Henry v. Moore

9 So. 3d 1146, 2008 Miss. App. LEXIS 583, 2008 WL 4211702
Court of Appeals of Mississippi·Decided September 16, 2008·No. 2007-CA-00402-COA·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinion

BARNES, J.,

for the Court.

¶ 1. In this appeal we are called upon to determine if the chancellor was correct when he interpreted the language in a lease/option to purchase contract in favor of the lessees John Stuart Moore and Karen J. Moore (collectively, the Moores). The appellants, Michael S. Henry, James N. Henry, William Henry, Larry H. Henry, and David N. Henry (collectively, the Henrys), are the nephews of the lessor, George F. Henry, Jr. (George). The Hen-rys argue that ambiguous language in the lease/purchase contract regarding maintenance of certain structures on the property should be constructed in their favor, thus voiding the agreement with the Moores and allowing a quitclaim deed to the property to them from their uncle to become effective. The Moores filed suit for specific performance of the lease/purchase contract and to cancel the quitclaim deed to the Henrys as a cloud upon the Moores’ title. The chancellor interpreted the contract in favor of the Moores. He ordered specific performance requiring title to the property to be conveyed to the Moores in exchange for their payment of the $15,000 contract purchase price to the Henrys. From this decision, the Henrys appeal.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2. John Moore, a Starkville attorney, sought to buy some land in the Bradley community in the western part of Oktib-beha County. After researching the land records, he found that George Henry of Cookeville, Tennessee was the owner of an eighty-acre plot of land in the area where Moore wanted to buy. In January 1989, Moore wrote George about a possible purchaser of George’s Mississippi property. George responded that Moore had not supplied him with the name of the potential purchaser and that he did not want to sell the whole tree farm, but only a strip off the west side, “not even half the acreage.” George addressed the correspondence to “Cousin Stuart” as the two were distantly related. In October 1989, Moore decided he was interested in the land and called George about it. As it turned out, George was also a lawyer, but of advanced years. 1 Moore testified that the two agreed to a ten-year lease of the land with an option to buy the land for $15,000 at the end of the term. The agreed lease price was $4 an acre for a total of $320 per year. Moore testified that $4 an acre was the “going rate” at the time for a hunting lease. The *1149 two also agreed that Moore would pay George’s property tax on the leased property each year. Moore said that George told him that he (George) would prepare a proposal on “what he would be willing to do on the rest of the terms and send it to me, which he did.” Moore and his wife signed the document changing only Moore’s name, which George had typed as “John Paul Moore” who was Moore’s father. In its place he wrote his name “John Stuart Moore” and returned it to George for his and his wife’s signatures. Moore also sent the first payment of $320 with the document. George returned the executed document to Moore who recorded it on November 15, 1990, in the Oktibbeha County Chancery Clerk’s office. Moore testified that prior to the agreement he had never been on the land.

¶ 3. The agreement, styled “LAND LEASE FOR HUNTING, FISHING & RENTALS ALONG WITH AN OPTION TO PURCHASE,” read as follows:

For and in consideration of the price of Four Dollars per acre, a total of 80 acres totaling $320.00 per year; and the Vendees assuming the responsibility of one (1) log cabin, one (1) law office, and one (1) bam lying on the herein after described land-, we the undersigned Vendors do hereby and by these evidences lease the following described land situation in Bradley, Oktibbeha County, Mississippi to wit:
[A legal description of the 80 acres] to attorney, John Stuart Moore, and wife, Karen J. Moore.
This lease of the land, tenements, and hereditaments of the above described land is restricted as follows:
1. Vendees have full hunting and. fishing rights thereon.
2. Vendees have full use of the natural resources of said land to make improvements thereon to grow and market, or use for their personal benefits any game, fish, or domestic stock. They can sell no timber or trees to the open market.
3. Vendees shall pay advalorem taxes on said land for the duration of the lease.
4. Growing and standing timber and all mineral rights shall remain as the property of the Vendors.
5. John Stuart Moore and wife, Karen J. Moore, are here granted an option to purchase said land via a warranty deed on or after October 1, 1999 at a price of Fifteen thousand and no/100 dollars ($15,000.00). (Tax assessor’s true value of said tract of land was $14, 904.00 on vendor’s tax receipt for 1988 advalorem taxes); and vendors here agree that they will sell said property to no other entity or persons before October 1,1999.
6. This contract shall be [ejnforceable against vendors’ executor or administrator of their respective estates and all rights hereunder extend to the legal heirs of the vendees under the Descent and Distribution Laws of the State of Mississippi, of the United States of America.
This document is made in duplicate, each deemed to be an original.
This the 1st Day of October, 1989.

(Emphasis added.)

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Henry v. Moore, 9 So. 3d 1146, 2008 Miss. App. LEXIS 583, 2008 WL 4211702 (Mich. Ct. App. 2008).

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