James v. Mabus

574 So. 2d 596, 1990 WL 257417
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 12, 1990
Docket07-CA-59244
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 574 So. 2d 596 (James v. Mabus) 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
James v. Mabus, 574 So. 2d 596, 1990 WL 257417 (Mich. 1990).

Opinion

574 So.2d 596 (1990)

I.C. JAMES
v.
Terry C. MABUS and Leslie Mabus.

No. 07-CA-59244.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

December 12, 1990.

*598 Trent L. Howell, Water Valley, for appellant.

J. Terry Peeples, Coffeeville, for appellees.

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

SULLIVAN, Justice, for the Court:

As Chief Justice Lee aptly wrote in Strong v. Bostick, 420 So.2d 1356 (Miss. 1982):

Many men, including this writer, feel that a person who has never seen squirrels jump from limb to limb in the deep swamp on a frosty Fall morning; or has never heard a wild turkey gobble in April or seen him strut during mating season; or has never watched a deer bound through the woods and fields, or heard a pack of hounds run a fox, or tree a coon (racoon); or has never hunted the rabbit, or flushed a covey of quail ahead of a pointed bird dog; or has never angled for bass or caught bream on a light line and rod, or taken catfish from a trotline and limb hook; has never lived.

420 So.2d at 1364.

Just as many hunters are impassioned with the beauty of the woods and wildlife and with the challenge of the hunt, so farmers and landowners also often feel strong bonds to their land. To these landowners and farmers, persons who have never tilled the soil and felt its richness in their hands; or have never watched the daily growth of crops as they matured from seeds; or have never wondered whether their seemingly endless hours of work would result in an abundant harvest; or have never observed cattle and horses giving birth; or have never laughed at the awkwardness of the newborn foal; have never lived.

Today's case is of public interest to hunters, farmers and landowners. Clashes between the two, though infrequent, are unavoidable. Not infrequently hunters track deer in areas close to farmers or landowners' property. Hunters have a right to take deer in season and to use dogs to hunt deer in certain areas, but they are not free to act irresponsibly. Moreover, they are not free to trespass on land owned by others and they are responsible for the consequences thereof. Today's decision in no way should be taken as an advocation by this Court in favor of either group. The occurrence was unfortunate and should the facts have been slightly different the outcome could easily have favored the other party.

Leslie, a/k/a Buddy, Mabus lives on a farm where he and his son, Terry Mabus, raise Walker dogs which they use to track and run deer. On the morning of November 29, 1985, Terry Mabus and his father, Leslie, a/k/a Buddy, Mabus planning to hunt deer turned their Walker dogs loose approximately two hundred yards north of Buddy's dog pen. The dogs jumped a deer[1] and headed north towards I.C. James' property, which is approximately two miles from where the dogs were turned loose.

James had his land posted and Buddy Mabus knew James did not allow hunting on his land. At least two of their dogs ran onto James' land. The only eyewitness to *599 the events which occurred after that was James, who testified that as he stopped to open the gate to his pasture, he heard hunting dogs south of his place heading east. He listened for five or ten minutes and then saw his geese flying across his lake and heard his ducks making noise. He grabbed his rifle from behind his truck seat, pointed it out the window of the truck and drove through his pasture to the lake where he saw two Walker hounds attacking his ducks. The dogs had killed two Mallard drakes and had caught two hens. James shot at them, but did not know whether he hit them because they ran off. James followed the dogs until they left his property.

Terry testified that he had stopped approximately a half a mile east of James' place and was listening to the dogs running toward the road when he heard the shots, then he heard only silence. Wondering about the sudden quiet Terry drove to a red gate to James' property where he believed he had last heard the dogs. James came to the gate and told Terry he had shot the dogs. Terry asked what the dogs were doing, and James said, "They were on my land." A short time later Terry found one of the dogs near the red gate nervous and shaking. Three days later another dog returned to Mabus' with three pellet shots in his hip. Two dogs never returned.

Buddy testified that he also heard the dogs as they crossed onto James' land. Seconds after they crossed, he heard shots and then silence. After Buddy learned the dogs had been shot, he met Terry at James' house. James told Buddy he shot the dogs because they were on his land. He made no statement at that time that the dogs had attacked his ducks or geese. James did say that the dogs were in a bad way when he left them and that there was no need for them to look for the dogs on his land because he followed them until they left of his property.

At trial James denied telling either Terry or Buddy that he left the dogs in a bad way or anything to that effect. Further, James failed to mention to either of the Mabuses or in his deposition that the dogs had been attacking his ducks, though he testified that he did mention to his daughter on the morning of the event that he was having some trouble with "dogs in his ducks". James's explanation for the omission was that if the Mabuses knew what the dogs had done, they would have denied ownership. James contended that he saw two dead ducks and one crippled one. James' daughter also testified that a few months after the incident she saw one dead duck and a crippled one by their pond.

At the close of the Mabuses' case-in-chief, James moved for a directed verdict on grounds that the Mabuses put on no proof, nor raised any inferences that the dogs were in fact dead or that James hit any dogs when he shot at them. The proof showed that one dog found by Terry Mabus immediately after the shots were heard did not have any pellet shots in him and though the dog which returned three days after the incident did have pellets in his hip, the Mabuses did not show that the shots came from James' rifle. The trial court denied James' motion for a directed verdict finding that reasonable inferences could be drawn from the evidence.

James later moved for a directed verdict and a j.n.o.v., and in the alternative for a new trial. The trial court denied the motions finding that there were numerous witnesses who testified for each party, conflicts in the evidence, and inconsistencies which made this a classic jury case.

I.

In our state landowners "[t]he owner ... of any poultry ... may kill any dog in the act of chasing or killing such poultry ..., and any such person shall not be liable therefor to the owner of the dog." Miss. Code Ann. § 95-5-19 (Supp. 1991). If in fact the Mabuses' dogs were attacking James' ducks he had a statutory right to shoot and kill them without liability. The jury, however, did not accept James' testimony and found in favor of the Mabuses. Consequently, the issue before the Court today is whether the evidence was sufficient for the jury to determine that the Mabuses' dogs were not attacking James' *600 ducks and geese and whether the proof was sufficient for the jury to find that James did in fact kill the Mabuses' dogs. If the answer to either of these issues is no, then the trial court should have granted James' motions for a directed verdict, j.n.o.v. or a new trial.

II.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
574 So. 2d 596, 1990 WL 257417, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/james-v-mabus-miss-1990.