Donald Breeden v. Willie Faye Breeden Buchanan

164 So. 3d 1057, 2015 Miss. App. LEXIS 45, 2015 WL 433621
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedFebruary 3, 2015
Docket2012-CA-00326-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 164 So. 3d 1057 (Donald Breeden v. Willie Faye Breeden Buchanan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Donald Breeden v. Willie Faye Breeden Buchanan, 164 So. 3d 1057, 2015 Miss. App. LEXIS 45, 2015 WL 433621 (Mich. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinions

GRIFFIS, P.J.,

for the Court:

MODIFIED OPINION ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

¶ 1. This case is before the Court on a motion for rehearing. The motion is denied. However, the original opinion is withdrawn and substituted with this opinion.

¶ 2. This case considers two questions. First, whether the circuit court properly dismissed, under Mississippi Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), the claims made by Donald Breeden against his former wife, Willie Faye Breeden Buchanan, and Na[1059]*1059tionwide Property & Casualty Insurance Company. Second, upon dismissal, whether the circuit court properly denied the plaintiffs motion for leave to amend the complaint.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 3. Breeden and Buchanan were married on June 21, 2002, in Marion County, Mississippi. During their marriage, they lived in a home located in Sandy Hook, Marion County, Mississippi. Effective May 27, 2010, Nationwide sold Breeden a homeowner’s policy that covered this home. Breeden was the named insured.

114. In July of 2010, Buchanan demanded a divorce from Breeden. Buchanan drafted a complaint for divorce, a property-settlement agreement, and a quitclaim deed. The property-settlement agre'ément and the quitclaim deed transferred Bree-den’s interest in the home to Buchanan. Breeden alleges that Buchanan threatened him with a loaded gun and said she would shoot him if he did not sign the papers. Breeden signed the complaint for divorce, the property-settlement agreement, and the quitclaim deed.

¶ 5. The joint complaint for divorce was filed on July 7, 2010, in the Chancery Court of Marion County. On October 5, 2010, Chancellor Eugene L. Fair Jr. signed the judgment of divorce. The judgment indicated that the parties had attached a property-settlement agreement.1

¶ 6. Shortly after their divorce was final, Breeden moved to Kentucky. Buchanan remarried and continued to reside in the Sandy Hook home.

¶ 7. On April 24, 2011, a fire completely destroyed the home and all of its contents. The house was a total loss. The home was covered by the Nationwide policy.

¶ 8. Nationwide received timely notice of the loss. Nationwide did not pay Bree-den for the loss. Nationwide claimed that Breeden was not due any payment under the policy of insurance because he did not have an ownership interest in the home as of April 24, 2011. Although Buchanan was not a named insured on the policy, Nationwide communicated with Buchanan about the claim and made payments to her.2

¶ 9. On August 17, 2011, Breeden filed a complaint in the Marion County Circuit Court against Buchanan and Nationwide.

¶ 10. On September 19, 2011, Buchanan filed a motion to dismiss under Mississippi Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). In the motion, Buchanan gave three reasons to dismiss the complaint. First, she asserted that the .intentional-tort claims were barred by a one-year statute of limitations. Second, she asserted that the claims that sought to set aside the property-settlement agreement were subject to the jurisdiction of the chancery court, not the circuit court. Third, she asserted that the remaining contractual claims should be dismissed because Breeden had no insurable interest in the marital home. On [1060]*1060October 18, 2011, Nationwide filed a motion to dismiss on similar grounds.

¶ 11. On November 9, 2011, Breeden filed a motion for leave to file a first amended complaint. In the amended complaint, Breeden sought to withdraw his claim that the property-settlement agreement should be set aside, add claims for battery and conversion against Buchanan, and detail more facts to support the claims against Nationwide.

¶ 12. On February 13, 2012, the circuit court entered the following order:

The court heard oral argument on various motions, and after having reviewed the pleadings on file, the motions and accompanying memoranda in support thereof, after due deliberation and consideration!;,] finds that the separate defendants’ motions to dismiss are well taken and should be granted, and [Bree-den’s] motion to file [an] amended complaint should be denied.
The court finds that the pleadings reflect no insurable interest in [Breeden] in and to the policy or to the proceeds!,] as [Breeden] transferred and conveyed his right, title, and interest in and to the insured property to his former spouse, [Buchanan], as part and parcel of their divorce proceeding and property settlement agreement, this transfer and conveyance having transpired several months before the occurrence of the loss[,] which is the subject matter of [Breeden’s] complaint.'
Finding that [Breeden] had no insurable interest in and to the property — and thus no entitlement to any of the insurance proceeds [ — ] it follows that Nationwide did not breach the insurance contract by failing to pay [Breeden] any insurance proceeds from the loss, nor [did it] act in bad faith.
[Breeden’s] complaint against the defendant included allegations of assault, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, and duress designed to induce him to sign the marital dissolution documents, property settlement agreement, and the deed conveying title to the insured property. [Breeden’s]-complaint was filed on August 17, 2011. The marital dissolution and property settlement documents and deed were signed by [Breeden] in July 2010, and [Breeden] states in his pleading that, immediately after signing the papers!,] it was demanded that he vacate the property. In response to this demand[,] he vacated the property.... It is plain from the face of the pleadings that any purported intentional tort occurred in July 2010. As [Breeden] did not file his complaint until August 17, 2011, his intentional tort claims are time[-]barred by [section] 15-1-35 [of the Mississippi Code Annotated (Rev. 2012) ].
IT IS, THEREFORE, ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that separate motions to dismiss by the separate defendants, [Nationwide] and [Buchanan,] be ... and the same are hereby GRANTED, and the Plaintiffs Complaint against the separate defendants is here- ' by dismissed with prejudice.
IT IS ALSO ... ORDERED AND ADJUDGED ... that the Plaintiffs Motion for Leave to File First Amended Complaint ... be and the same is hereby DENIED.

It is from this order that Breeden now appeals.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 13. In an appeal of a dismissal of a case under Rule 12(b)(6), we apply a de novo standard of review. Ralph Walker, Inc. v. Gallagher, 926 So.2d 890, 893 (¶ 3) (Miss.2006). This Court is “not required to defer to the trial court’s judgment or ruling.” Id. at (¶ 4). “A Rule 12(b)(6) [1061]*1061motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim tests the legal sufficiency of the complaint.” Rose v. Tullos, 994 So.2d 734, 737 (¶ 11) (Miss.2008). “[T]he allegations in the complaint must be taken as true[,] and the motion should not be granted unless it appears beyond reasonable doubt that the plaintiff will be unable to prove any set of facts in support of her claim.” State v. Bayer Corp., 32 So.3d 496, 502 (¶ 21) (Miss.2010).

¶ 14. In the appeal of the denial of a motion to amend, we apply an abuse-of-discretion standard of review. Pratt v. City of Greenville,

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Bluebook (online)
164 So. 3d 1057, 2015 Miss. App. LEXIS 45, 2015 WL 433621, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/donald-breeden-v-willie-faye-breeden-buchanan-missctapp-2015.