McCaffrey v. Mills

167 So. 2d 816, 250 Miss. 649, 1964 Miss. LEXIS 485
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 12, 1964
DocketNo. 43023
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 167 So. 2d 816 (McCaffrey v. Mills) 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
McCaffrey v. Mills, 167 So. 2d 816, 250 Miss. 649, 1964 Miss. LEXIS 485 (Mich. 1964).

Opinion

Kyle, P. J.

This case is before us on appeal by J. L. McCaffrey, Sr., and Daniel W. Dabbs, Trustee, defendants in the court below, from a decree of the Chancery Court of Forrest County rendered in favor of Mrs. Reba Copling Mills, complainant in the court below, in a suit filed by Mrs. Reba Copling Mills seeking cancellation of a promissory note for the sum of $7,000, dated March 14, 1962, and a mortgage deed of trust of even date therewith on the unexpired leasehold interest in approximately two acres of Sixteenth Section School land owned by the complainant, purportedly signed by complainant and her husband, John B. Mills, such cancellation being sought on the ground that the complainant’s purported signature to each of said instruments is a forgery.

The original bill of complaint was filed by Mrs. Reba Copling Mills against J. L. McCaffrey, Sr., and Daniel W. Dabbs, Trustee in the above mentioned mortgage deed of trust, on April 26, 1962. In her bill of complaint the complainant alleged that she was the owner of the unexpired leasehold interest in the above mentioned parcel of land said lease being a 25-year lease which had [653]*653been executed and delivered by the Forrest County Board of Supervisors to complainant’s father and mother on August 3, 1953; that the defendants had recently caused her title to become clouded by having recorded a deed of trust purportedly signed by the complainant and her husband, John B. Mills, bearing date March 14, 1962, and purporting to secure a promissory note for the sum of $7,000 of the same date, due fifteen days after the date thereof. The complainant further alleged that although the above mentioned note and deed of trust purported to bear her signature, such signature was in fact a forgery and was not her signature that she did not sign either of the two instruments or authorize any other person to sign her name thereto; that the property described in said deed of trust was complainant’s homestead; that complainant did not receive any consideration by reason of said instrument, and she did not know that the instruments existed until she received a letter from the defendant McCaffrey’s attorney demanding payment of the note alleged to be secured by the deed of trust. The complainant further alleged that the defendant, J. L. McCaffrey, Sr., knew at the time he placed said deed of trust of record that the complainant did not sign the instrument, and that he knew • that the complainant was not present at the time the notary public executed the certificate of acknowledgment of said instrument by the grantors, and that he well knew that no consideration whatsoever passed in support of the alleged conveyance.

The complainant further alleged upon information and belief that the defendant, J. L. McCaffrey, Sr., willfully, knowingly, with the unlawful intention to cheat and defraud the complainant, by threats of imprisonment and criminal prosecution, caused the complainant’s husband, John B. Mills, to sign his name to the note and deed of trust and also the name of the complainant. The complainant therefore prayed that upon the hearing of [654]*654the cause the court would enter a decree cancelling of record the above mentioned deed of trust as a cloud upon the complainant’s title and awarding to the complainant a money judgment for the sum. of $1,000 as actual damages and $5,000 as punitive damages. The record shows that John B. Mills approved and joined in the bill of complaint, and that the bill of complaint was duly sworn to by Mrs. Beba Copling Mills and her husband John B. Mills.

On May 22, 1962, the defendant, Daniel W. Dabbs, filed a formal answer in which he admitted that he had been named as trustee in the deed of trust described in the complainant’s bill, but averred that he had no personal knowledge concerning the transaction between the parties mentioned in the instruments.

The defendant, J. L. McCaffrey, Sr., filed his separate answer to the bill of complaint on June 12, 1962, and in his answer the defendant admitted that he claimed an interest in the above described land under and by virtue of the above mentioned deed of trust. The defendant denied that the signature of the complainant as it appeared on the deed of trust and the record thereof was a forgery. The defendant denied that the complainant had no knowledge of the deed of trust until she received a letter from the attorney for the defendant demanding payment of the note secured by the deed of trust. The defendant denied that the complainant’s husband, John B. Mills, was intimidated and threatened with criminal prosecution by the defendant or was coerced into signing his name and the name of the complainant thereto; and the defendant denied that the complainant was entitled to any relief whatever against the defendant or the above named trustee. The defendant averred in his answer that on March 14, 1962, the complainant and her husband John B. Mills for value received, executed and delivered to the defendant their promissory note for the sum of $7,000 due and payable [655]*655to the defendant fifteen days after date; that demand had been made for the payment of said note, but the complainant and her husband, John B. Mills, had failed to pay the same, or any part thereof; and that the defendant and his codefendant, Daniel W. Dabbs, Trustee, had filed their bill of complaint in the Chancery Court of Forrest County against the complainant and her husband, John B. Mills, seeking a personal decree against complainant and her husband for the full amount of said note and seeking a foreclosure of the above mentioned deed of trust. The defendant therefore moved that the two causes be consolidated for trial, and upon the hearing thereof that the complainant’s bill be dismissed and that the defendants be granted the relief sought by their bill of complaint.

The record shows that the bill of complaint filed by J. L. McCaffrey, Sr., and Daniel W. Dabbs, Trustee, as complainants, against John B. Mills and Reba Copling Mills, as defendants, seeking foreclosure of the deed of trust, was filed on May 10, 1962; that separate answers were filed by John B. Mills and Reba Copling Mills on May 25; and that an order was entered by agreement of the parties on June 22 consolidating the two causes for trial by the chancellor in vacation.

The causes were heard by the chancellor in vacation on August 16,1962. The record consists of three volumes of testimony. At the conclusion of the hearing the chancellor dictated into the record his findings of facts as follows: The chancellor found from the evidence that on March 14, 1962, John B. Mills, for value received, executed and delivered to J. L. McCaffrey, Sr., his promissory note for' the principal sum of $7,000 payable to J. L. McCaffrey, Sr., Fifteen days after date, with interest at the rate of eight percent per annum after maturity, together with 15 percent attorney’s fee in the event of default in the payment of the note. The chancellor found from the evidence that no promises or [656]*656threats were made by J. L. McCaffrey, Sr., or anyone else, to induce John B. Mills to execute and deliver the note to McCaffrey; that the note was a valid obligation in all respects; that John B. Mills was indebted to Mc-Caffrey on said note in the principal sum of $7,000, and McCaffrey was entitled to a decree against John B. Mills for said sum, with interest and attorney’s fees as provided for in the note. The chancellor also found that John B. Mills had executed and delivered to J. L. McCaffrey, Sr., as beneficiary, and to Daniel W. Dabbs, as trustee, the deed of trust dated March 14, 1962.

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Related

Boswell v. Boswell
199 So. 2d 266 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1967)
Forrest County Cooperative Ass'n v. McCaffrey
176 So. 2d 287 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1965)
Dedeaux v. Young
170 So. 2d 561 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1965)

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Bluebook (online)
167 So. 2d 816, 250 Miss. 649, 1964 Miss. LEXIS 485, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccaffrey-v-mills-miss-1964.