Norris v. Cox

860 So. 2d 319, 2003 Miss. App. LEXIS 1035, 2003 WL 22481025
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedNovember 4, 2003
DocketNo. 2001-CA-00087-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 860 So. 2d 319 (Norris v. Cox) 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
Norris v. Cox, 860 So. 2d 319, 2003 Miss. App. LEXIS 1035, 2003 WL 22481025 (Mich. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

MODIFIED OPINION ON MOTION FOR REHEARING1

MYERS, J., for the Court.

¶ 1. This is an appeal from the Chancery Court of Lee County. The subject of this case is an encroachment by the Coxes onto land that Norris allegedly owns. The trial court originally concluded Marvin and Mary Cox had adversely possessed two portions of Samuel T. Norris’s property and awarded the Coxes fee simple title to these portions. The trial court later entered a supplemental judgment, reducing the land awarded to the Coxes. Both sides were unhappy with the new findings, so they then filed several post-trial motions either seeking relief from the judgment or to amend the supplemental judgment. After the chancellor denied these motions, both sides appealed to this Court. Both Norris in his appeal, and the Coxes, in their cross-appeal, cite identical issues:

I. WHETHER THE COXES MAY ADVERSELY POSSESS THE DISPUTED PROPERTY THROUGH ACTS OF THEIR EMANCIPATED CHILDREN AND RELATIVES.
II. WHETHER THE COXES CLAIMED OWNERSHIP IN THE DISPUTED PROPERTY.
III. WHETHER A SURVEY IS NEEDED TO ADEQUATELY DESCRIBE THE DISPUTED PROPERTY.

[321]*321The Coxes, in their counter-appeal, cite one additional issue:

IV. WHETHER THE COXES CLAIMED THE DISPUTED PROPERTY.

Statement of the Facts

¶ 2. On April 18, 1997, Samuel T. Norris bought two parcels of land in Lee County, Mississippi. The deed describes the first parcel (east parcel) as follows:

The east half of the east half of the southeast quarter of Section 9, Township 9, Range 6 east, in Lee County, Mississippi.

The deed describes the second parcel (west parcel) as follows:

The west half of the east half of the southeast quarter of Section 9, Township 9, Range 6 east, in Lee County, Mississippi.

¶ 3. After purchasing his property, Norris noticed structures on his property. Appellees/cross-appellants Lisha and Larry Woodard own a mobile home that sits in the southeast corner of the Norris parcel. David and Elizabeth Cox occupy the mobile home. Additionally, a wood-frame shop, a mobile home, and a camper were found on the south central portion of Norris’s property.2 This mobile home was owned by Kathey Mashburn and occupied by Jeffrey Jackson. Harold Jackson lived in the camper, which was located near the shop.

¶4. The Coxes bought their parcel of land on August 27, 1971. It is described as:

One (1) acre in the extreme northeast corner of the Northeast Quarter of Section 16, Township 9, Range 6 East, Lee County, Mississippi. Said land is bound on the east by the Quarter Section line, on the south and west by a public road and on the north by the quarter section line.
Said tract contains one acre, more or less.

¶ 5. After the purchase, the Coxes, along with their five children, had to clear the land because it was overgrown and strewn with garbage. The Coxes allege that they performed other acts associated with possession on the disputed property, such as cut trees for firewood and mowed grass and vines on hills.

¶ 6. An old fence ran around the Coxes’ property down in the hollow between the Coxes’ house and David Cox’s mobile home. The Coxes assumed that this was the northern boundary of their property. This fence, however, is now in an advanced state of disrepair. Only three or four portions of the fence remain, and these are pieces of a single strand of barb wire sticking approximately three inches out of a tree.

¶ 7. Beginning in 1971, Marvin Cox used the disputed land for storing vehicles and boats. Evidence was presented that various Cox children and some grandchildren have lived on the disputed property in mobile homes from 1973 to the present. The mobile homes were placed either in the southeast corner of the disputed property (where David Cox presently fives) (the “east trader site”) or in the south-central portion of the property (where Jeffery Jackson presently fives) (the “west trailer site”). Although there were times when no one occupied the mobile homes, there was always a mobile home on at least one site.

[322]*322¶ 8. Additionally, Marvin Cox began construction of a shop on the west trailer site in 1984. This shop was used for storage and various types of mechanical work.

¶ 9. In her original ruling, the chancellor gave title to both the east and west trailer sites to Cox. In a supplemental ruling, issued December 7, 2000, the chancellor reconsidered and granted title of only the shop building, the roadway to it, and fifteen feet surrounding the shop to Cox. Title to the remaining disputed property was quieted in favor of Norris.

Standard of Review

¶ 10. It is well established that this Court will not reverse a chancellor’s findings unless they are clearly erroneous. Sproles v. Sproles, 782 So.2d 742, 746(¶ 12) (Miss.2001) (citing Dillon v. Dillon, 498 So.2d 328, 329 (Miss.1986)). The supreme court has illustrated this standard by saying, “a finding of fact is ‘clearly erroneous’ when ‘although there is evidence to support it, the reviewing court on the entire evidence is left with a definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been made.’ ” Id. at 746(¶ 13) (quoting In re Estate of Taylor, 609 So.2d 390, 392 (Miss.1992)) (quoting UHS-Qualicare, Inc. v. Gulf Coast Community Hosp., Inc., 525 So.2d 746, 754 (Miss.1987)).

Legal Analysis

I. WHETHER THE COXES MAY ADVERSELY POSSESS THE DISPUTED PROPERTY THROUGH ACTS OF THEIR EMANCIPATED CHILDREN AND RELATIVES.

¶ 11. The Mississippi Supreme Court has listed six elements that a claim of adverse possession must meet to be successful: the possession must be (1) under claim of ownership; (2) actual or hostile; (3) open, notorious, and visible; (4) continuous and uninterrupted for a period of ten years; (5) exclusive; and (6) peaceful. Crump v. State, 823 So.2d 1213, 1215(¶ 9) (Miss.Ct.App.2002). Crucial to our discussion are the fourth and fifth elements — that is, whether acts of an emancipated child or relative may count for exclusive, continuous and uninterrupted possession.

¶ 12. Our research failed to produce any Mississippi cases which would allow a parent to claim actions of their children or relatives so the parents may claim adverse possession of property. However, one may adversely possess through the acts of one’s agent. Cox v. Richerson, 186 Miss. 576, 191 So. 99, 104 (1939). We must now determine whether an emancipated child or other relative may serve as one’s agent for adverse possession.

¶ 13. An “agent” has been defined as “a business representative who handles contractual arrangements between the principal and third persons.” Brian A. Garner, A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage 38 (2d ed.1995). In case law, the term has been defined as:

A person authorized by another (principal) to act for or in place of him; one entrusted with another’s business.... A business representative, whose function is to bring about, modify, affect, accept performance of, or terminate contractual obligations between principal and third persons....

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
860 So. 2d 319, 2003 Miss. App. LEXIS 1035, 2003 WL 22481025, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/norris-v-cox-missctapp-2003.