Haygood v. First Nat. Bank of New Albany

517 So. 2d 553, 1987 WL 2110
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 25, 1987
Docket57250
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 517 So. 2d 553 (Haygood v. First Nat. Bank of New Albany) 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
Haygood v. First Nat. Bank of New Albany, 517 So. 2d 553, 1987 WL 2110 (Mich. 1987).

Opinion

517 So.2d 553 (1987)

Paul HAYGOOD and Blanche W. Haygood
v.
FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF NEW ALBANY, Mississippi.

No. 57250.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

November 25, 1987.
Rehearing Denied January 13, 1988.

*554 Duncan Lott, Booneville, for appellants.

Roger H. McMillin, Jr., Sumners, Carter, Trout & McMillin, New Albany, for appellee.

Before ROY NOBLE LEE, C.J., and ROBERTSON and GRIFFIN, JJ.

ROY NOBLE LEE, Chief Justice, for the Court:

Paul L. Haygood and Blanche W. Haygood, husband and wife, appeal from a judgment of the Circuit Court of Union County, Mississippi, entered against them and in favor of First National Bank of New Albany, Mississippi, in the amount of one hundred thirty thousand seven hundred thirty-seven dollars seventeen cents ($130,737.17) with interest, and five thousand dollars ($5,000) attorney's fees, deficiency on two promissory notes, after a foreclosure sale. The appellants have assigned three errors in the trial below.

Facts

On October 12, 1984, the appellants executed two notes to First National Bank of New Albany, one in the amount of two hundred forty-one thousand, four hundred eighteen dollars ninety-seven cents ($241,418.97), and the other in the amount of sixteen thousand two hundred fifty-one dollars thirteen cents ($16,251.13). Both notes were due on November 26, 1984. They were secured by a deed of trust executed by the appellants and their son, who owned an undivided interest in a parcel of the land, covering 347.5 acres in Lee County.

The appellants failed to pay the notes by the due date, and the appellee cooperated with appellants for several months while they sought refinancing of the notes through FHA. Appellants were unable to obtain an FHA loan, and, on April 9, 1985, appellee foreclosed on the deed of trust. The foreclosure sale was conducted by appellee's attorney at the Lee County Courthouse, where appellee was the only bidder and bought the land for one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000). At the time of foreclosure, principal and interest due on the notes totalled two hundred seventy-five thousand, four hundred fifty-nine dollars eighty-seven cents ($275,459.87), in addition to trustees' fees of five thousand two hundred seventy-seven dollars thirty cents ($5,277.30). After crediting the $150,000 foreclosure proceeds to the appellants' debt, appellee had a deficiency of $130,737.17. On April 10, 1985, appellee filed suit in the Circuit Court of Union County to recover the deficiency.

Appellee's principal offices are in Union County, and the notes provided that they were due and payable at the principal offices or any branch office of the appellee. Also, appellee amended its complaint to seek a writ of attachment on certain property of the appellants.

Appellants answered with a general denial of the allegations of the complaint and filed affirmative defenses, setting out the following:

(1) Venue was improper;
(2) Writ of attachment was improperly issued;
(3) Deed of trust was fraudulent obtained by appellee;
(4) Notes were not in default at the time of foreclosure; and
(5) Appellee's $150,000 foreclosure bid was insufficient.

Appellants filed a counterclaim for one million dollars ($1,000,000) in actual damages and two million dollars ($2,000,000) in punitive damages.

*555 Discovery consisted of the depositions of appellants, their son, and the president of the appellee bank.

I.

THE LOWER COURT ERRED IN GRANTING THE APPELLEE'S

MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON ALL ISSUES.

The appellants contend (a) that the debt sued upon by the bank was not in default and was not due by the appellants. They contend that appellee's action in cooperating with appellants in order to permit them time to seek FHA financing constituted an extension of the notes' due dates, i.e., forbearance. However, the record reflects that the notes on their face were due November 26, 1984, and appellee informed appellants on January 15, 1985, that, if the notes were not paid by February 1, 1985, appellee would foreclose.

In Hattiesburg Production Credit Ass'n v. Smith, 191 Miss. 119, 1 So.2d 768 (1941), the creditor's agent gratuitously agreed to extend the due date of a delinquent note. The Court held that an agreement to extend payment, in order to be binding, must be supported by sufficient consideration. 191 Miss. at 126, 1 So.2d at 769. There being no consideration under those facts, the debt was past due, the creditor's agent made no promises, and any forbearance was "mere indefinite indulgence." 191 Miss. at 129, 1 So.2d at 770. This Court held that the creditor was entitled to a peremptory instruction on the indebtedness.

There is no merit in this contention.

The appellants next contend (b) that the bank fraudulently included one hundred (100) acres of land in the deed of trust foreclosed upon. Appellants claim that a parcel of land designated as "Parcel A" was not given as security for the notes. Their signatures appear along the left margin of each page of the trust deed's property description, including the page describing "Parcel A." Appellants denied having signed these pages but admitted that the signatures appear genuine. Their fraud theory is that appellee somehow caused the signatures to be placed on the three pages without appellants' knowledge or consent. The theory is not developed by appellants in the record or in their brief.

In Martin v. Winfield, 455 So.2d 762, 764 (Miss. 1984), the Court set forth a strict test for proof of fraud:

The elements of a claim or defense of fraud in this state are well established. They include: (1) a representation, (2) its falsity, (3) its materiality, (4) the speaker's knowledge of its falsity or ignorance of its truth, (5) his intent that it should be acted upon by the person and in the manner reasonably contemplated, (6) the hearer's ignorance of its falsity, (7) his reliance on its truth, (8) his right to rely thereon, and (9) his consequent and proximate injury.

455 So.2d at 764 (Citations omitted) Considering the clear and convincing standard of proof for fraud, the Court noted that the question is not whether the Court thought appellant was defrauded, but whether the evidence of fraud was so clear that no hypothetical reasonable juror hearing the proof could conclude otherwise.

In Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986), Liberty Lobby sued Anderson for libel. There, libelous statements involved public figures, and, therefore, plaintiff had the burden to show actual malice by clear and convincing evidence. Defendant obtained summary judgment in District Court, which judgment was reversed by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals holding that the trial judge, in deciding the motion for summary judgment, erred by taking into account the standard of proof (clear and convincing) required of plaintiff. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Circuit Court holding that "in ruling on a motion for summary judgment, the judge must view the evidence presented through the prism of the substantive evidentiary burden." 477 U.S. at ___, 106 S.Ct. at 2513, 91 L.Ed.2d at 215. The Court further said:

Consequently, where the New York Times [Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
517 So. 2d 553, 1987 WL 2110, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/haygood-v-first-nat-bank-of-new-albany-miss-1987.