Seymour v. Evans

608 So. 2d 1141, 1992 WL 118677
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJune 3, 1992
Docket89-CA-0504
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 608 So. 2d 1141 (Seymour v. Evans) 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
Seymour v. Evans, 608 So. 2d 1141, 1992 WL 118677 (Mich. 1992).

Opinion

608 So.2d 1141 (1992)

Edna C. SEYMOUR
v.
Larry EVANS, Gina Evans, Jerry W. Coleman, Bonnie Ann Coleman, Dudley S. Cruse and Lori J. Cruse.

No. 89-CA-0504.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

June 3, 1992.
Rehearing Denied December 3, 1992.

Charliene Roemer, Charles Pringle, Biloxi, for appellant.

Dempsey M. Levi, Levi & Denham, Ocean Springs, for appellees.

Before DAN M. LEE, P.J., and ROBERTSON and McRAE, JJ.

McRAE, Justice, for the court:

This is an appeal from a judgment of the Chancery Court of Jackson County, dated March 30, 1989. Appellees are purchasers of real property who, after accepting deeds and obligating themselves to pay, discover-Med that zoning ordinances prevented them from using the property as they had intended. The chancellor set aside the deeds, finding that they violated the seller's implied warranties. He further ordered the return of the appellees' purchase payments and awarded consequential damages and attorney's fees to the appellees. On appeal, the seller assigns several issues for review. We shall address two:

I. THE CHANCELLOR ERRED IN FINDING THAT THE SELLER VIOLATED HER IMPLIED WARRANTIES BY CONVEYING LAND IN A MANNER WHICH VIOLATED COUNTY SUBDIVISION REGULATIONS.
II. THE CHANCELLOR ERRED BY AWARDING DAMAGES AND ATTORNEY'S FEES TO THE BUYERS.

We reverse and render on grounds that the deeds by which the appellees obtained their properties were valid and did not give rise to a breach of implied covenants.

*1142 FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

The events leading up to this appeal began when appellant Edna C. Seymour decided to sell part of the land she owned in Jackson County, Mississippi. On August 22, 1983, she conveyed by warranty deed a three-acre parcel to John M. and Katherine McDonnell ("the McDonnells"). The McDonnells executed a promissory note and deed of trust in favor of Seymour for the deferred portion of the purchase price. On September 13, 1983, the McDonnells conveyed by warranty deed this same three-acre tract to Jerry W. and Bonnie Ann Coleman ("the Colemans"). The Colemans assumed the McDonnells' indebtedness to Seymour.

Two couples, Larry and Gina Evans ("the Evans") and Dudley and Lori Cruse ("the Cruses"), expressed an interest in purchasing another tract containing five and one half acres which Seymour offered for sale. They requested that the property be divided equally and conveyed to them separately. Accordingly, Seymour executed two warranty deeds on April 20, 1984. One conveyed to the Evans a parcel of land containing about 2.75 acres; the other conveyed to the Cruses a parcel of equal size. Seymour also conveyed to each couple an easement across her unsold property for purposes of ingress and egress. The Evans and the Cruses executed promissory notes and deeds of trust in favor of Seymour.

The Colemans, the Evans, and the Cruses all intended to use their newly-conveyed properties for residential purposes. The land was unimproved, so, after receiving their deeds, the grantees cleared the property of underbrush and began to make improvements thereon.

On May 14, 1986, about two years later, the Cruses filed an application with the Jackson County Planning Department for a permit to locate a mobile home on their tract. Roger Clark, then Assistant Director of the Jackson County Planning Department, told them that a permit could not be issued because the division of April 20, 1984 violated the Jackson County subdivision ordinances. As Clark explained it, the property could be brought into compliance only by procuring plat approval and by paving a road for ingress and egress. The Cruses informed the Evans of their difficulties, and both couples contacted Seymour. Seymour said there was nothing she could do.

The appellees subsequently met on several occasions with officials of the Jackson County Planning Department and the Planning Commission. At each meeting, they were told that no permits could be issued until the properties were brought into compliance with the subdivision regulations. The appellees also approached Jackson County Supervisor Tommy Brodnax. Brodnax also advised them that the subdivision regulations would have to be satisfied before permits would issue. Finally, appellees appeared informally before the Jackson County Board of Supervisors. They received the same advice there. The Colemans and the Evans took the various county officials at their word and never filed for permits. The parties agree that Seymour was unaware of the subdivision regulations at the time when she conveyed the subject properties.

On April 13, 1988, the appellees filed a complaint in chancery court against Seymour, John Phillips and Associates (Seymour's realtor), Century 21-K Realty (the Evans' and the Cruses' realtor), the McDonnells, and Jackson County. The two real estate agencies were subsequently dismissed as part of a negotiated settlement. The county was dismissed with prejudice on March 3, 1989. The chancellor entered judgment against Seymour and the McDonnells on March 30, 1989. The decree set aside the warranty deed from Seymour to the Evans, the warranty deed from Seymour to the Cruses, and the warranty deed from the McDonnells to the Colemans. The decree also required Seymour to reimburse the Evans and the Cruses for all payments made on the property together with their down payments, taxes, surveyors fees, forestry fees, loss of wages, closing costs, and attorney's fees.

*1143 LAW

I. DID SEYMOUR VIOLATE THE COMMON LAW SELLER'S WARRANTIES BY CONVEYING LAND IN A MANNER WHICH VIOLATED COUNTY SUBDIVISION REGULATIONS?

The Evans, the Cruses, and the Colemans each received their respective tracts by warranty deed. According to Miss. Code Ann. § 89-1-33:

The word "warrant" without restrictive words in a conveyance shall have the effect of embracing all of the five covenants known to common law, to wit: seisin, power to sell, freedom from encumbrance, quiet enjoyment and warranty of title.

The chancellor found that the conveyances by which appellees acquired their interests in the subject properties "violate[d] the common law covenants of warranty granted under section 89-1-33, especially power to sell." His Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law does not disclose the analysis he employed in reaching this outcome.[1] In order to determine whether the chancellor correctly applied the law of implied warranties, we must therefore consider each covenant separately. Before doing so, however, we must first address a threshold question: Did the Seymour conveyances in fact violate the Jackson County subdivision ordinances, and if so, would the appellees have been unable to obtain variances? If the appellees could have obtained either permits or variances, then the basis for their complaint would have disappeared.

A. Were Appellees In Fact Unable to Obtain Permits or Variances?

Seymour argues that the subject conveyances do not fall within the scope of the ordinance. Thus, she maintains, the county should have granted the requested permits. Section 106.1 of the Jackson County subdivision ordinance provides in pertinent part:

These regulations and development standards shall apply to the following forms of land subdivisions:
a. The division of land into two or more tracts, lots, sites, or parcels, any part of which, when subdivided, shall contain less than three (3) acres in area.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
608 So. 2d 1141, 1992 WL 118677, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/seymour-v-evans-miss-1992.