Carter v. Klein

139 So. 2d 629, 243 Miss. 627, 1962 Miss. LEXIS 386
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedApril 2, 1962
DocketNo. 42274
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 139 So. 2d 629 (Carter v. Klein) 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
Carter v. Klein, 139 So. 2d 629, 243 Miss. 627, 1962 Miss. LEXIS 386 (Mich. 1962).

Opinion

McGehee, C. J.

This is an appeal from a decree of the Chancery Court of Harrison County, Mississippi, rendered on the 31st of May 1961, dismissing an original bill of complaint which sought to declare the appellant, Edward W. Carter, to be a co-tenant and owner with the appellees, Mrs. Josephine Klein and others, of certain real property in the City of Biloxi, and seeking to cancel a tax sale made to the State of Mississippi on September 17, 1934, for the unpaid taxes on the property for the year 1933, and to also cancel a patent from the State of Mississippi to the City of Biloxi, and to require the Chancery Clerk of Harrison County to issue a redemption certificate to the appellant, who was seeking to redeem the undivided interest Of his non compos mentis sister who had died on June 4, 1958, at the East Mississippi Insane Hospital at Meridian, Mississippi, the appellant claiming to have inherited the interest of his sister in said property and asserting his right to redeem the same within two years after her death. Therefore the primary question before the Court for determination is, is the appellant entitled to redeem the undivided interest of his non compos mentis sister within the two-year period provided by Sec. 9948, of the Miss. Code 1942, Rec., following her death, where his claim of such [631]*631right is predicated on his inheritance from his said sister.

On March 19, 1904, title to said real property in the City of Biloxi passed from Mrs. Annette Emily Carter to the appellant Edward W. Carter and his seven brothers and sisters. On November 10, 1911, the appellant’s sister, Alicia W. Carter, was admitted to the East Mississippi State Hospital at Meridian, Mississippi, as an incompetent upon the certificate of two physicians and one other citizen, and she was continnonsly confined in the said hospital until the date of her death on June 4, 1958.

The property in question was sold to the State of Mississippi for the unpaid taxes thereon for the year 1933, the tax sale having been made on September 17, 1934. The State of Mississippi thereafter issued a forfeited tax land patent to the City of Biloxi, and the said City thereafter filed a suit to confirm its title to said property, and there was a petition to have a guardian ad litem appointed for the said Alicia W. Carter. In the decree rendered on said petition, the said Alicia W. Carter was adjudicated to be a person of unsound mind and her brother, Alla W. Carter, was appointed as her guardian ad litem, but we understand from the pleadings, and in the absence of proof to the contrary, that the guardian ad litem failed to qualify as such, but he was nevertheless made a party-defendant to the confirmation suit and was served with process in said cause.

Upon the trial of this cause, the chancellor made an oral ruling, which was transcribed as a part of the record in this cause, that the appellant Edward W. Carter and his brothers and sisters were parties to the confirmation suit, and that “the process on Alicia W. Carter does show endorsements on the process issued to her” as an inmate of the East Mississippi Insane Hospital, the endorsement being to the following ef[632]*632feet: “I, Dr. J. S. Hickman, Superintendent East Mississippi State Hospital, Meridian, Mississippi hereby certify that the within named Alicia W. Carter is an inmate of said institution and is incapable of responding to process. (Signed) J. S. Hickman, M. D., Superintendent. ’ ’

The chancellor further stated in his ruling the following: “Certainly I think at that time some action should have been taken to have a guardian ad litem appointed to protect that party’s interest, however, the party Complainant here who now claims to own the property of all of his brothers and sisters, including Alicia W. Carter, were parties to that (the confirmation) suit.” The chancellor then mentioned the valuable improvements that had been placed on the property by the Kleins, and held that the complainant and his brothers and sisters “are now estopped and the plea of estoppel has been invoked here — to prevail in this suit”, and he therefore dismissed the suit upon motion of the defendants therein.

We have concluded that it was error to have dismissed this suit; that although the complainant Edward W. Carter had lost his right to redeem his own interest in the land, by failing to do so within two years after the tax sale, such was not the case as to the undivided interest of non compos mentis Alicia W. Carter. We hold that her interest was inheritable and descendable, and that the complainant, Edward W. Carter, as her brother and heir-at-law, was a person interested and had the right to redeem the interest of his deceased sister in the land and that her rights, and consequently the complainant’s rights to redeem as to her undivided interest, was wholly unaffected by the confirmation suit. The chancellor, in holding that - the bill of complaint should be dismissed, based his decision primarily on the plea of estoppel, but we do not think that the non compos mentis Alicia W. Carter was [633]*633estopped to assert her rights to redeem, and that that right passed by inheritance to the complainant. See Darrington v. Rose, et al., 128 Miss. 16, 90 So. 632; Metcalfe v. Perry, 66 Miss. 68, 5 So. 232; McNamara v. Baird, 72 Miss. 89, 16 So. 384.

In Smith v. Thornton, 74 Ark. 572, 86 S. W. 1008, the Court held that where it appeared that land belonged to plaintiff’s son had been sold for nonpayment of taxes while he was insane and at his death the plaintiff’s son had not redeemed the land, the plaintiff became heir to his interest in the property. The Court further held that since an insane person had a statutory right to redeem property sold for taxes within two years after the removal of disability, and the plaintiff had inherited the right of the owner at the time of the sale, she was entitled to redeem the land within two years after the removal of disability which, in that case, was the time of the death of the insane person. This is cited from the annotation in 65 A. L. R., Right of Person Under Disability to Redeem Prom Tax Sale, p. 582.

In 51 Am. Jur., Taxation, Sec. 1106, p. 959, it is stated:

“The right or privilege of redemption from a tax sale is ordinarily granted to and may be exercised by the former owner of the forfeited land, and his successors in interest, or any other person who has a legal or equitable interest in the land. In this respect, as in other respects, the redemption statutes are liberally construed in favor of the right of redemption. The right is not personal to the owner at the time of the tax sale; while it is not an estate in land, it is a statutory privilege which passes to the heir of the owner in the same manner as the land itself. The law treats the right of redemption as an interest which the owner may convey or devise and which will pass to his heirs in case of death intestate. ’ ’

[634]*634To the same effect is 85 C. J. S., Taxation, Sec. 851, p. 223.

The complainant filed as an exhibit to his bill of complaint herein a letter received from the Chancery Clerk of Harrison County, which reads in part as follows :

“I acknowledge receipt of your letter of May 25, 1960, in which you state that you wish to redeem property sold to the State of Mississippi for taxes on September 17, 1934, described as follows:
“One lot 129 ft. front; South of Gulf, East by Bradford, North by Cemetery, and "West by Coleman.

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Bluebook (online)
139 So. 2d 629, 243 Miss. 627, 1962 Miss. LEXIS 386, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carter-v-klein-miss-1962.