Huggins v. Wright

774 So. 2d 408, 2000 WL 1864822
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 21, 2000
Docket97-CA-00472-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 774 So. 2d 408 (Huggins v. Wright) 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
Huggins v. Wright, 774 So. 2d 408, 2000 WL 1864822 (Mich. 2000).

Opinion

774 So.2d 408 (2000)

Johnny HUGGINS and Judy Ragle Huggins
v.
Tommy WRIGHT and Wanda Wright.

No. 97-CA-00472-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

December 21, 2000.

*409 John A. Ferrell, P.A., Booneville, Attorney for Appellants.

Joey M. Cobb, Iuka, Attorney for Appellees.

Before PRATHER, C.J., MILLS AND COBB, JJ.

COBB, Justice, for the Court:

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

¶ 1. Johnny and Judy Ragle Huggins filed a complaint requesting the Tishomingo County Chancery Court to establish the boundary line between their property and the adjacent property owned by Tommy and Wanda Wright. The complaint also requested that the court establish an easement across the Wrights' property for ingress/egress by the Hugginses and for utilities. The court found that the Hugginses were entitled to an easement by necessity for ingress/egress and utilities, and that it should be 25 feet in width and located in the old roadway which then existed across the Wrights' property. The court further found that if the Wrights determined that the existing roadway location was onerous and objectionable, the Wrights had the option to relocate the easement to a place of their choosing, entirely at their expense. The court denied all other relief requested.

¶ 2. Although they agreed with the grant of the easement, the Hugginses appealed to this Court from the chancery court's decision, presenting the following two issues for our consideration:

I. WHETHER OR NOT THE CHANCELLOR ERRED IN ALLOWING THE APPELLEES THE OPTION OF RELOCATING THE EASEMENT FROM WHERE IT HAD BEEN FOR MANY DECADES.
II. WHETHER OR NOT THE CHANCELLOR ERRED IN FAILING *410 TO AWARD APPELLANTS DAMAGES FROM APPELLEES FOR THE INTENTIONAL INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS AND ATTORNEY'S FEES.

¶ 3. The Wrights agreed that the Hugginses are entitled to an easement but filed a cross-appeal objecting to the location, size and purpose of the easement, and to the location of the boundary line. The four issues presented for our review on cross-appeal have been combined into one, as follows:

III. WHETHER OR NOT THE CHANCELLOR'S DECISION REGARDING THE LOCATION, SIZE, AND PURPOSE OF THE EASEMENT AND THE LOCATION OF THE SECTION LINE WAS CONTRARY TO LAW AND AGAINST THE OVERWHELMING WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE PRESENTED.

¶ 4. Finding no error, we affirm the chancellor's decision.

STATEMENT OF THE FACTS

¶ 5. The Wrights and the Hugginses are owners of certain adjacent tracts of land located in Tishomingo County, Mississippi. The Wrights acquired their five acre tract two months after the Hugginses' 110 acre tract was acquired. The Wrights acknowledged that the Hugginses would need an easement. However, when the local power company required the Hugginses to have a written and recorded utility easement 40 feet wide in order to supply electrical power to the Hugginses' tract of land, the Wrights refused to grant the easement because they did not like the location and size of the 40 foot easement. The Hugginses had understood that the easement would be for ingress/egress and utilities, and that it would be located over the old road bed that had been used for many years to get in and out of the Hugginses' tract. The Wrights offered to relocate the easement but the Hugginses declined to accept the offer. After the Wrights refused to grant the easement across the old roadway, the Hugginses had the electrical service line run across the property of another adjoining neighbor. At the time of trial, the Hugginses still did not have water to their home because the Wrights refused to grant the easement.

¶ 6. The Wrights also contested the location of the section line between the two properties. Tommy Wright testified that the section line was approximately 90 feet north of where the licensed professional engineer and surveyor had located it.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 7. In appeals from the chancery court, this Court's scope of review is limited. This Court "will not disturb the findings of a chancellor unless he is manifestly wrong or clearly erroneous, or an erroneous legal standard was applied." Weeks v. Thomas, 662 So.2d 581, 583 (Miss.1995) (citing Jordon v. Warren, 602 So.2d 809, 812 (Miss.1992)). "When a chancellor's findings are supported by substantial credible evidence in the record this Court will not reverse." Id.

DISCUSSION

I. WHETHER OR NOT THE CHANCELLOR ERRED IN ALLOWING THE APPELLEES THE OPTION OF RELOCATING THE EASEMENT FROM WHERE IT HAD BEEN FOR MANY DECADES.

¶ 8. "An easement may be acquired by express grant, implied grant (implication), or prescription, which presupposes a grant to have existed." Dethlefs v. Beau Maison Dev. Corp., 511 So.2d 112, 116 (Miss.1987). An easement by necessity arises by implied grant when a part of a commonly-owned tract of land is severed in such a way that either portion of the property has been rendered inaccessible except by passing over the other portion or by trespassing on the lands of another. Taylor v. Hays, 551 So.2d 906, 908 (Miss.1989). The fact that the dominant *411 and servient estates originated from the severance of a "commonly-owned tract of land" is undisputed in the present case. The parties agree that the Hugginses are entitled to an easement by necessity across the Wrights' five acre tract.

¶ 9. An easement by necessity requires no written conveyance because it is a vested right for successive holders of the dominant tenement and remains binding on successive holders of the servient tenement. See Broadhead v. Terpening, 611 So.2d 949, 954 (Miss.1992) (implication that the owner of the larger tract would not want to create a landlocked parcel by conveying an interior portion, so it is conveyed whether described or not when the dominant estate is deeded; easements by necessity run with the land and are deeded with each conveyance regardless of description). See also Pitts v. Foster, 743 So.2d 1066, 1068 (Miss.Ct.App.1999).

A "way of necessity" is an "easement" arising from an implied grant or implied reservation, and it is the result of the application of the principle that whenever a person conveys property, he conveys whatever is necessary for the beneficial use of that property, and retains whatever is necessary for the beneficial use of the land he still possesses. (citations omitted)
In Lindsey v. Shaw, 210 Miss. 333, 340, 49 So.2d 580, 584 (1950), this Court held:
Where private right of way exists, the owners of the dominant and servient tenements must each use the way in such a manner as not to interfere with one another's utilization thereof. Feld v. Young Men's Hebrew Association, 208 Miss. 451, 458, 44 So.2d 538 [1950].

Rowell v. Turnage, 618 So.2d 81, 86 (Miss. 1993).

¶ 10. The facts of this case are analogous to the facts found in Taylor v. Hays, 551 So.2d 906 (Miss.1989). In Taylor, this Court affirmed the lower court's decree which allowed a substituted easement to be provided according to the order of the court and at the expense of the holder of the servient tenement who requested that the easement be relocated. Id. at 909-10. The Court found that the holders of the dominant tenement had an easement by necessity, arising by implication, and had not provided any evidence that would indicate that a loss, decrease in value, or even inconvenience would be incurred by a substitution or relocation of the easement. Id.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Matthews, M. v. Teslovich, G.
Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2016
Scott M. Favre v. Jourdan River Estates, LLC
148 So. 3d 361 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2014)
Regan v. Pomerleau, DeForest Realty, Inc. and City of Burlington
2014 VT 99 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 2014)
Asbury MS Gray-Daniels, L.L.C. v. Daniels
812 F. Supp. 2d 771 (S.D. Mississippi, 2011)
Threlkeld v. Sisk
992 So. 2d 1232 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2008)
Harris v. Harris
988 So. 2d 376 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2008)
Daley v. Hughes
4 So. 3d 364 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2008)
Vertex Holdings, LLC v. Cranke
2009 OK CIV APP 10 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 2008)
Tomecek v. Bavas
740 N.W.2d 323 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2007)
Wise v. Kansas City Life Insurance
433 F. Supp. 2d 743 (N.D. Mississippi, 2006)
Ingalls Shipbuilding v. Federal Insurance Co, et a
410 F.3d 214 (Fifth Circuit, 2005)
Kennedy v. Anderson
881 So. 2d 340 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2004)
Vinoski v. Plummer
893 So. 2d 239 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2004)
Leaf River Forest Products, Inc. v. Rowell
819 So. 2d 1281 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2002)
Dieck v. Landry
796 So. 2d 1004 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2001)
Prenties B. Dieck v. Preston D. Landry, Sr.
Mississippi Supreme Court, 2000

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
774 So. 2d 408, 2000 WL 1864822, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/huggins-v-wright-miss-2000.