Campbell v. Campbell

163 So. 2d 649, 249 Miss. 670, 1964 Miss. LEXIS 425
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedMay 11, 1964
DocketNo. 43040
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 163 So. 2d 649 (Campbell v. Campbell) 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
Campbell v. Campbell, 163 So. 2d 649, 249 Miss. 670, 1964 Miss. LEXIS 425 (Mich. 1964).

Opinion

Kyle, P. J.

This case is before ns on appeal by William Campbell and others, complainants in the court below, from a decree of the Chancery Court of Pike County rendered in favor of Joe Campbell and others, defendants in the court below, in a suit filed by the complainants seeking to cancel a deed of conveyance of 100 acres of land in Pike County, executed by Louis Campbell and his wife, Louvenia Campbell, to Joe Campbell on March 25, 1937, and also seeking to cancel certain mineral conveyances executed by Joe Campbell and the grantees and remote grantees of Joe Campbell, and oil, gas and mineral leases executed by Joe Campbell and his grantee, H. W. Kenna, and a deed of conveyance of the 100 acres of land, reserving all minerals in, on and under said land, executed by Joe Campbell to J. E. Thornhill, Sr., on February 28, 1957, and deed of conveyance executed by J. E. Thornhill to Fred Rawls on March 13, 1958.

The record shows that Louis Campbell died on April 5, 1937, and that he left surviving him a wife, Louvenia Campbell, and several children and lineal descendants of other children who had predeceased him. Louvenia Campbell, the surviving widow, died sometime during the month of September 1937. Louis was 86 years of age at the time of his death. The record shows that Louis Campbell acquired title to the 100 acres of land involved in this suit by warranty deed from Alex Magee and his wife, dated March 27, 1905, and that he moved on the land soon thereafter and occupied the same as a homestead until his death in 1937. He borrowed money on the land in 1925 and executed a mortgage deed of trust to the Federal Land Bank of New Orleans to secure the payment of the indebtedness, which was to be repaid in annual installments extending over a period [673]*673of 35 years. Louis’ youngest son, Simmie, continued to live in the house with his father and his stepmother after all other members of the family had moved away. But Simmie died in January 1937; and after Simmie’s death his brother Joe Campbell, who was the only one of Louis’ children still living in Pike County, moved into the home to be with his father, who was still able to move around and attend to his business, but unable to work.

The deed conveying the 100 acres of land to Joe Campbell, which the complainants seek to have cancelled in the case that we have before us, was executed by Louis and his wife, Louvenia, on March 25, 1937. The deed, according- to the testimony, was prepared by Grent Hutchinson, an attorney residing in the Town of Summit. The deed was properly executed and acknowledged by the grantors before A. R. Bacot, a justice of the peace of Pike County, on March 25, 1937, and was filed for record and properly recorded on March 29, 1937. The deed recited a consideration of $1.00, the receipt of which was acknowledged, and after the conveying clause the deed contained an express stipulation that Louis Campbell and his wife, Louvenia Campbell, were to have a home on the 100 acres of land as long as they lived, and that the grantee “Joe Campbell agrees to make the payments on the above lands to The Federal Land Bank as they become due and payable.” Joe, as stated above, was living on the land at the time of his father’s death on April 5, 1937, and continued to live on the land and to exercise exclusive control over the land, claiming it as his own, without any interference on the part of the other heirs of Louis, until the discovery of oil about 1959 or 1960.

The record shows that, on November 16, 1944, Joe Campbell and his wife, Ina Campbell, executed a mineral deed conveying a one-half mineral interest in the 100-acre tract of land to H. W. Kenna, who thereafter exe[674]*674cuted mineral conveyances to various parties. The mineral interests owned by H. W. Kenna and his assigns, however, as hereinafter stated, have been recognized by the appellants as valid since the rendition of the above mentioned decree of the chancery court, and are not involved in this appeal. The record also shows that, on April 19, 1951, H. W. Kenna executed an oil, gas and mineral lease covering the 100-acre tract of land to R. W. Brownlee to Sun Oil Company on May 16, 1951; and that on April 19, 1951, Joe Campbell and his wife, Ina Campbell, executed an oil, gas and mineral lease covering said land to R. W. Brownlee, which lease was assigned by R. W. Brownlee to Sun Oil Company on May 16, 1951. As a result of the above mentioned assignments of the Kenna lease and the Campbell lease to the Sun Oil Company, the Sun Oil Company acquired full drilling rights and a full seven-eights working mineral interest in the 100-acre tract of land. The record also shows that, on February 28, 1958, Joe Campbell and his wife, Ina Campbell, conveyed the 100-acre tract of land (including a four-tenths mineral interest) to J. E. Thornton, Sr., reserving unto themselves a one-tenth mineral interest. This one-tenth mineral interest reserved by Joe Campbell is the only interest in the 100-acre tract of land involved in this appeal. On March 13, 1958, J. E. Thornhill, Sr., conveyed the above mentioned land to Fred Rawls, reserving unto himself all minerals in, on and under the land. J. E. Thornhill, Sr., executed various mineral conveyances which the appellant sought to have cancelled in their bill of complaint. Those mineral conveyances, however, are not involved in this appeal.

The bill of complaint in this cause was filed on August 16, 1962. The complainants alleged in their bill that the complainants and Joe Campbell were the heirs at law of Louis Campbell, deceased, and the owners of the 100 acres of land described in the bill of complaint [675]*675and in the deed of conveyance executed by Louis Campbell to Joe Campbell on March 25, 1937; and that the defendants were parties who asserted rights and interests in the land under purported instruments of conveyance appearing of record in the office of the Chancery Court Clerk of Pike County.

The complainants further alleged that the deed of conveyance executed by Louis Campbell, deceased, on March 25, 1937, was void because it was a forgery, and that all other instruments deriving their source from said deed were null and void. The complainants further alleged in their bill that Louis Campbell was, and had been for sometime prior to the execution of the deed, mentally incompetent to a degree which rendered him unable to' know, understand, comprehend, or transact the simplest matters. The complainants further allege that on November 16, 1944, Joe Campbell and his wife had attempted to convey one-half of the minerals in said land to J. W. Kenna by a mineral deed executed and filed for record; that on February 28, 1958, Joe Campbell and his wife had attempted to convey the 100 acres of land, including an undivided four-tenths interest in the minerals, to J. E. Thornhill, reserving unto himself a one-tenth undivided interest in the minerals; and that on March 13, 1958, J. E. Thornhill had attempted to convey the 100 acres of land to Fred Rawls, reserving all mineral rights of every kind in the land. The complainants further alleged that certain other mineral deeds and other instruments had been executed by Joe Campbell and those claiming under him; and that Sun Oil Company had been engaged in drilling operations on said land and the removal of oil and minerals from said land and to the detriment of the complainants, and for which the complainants had never been paid.

The complainants further alleged that, at all times prior to the execution of the above mentioned mineral deed by Joe Campbell and his wife to H. W. Kenna [676]*676and the above mentioned deed of conveyance of the land to J.

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

Related

McNeil v. Hester
753 So. 2d 1057 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2000)
Harold G McNeil v. Linda L Hester
Mississippi Supreme Court, 1996
Leggett v. Graham
218 So. 2d 892 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1969)
Boswell v. Boswell
199 So. 2d 266 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1967)
McCaffrey v. Mills
167 So. 2d 816 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1964)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
163 So. 2d 649, 249 Miss. 670, 1964 Miss. LEXIS 425, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/campbell-v-campbell-miss-1964.