Magee v. Covington County Bank

119 So. 3d 1053, 2012 WL 4355529, 2012 Miss. App. LEXIS 591
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedSeptember 25, 2012
DocketNo. 2011-CA-00589-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 119 So. 3d 1053 (Magee v. Covington County Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Magee v. Covington County Bank, 119 So. 3d 1053, 2012 WL 4355529, 2012 Miss. App. LEXIS 591 (Mich. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinions

ROBERTS, J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. After a scheduled hearing, Coving-ton County Bank (CCB) was granted a writ of replevin by the Covington County Circuit Court to seize Earnest Ray Ma-gee’s property that served as collateral for a loan. However, on Magee’s motion, the replevin was later set aside. Over a year later, Magee filed a motion for a writ of inquiry seeking damages for wrongful detention of his property. The motion was initially granted but later set aside due to lack of jurisdiction. The circuit court found it lost jurisdiction when the matter was transferred to justice court.

¶ 2. Magee now appeals asserting the circuit court erred in setting aside his writ of inquiry. We agree that the order granting Magee a writ of inquiry should have been set aside; however, we find that jurisdiction was lacking not because the matter was transferred to justice court, but, rather, because the circuit court had no jurisdiction under statutory replevin law to entertain a writ of inquiry. Thus, the order regarding the writ of inquiry from which Magee appeals is not a final, appealable judgment. For this reason, we must dismiss this appeal for lack of jurisdiction.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 3. The record in this case is sparse. There exists no testimony by the parties or any witnesses. The underlying facts are gleaned from the pleadings, motions, exhibits, orders, and documents that do appear in the record.

¶ 4. This case began when Magee fell behind on a collateralized note owed to CCB. The collateral consisted of a 1991 Chevrolet pickup truck, a 1996 Ford pickup truck, and a utility trailer. On July 7, 2008, CCB filed a sworn complaint in re-plevin in the Covington County Circuit Court for the seizure of Magee’s property that secured the note. The sworn complaint alleged Magee was an adult resident citizen of Covington County and did not request a pre-seizure of the collateral. On July 11, 2008, an order was filed setting a hearing on August 1, 2008, in the county courthouse in Mendenhall, Simpson County, Mississippi, and requiring that Magee be issued a summons to appear on that date. The clerk issued a summons on that date. There is a hand-written return stating it was “[sjerved 7-19-2008,” and it is [1055]*1055signed: “James Morehead, P.O. Box 291, D’Lo[,] Ms. 39062.”

¶ 5. Magee appeared and met with CCB’s attorney on August 1, 2008, in Men-denhall and apparently agreed with the attorney to pay his loan deficiency of $1,061.21 within two weeks, or the bank would pick up the collateral. A letter written by CCB’s attorney to the judge shows Magee apparently failed to timely pay the agreed amount. On August 27, 2008, the circuit court entered its order granting replevin and directed the issuance of the writ of replevin to the sheriff. CCB attempted to seize the collateral but was unable to locate it until December 2008. It was not until after the property was located and seized that Magee employed an attorney and moved to set aside the order granting replevin.

¶ 6. Magee’s motion to set aside the replevin was filed on February 24, 2009. He argued that the replevin should be set aside for insufficient service of process. He claimed the summons was defective because it ordered him to appear in court in Mendenhall, Mississippi, on a date the court was not in session. On May 8, 2009, CCB filed a response and a motion to hold Magee in contempt for concealing the property that was subject to seizure. Ma-gee denied he had attempted to conceal the property. The next two orders entered by the circuit court are somewhat confusing. In an order signed June 23, 2009, but “nunc pro tunc June 12, 2009,” the circuit court granted Magee’s motion and stated that the prior order granting the writ of replevin filed on August 27, 2008, was “set aside and of ... no effect.” The circuit court also ordered on its own motion that “this case [be] remanded to the Justice Court of Covington County, Mississippi!,] to determine if any attorney’s fees and late charges are due the [p]laintiff from the defendant.” Another order was signed on June 16, 2009, by the circuit judge on his own motion. It stated “that the above styled and numbered [cause] should be, and the same hereby is, remanded to the Justice Court of Coving-ton County, Mississippi,] for disposition.”

¶ 7. Apparently, the dispute over attorney’s fees and late charges proceeded to justice court. However, before a trial there, Magee counterclaimed for actual damages of $24,300 and punitive damages, all above the jurisdictional limits of justice court set out in Mississippi Code Annotated section 9-11-9 (Supp.2011). The justice court dismissed the ease without prejudice on March 24, 2010, for lack of jurisdiction.

¶ 8. Magee then returned to the circuit court seeking damages. On July 8, 2010, Magee filed a motion for a writ of inquiry in the circuit court replevin action to determine damages pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated section 11-37-129 (Rev. 2002). This motion was granted on September 24, 2010, by a new circuit judge following the untimely death of his predecessor. On January 4, 2011, CCB filed a motion for relief from judgment or, alternatively, for reconsideration. In this and a previous motion, CCB stated that it had retained possession of the collateral since December 2008 and that Magee could retake his collateral if he would pay CCB its attorney’s fees and court costs as Magee was obligated to pay under the promissory note and security agreement. On January 6, 2011, the circuit court granted CCB’s motion for relief from judgment, finding that jurisdiction was lost when the case was transferred to justice court. The circuit court also noted that since a judgment was never entered in favor of Magee, CCB had wrongfully pre-seized the property, section 11-37-129 did not apply, and Ma-gee was not entitled to a writ of inquiry. Accordingly, the circuit court held the order granting the writ of inquiry was void.

[1056]*1056¶ 9. Magee then filed a motion for reconsideration, arguing that the circuit court had jurisdiction because his motion for a writ of inquiry effectively created a new action in the circuit court. This motion was denied in an order filed on March 28, 2011. In this order, the circuit court found that although the order sending the matter to justice court was titled a “remand,” its actual intent was to transfer the matter. Thus, the circuit court found that it had no jurisdiction to enter any further orders after June 16, 2009 — the date of the order transferring the matter to justice court. It is from the March 28, 2011 order that Magee appeals.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 10. Jurisdiction is a matter of law, which is reviewed de novo. Entergy Miss., Inc. v. Burdette Gin Co., 726 So.2d 1202, 1204-05 (¶ 5) (Miss.1998). The denial of a motion for reconsideration under Rule 59 or Rule 60 of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure is reviewed for an abuse of discretion. Smith v. Harrison Cnty., 67 So.3d 815, 816 (¶ 4) (Miss.Ct.App.2011).

ANALYSIS

¶ 11. Magee argues the circuit court erroneously set aside the order granting the writ of inquiry. However, we find this issue moot because our replevin statutes do not allow for a writ of inquiry where there is no pre-seizure of property. Because it is not allowed by statute, the circuit court was without jurisdiction to enter an order granting Magee a writ of inquiry.

¶ 12.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
119 So. 3d 1053, 2012 WL 4355529, 2012 Miss. App. LEXIS 591, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/magee-v-covington-county-bank-missctapp-2012.