Bates and bis wife, as stated above, acquired title to tbe “12-acre” parcel of land, along with tbe 80-acre tract of land lying immediately east of tbe 12 acres, in 1942; that tbe 92-acre tract was enclosed by fences at that time, and tbe fence running northwestwardly from tbe southeast corner of tbe SE]4 [178]*178of the SE% of Section 5 was pointed out to tliem as constituting the western boundary of their property.

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Bluebook (online)
150 So. 2d 138, 246 Miss. 171, 1963 Miss. LEXIS 433, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bickham-v-bates-miss-1963.