Jacks v. Woods

753 So. 2d 1043, 2000 Miss. LEXIS 25
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 10, 2000
DocketNo. 1999-CA-00200-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 753 So. 2d 1043 (Jacks v. Woods) 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
Jacks v. Woods, 753 So. 2d 1043, 2000 Miss. LEXIS 25 (Mich. 2000).

Opinion

SMITH, Justice,

for the Court:

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

¶ 1. Hully A. Grubbs died intestate on February 6, 1996, leaving as survivors the Appellees, Velma Wood, Esther Campbell and Mary Alice Grubbs Thomas. Appellants Freddy Gene Jacks and Joan Jacks Brogdon, who claim to be the illegitimate twin children of Hully Grubbs, filed a Petition to Determine Heirship on May 2, 1996, in the Chancery Court of Montgomery County, Mississippi. The trial commenced before the Honorable Dennis M. Baker, Chancery Judge, on October 14, 1997. Judge Baker found that Velma Wood, Esther Campbell and Mary Alice Grubbs Thomas are the sole heirs-at-law of Hully Grubbs, deceased. Final judgment was entered on January 11, 1999, and the Appellants timely filed a notice of appeal on February 1, 1999. They request that this Court reverse the finding of the chancery court and render a decision in " favor of the Appellants, or, alternatively, that this Court remand this case to the chancery court for a new trial.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

¶ 2. Hully A. Grubbs was born on July 2, 1910, and lived in Montgomery County, Mississippi, until the age of 85. He married Mae Box on September 16, 1939, and they lived together until her death in September 1995. Hully Grubbs and Mae Box Grubbs had no children. Hully Grubbs died intestate on February 6, 1996. He left the following survivors: two sisters, Velma Wood and Esther Campbell, and a niece, Mary Alice Grubbs Thomas.

¶ 3. The administrator of the estate, Rodney Mortimer, employed John Sumner as attorney for the estate, which is valued at approximately $350,000. Shortly after the estate was opened, it came to the attention of Sumner that Hully Grubbs might have children born out of wedlock. In his effort to determine rightful beneficiaries of the estate, Sumner inquired into the matter. Sumner’s inquiry revealed the possibility that the Appellants, Gene Jacks and Joan Jacks Brogden, fraternal twins, are the children of Hully Grubbs.

¶ 4. The twins were born, out of wedlock, to Mattie Jacks on December 24, 1937, and were adopted by the brother of Mattie Jacks, Jimmy Lee Jacks, and his wife, Nora Jacks, on August 1, 1938. The twins were raised by their adoptive parents in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Gene Jacks and Joan Jacks Brogden filed a Petition to Determine Heirship on May 2, 1996, alleging that they are the children of [1046]*1046Hully Grubbs and should therefore inherit the estate to the exclusion of Velma Wood, Esther Campbell and Mary Alice Grubbs. At the time of the hearing before the chancery court, the twins were approaching their sixtieth birthday.

¶ 5. The body of Hully Grubbs was exhumed for the purpose of DNA analysis. Samples were collected and submitted to two independent testing labs, GenTest of New Orleans, Louisiana, and Genetic Design of Greensboro, North Carolina. The evidence presented at trial consisted of sixty years of rumor and gossip, plus the results of the genetic tests, which revealed a probability of paternity with regard to Gene Jacks of 83.7% and a probability with regard to Joan Jacks of 71.97%. Generally, the rumor and gossip went as follows. In 1937, Mattie Jacks sent a letter to Hully Grubbs stating that she was pregnant and requesting money. She allegedly sent like letters to four other men, namely, Allen Holiman, Sam Gardner, Jessie Kilgore, and Pete Sumner. Hully Grubbs showed the letter to his sister, Velma Wood. Hully Grubbs allegedly offered to marry Mattie Jacks, but she refused, stating she wanted only financial assistance. The specifics of the testimony are discussed in detail below. The only witnesses at the bench trial who were contemporaries of the events surrounding the birth of the twins were Velma Wood, the sister of Hully Grubbs, who testified by deposition, the parties having stipulated to her unavailability, and Lottie Grubbs, the sister-in-law of Hully Grubbs. All other witnesses related only rumor and gossip.

¶ 6. The chancellor found that Velma Wood, Esther Campbell and Mary Alice Grubbs Thomas are the sole heirs-at-law of Hully Grubbs, deceased. In his final opinion and order, the chancellor adopted, verbatim, the findings of fact and conclusions of law prepared by George W. Weaver, attorney for Velma Wood and Esther Campbell. From this ruling, Gene Jacks and Joan Jacks Brogdon appeal, raising the following issue:

THE CHANCERY COURT ERRED IN FINDING THAT FREDDY GENE JACKS AND JOAN JACKS BROG-DON ARE NOT THE BIOLOGICAL CHILDREN OF HULLY GRUBBS.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 7. This Court will not disturb findings of fact made by a chancellor unless those findings are manifestly wrong or clearly erroneous. Bank of Mississippi v. Hollingsworth, 609 So.2d 422, 424 (Miss. 1992) (citing Smith v. Dorsey, 599 So.2d 529 (Miss.1992); Bowers Window & Door Co. v. Dearman, 549 So.2d 1309 (Miss. 1989)). This Court must affirm a chancellor on a question of fact unless, upon review of the record, it is “left with the firm and definite view that a mistake has been made.” Rice Researchers, Inc. v. Hiter, 512 So.2d 1259, 1264 (Miss.1987) (citations omitted). The factual findings of a chancellor will be affirmed if this Court finds substantial evidence supporting the findings. Brooks v. Brooks, 652 So.2d 1113, 1117-18 (Miss.1995) (citing Lenoir v. Lenoir, 611 So.2d 200, 203 (Miss.1992); Tedford v. Dempsey, 437 So.2d 410, 417 (Miss.1983)).

¶ 8. Unfortunately, in the case sub judiee, the chancellor failed to make his own findings of fact and conclusions of law. Rather, the chancellor adopted, verbatim, the findings of fact and conclusions of law prepared by George Weaver, attorney for Velma Woods and Esther Campbell. This Court has explained that such findings “are not the same as findings independently made by the trial judge after impartially and judiciously sifting through the conflicts and nuances of the trial testimony and exhibits.” Rice Researchers, 512 So.2d at 1265. Where the chancellor adopts, verbatim, findings of fact and conclusions of law prepared by a party to the litigation, this Court analyzes such findings with greater care, and the evidence is subjected to heightened scrutiny. Brooks at 1118 (citing Omnibank of Mantee v. United S. Bank, 607 So.2d 76, [1047]*104783 (Miss.1992); In re Estate of Ford, 552 So.2d 1065, 1068 (Miss.1989)).

¶ 9. The Appellants submit that this Court should review this matter de novo. While, as noted above, the deference normally afforded the chancellor’s findings of fact is lessened, this Court will not review this case de novo. As this Court explained in Rice Researchers, though the deference afforded the findings of fact is lessened, where the chancellor is of the view that, over all, the Appellees had “the better of the battle ..., [t]hat determination is entitled to deference, though sensibly not as much as in the ordinary case.” Rice Researchers at 1265. This Court must view the challenged findings and the record as a whole “with a more critical eye to ensure that the trial court has adequately performed its judicial function.” Id. (citations omitted).

¶ 10. The Appellants also argue that this Court should utilize a de novo standard of review because the chancellor erroneously applied an incorrect legal standard. Where an action is brought to establish paternity and the putative father is deceased at the time of the action, paternity must be proven by clear and convincing evidence. Miss.Code Ann.

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

Related

City of Jackson v. Presley
40 So. 3d 578 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2009)
Zumwalt v. Jones County Board of Supervisors
19 So. 3d 672 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2009)
Caspelich v. Loew
22 So. 3d 1199 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2009)
University of Mississippi v. Johnson
977 So. 2d 1145 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2007)
In Re Estate of Grubbs
753 So. 2d 1043 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2000)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
753 So. 2d 1043, 2000 Miss. LEXIS 25, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jacks-v-woods-miss-2000.