Fulgham v. Burnett

117 So. 514, 151 Miss. 111, 1928 Miss. LEXIS 288
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJune 11, 1928
DocketNo. 26956.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 117 So. 514 (Fulgham v. Burnett) 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
Fulgham v. Burnett, 117 So. 514, 151 Miss. 111, 1928 Miss. LEXIS 288 (Mich. 1928).

Opinion

*124 McGowen, J.

Appellant, Mrs. Allie Heard Fulgham, complainant in the court below, prosecutes the appeal here from a decree of the chancery court sustaining the demurrers to the bill of complaint filed by Mrs. Olivia Burnett et al. and the Federal Land Bank. The court below granted an appeal to settle the principles of the case.

The facts and essential allegations of the bill are conceded to be as followk:

“The appellant, Mrs. Allie Heard Fulgham, filed her bill of complaint in the chancery court of the Second judicial district of Hinds county, Miss., against the appellees, in which complainant charges that she is the daughter of Cicero Heard and his deceased wife,-Yancie L. Heard, the latter departing this life some time prior to the 16th day of February, 1903, and that complainant and a sister, Ruby Heard, were the sole heirs at law of their deceased mother, Yancie L, Heard. That Yancie L. Heard, at the time of her death, was seized and possessed, in fee simple, of a one-fourth undivided interest in certain land described in the bill of complaint, and that complainant and her minor sister, upon the death *125 of their mother, became seized and possessed of a ónetwelfth undivided interest each in the lands mentioned; that Ruby Heard, a sister of complainant, later married one John Carmichael; that, after Ruby’s marriage to John Carmichael, she died, leaving her husband, John Carmichael, as her sole heir at law, who became vested with the title of his departed wife to a one-twelfth interest in the lands mentioned, and that, some time in the month of December, 1926, John Carmichael conveyed his onertwelfth interest in said lands to complainant. The bill then alleges that, on the date of filing same, complainant was vested with a complete legal and equitable title to a one-sixth interest in the lands described in the bill of complaint. The bill of complaint further alleges that on the 11th day of March, 1896, Cicero Heard and his wife, Yancie L. Heard, the father and mother of complainant, executed a deed of trust to J. N. Carpenter & Co., to secure a note and indebtedness in the sum of three thousand nine hundred seventy-one dollars and fifty-six cents, due and payable on or before the 1st day of December, 1896, and that the said deed of' trust embraced all of the above-mentioned lands as security for said indebtedness. That on the 16th day of February, 1903, the trustee named in the deed of trust attempted to sell all of the said land to satisfy a small balance alleged to have been due on the said note and deed of trhst, and that the trustee executed a trustee’s deed to Dr. E. J. Burnett,, in which the sum of one thousand eight hundred dollars was recited as being the consideration paid by Dr. E. J. Burnett at the trustee’s sale.
“The bill of complaint then alleges that Dr. Burnett unlawfully conspired and entered into collusion with Cicero Heard for certain considerations agreed to refrain from appearing and bidding on the land when the same was to be sold at the trustee ’s sale. The bill alleges that Dr. E. J. Burnett, in consideration of Cicero Heard not bidding on said land at said sale, and permitting Dr. *126 E. J. Burnett to buy said land at a- recited consideration of one thousand eight hundred dollars — that Dr. Burnett was to convey, and did convey, to Cicero Heard’s wife, Sallie, whom the latter had married after the death of his first wife, Yancie L. Heard, for the benefit of Cicero Heard, a tract of land consisting of one hundred sixty acres at a recited consideration of two thousand eight hundred fifty dollars, but charg'es that the consideration, as a matter of fact was never paid, and that the conveyance to Sallie Heard was made to her as trustee for the benefit of Cicero Heard, and that Sallie Heard sold said land, and that all of the consideration paid for said land was paid to Cicero Heard. The bill then alleges that on the 14th day of February, 1903, Dr. Burnett approached T. IT. Heard, the brother of complainant, and secured from him a quitclaim deed to this land, for which he paid the said Heard one hundred fifty dollars. This transaction was had four days before the date of the trustee’s sale at which Dr. E. J. Burnett became the purchaser of all of this land. The bill alleges that the one hundred fifty dollars paid T. H. Heard was in consideration of the said T. H. Heard refraining from bidding on the said land at the trustee’s sale.
“The bill also alleges that, at the time of the trustee’s sale, the complainant and her sister, Buby, were both minors of tender years. The bill also alleges that, at the time of the trustee’s deed to Dr. E.-J. Burnett, of date, of February 16, 1903, was void, and conveyed no title because the note secured by the deed of trust under which the attempted sale was made was barred by the six-year statute of limitations, that both the right and the remedy to tsell under the said deed of trust were barred and extinguished.
“Then, in detail, the bill charges that complainant has never parted title, by deed of conveyance or otherwise, to her interest in the lands inherited from her mother, that she has never acquiesced in the possession or con *127 veyances to Dr. E. J. Burnett or his vendees, nor, in any wise, ratified or confirmed said trustee’s sale and trustee’s deed thereunder. The bill charges further that, on the 1st day of May, 192d, Dr. Burnett undertook to convey these lands that he had bought at the alleged trustee’s sale to his wife, Mrs. Olivia Burnett, but charges that the conveyance was without consideration, and that, at the time the same was made, Mrs. Olivia Burnett had actual knowledge of all of the infirmities and defects with which the said trustee’s deed was affected, that she had actual knowledge of the fraudulent manner in which Dr. E. J. Burnett, her husband, had acquired title to these lands, and that she was n-ot an innocent purchaser, for value, without notice. The bill of complaint specifically charges that each and all of the'fraudulent acts set out were had and done with a common understanding that it was for the purpose of vesting the apparent legal title in Dr. E. J. Burnett and his assigns for the purpose of defeating the rights and title of complainant and her minor sister of their interest in these lands. The bill of complaint alleges that Dr. E. J. Burnett and Olivia Burnett executed and delivered to the Federal Land Bank of New Orleans, La., a deed of trust on said lands to secure an indebtedness to said bank, and, while the bill of complaint charges that the deed of trust to the bank was void, the complainant does not resist the right of the bank to subject five-sixths interest in said land to the payment of the indebtedness due the bank by the Burnetts.”

The appellant assigns as error the action of the court in sustaining the demurrers, and asserts that the foregoing facts set up a case in equity which entitled the complainant to relief.

•Counsel for complainant, appellant here, frankly concedes that the one-twelfth interest of Buby Heard Carmichael, convened to complainant just before the filing of this suit by the husband of Mrs. Carmichael, was and *128

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Related

Saunders v. Berrong
183 So. 2d 637 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1966)
Bishop v. Fulgham
128 So. 347 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1930)

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Bluebook (online)
117 So. 514, 151 Miss. 111, 1928 Miss. LEXIS 288, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fulgham-v-burnett-miss-1928.