Williams v. Maxie

135 So. 2d 406, 242 Miss. 481, 1961 Miss. LEXIS 589
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 11, 1961
DocketNo. 42079
StatusPublished

This text of 135 So. 2d 406 (Williams v. Maxie) 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
Williams v. Maxie, 135 So. 2d 406, 242 Miss. 481, 1961 Miss. LEXIS 589 (Mich. 1961).

Opinion

Jones, J.

On December 9, 1957, Mrs. Williams (the former wife of W. W. Maxie, Jr., defendant) filed her bill in the Chancery Court of Adams County against her former husband and his father and mother, W. W. Maxie, Sr., and Mrs. Florence Hutton Maxie. This complaint alleged that Mrs. Williams, who had divorced her former husband and remarried, was the owner of a certain stock of merchandise and store furniture and fixtures described in the bill. She alleged that the defendants were in possession of the property, claiming title thereto from some unknown source, and refused to relinquish possession. The bill also alleged that there was filed and pending in the same court a proceeding by her against her former husband requesting support for their minor children. She charged that her formor husband was depleting said property in an attempt to avoid his obligation to support the children and to delay and defraud his creditors.

[484]*484She charged that the defendants were in possession of the property and were selling same and that the stock of merchandise had been depleted about fifty percent without replacement. She further charged that her former husband was attempting to dispose of all his property and leave himself insolvent to defraud his creditors and escape support of his children.

She asked for a receiver to be appointed. She charged that the value of said property was in excess of $12,-000. The prayer was that she be decreed the owner of the property, awarded possession thereof, plus the value of any property disposed of or sold by the defendants, together with a reasonable rental for the equipment during the time they held possession. She asked for an accounting of the property and for general relief.

Defendants answered, admitting possession of the property and that they claimed title thereto and refused to relinquish possession; denied complainant was the owner, and alleged that the property was sold on or about September 18, 1956, by complainant and her husband, W. W. Maxie, Jr., then man and wife, to the defendants, Mr. and Mrs. Maxie, Sr. They admitted the pendency of the suit by the complainant against her former husband, but denied he was depleting the property and denied there was any attempt to avoid his obligation to support his children, or that he was attempting to hinder, delay or defraud his creditors. They admitted that they were carrying on the business and selling merchandise in the usual course but denied the stock had been depleted without replacement, and denied complainant had any interest in the stock; denied that a receiver should be appointed; denied that the value of the property was in excess of $12,000, or of a value anywhere near that amount.

On February 14, 1958, motion was made to amend the bill of complaint, praying that in the event the court decrees that complainant has an interest less than the [485]*485entire, that the court take evidence on whether the property can he partited in kind, and if it cannot he partied that it he sold and the proceeds divided. This amendment was allowed.

A hearing on the motion for appointment of a receiver was had and same denied on March 3, 1958. At this hearing, Mrs. Williams testified that she had swapped the store for a place in Louisiana.

The hearing on the merits was begun on March 6, 1958, at which time the bill of complaint was again amended so as to add an additional prayer that she be awarded a judgment the equivalent in value of her interest in the property. It was agreed that the evidence taken on the motion for the appointment of a receiver should be considered by the chancellor at the hearing on the merits. On March 6, after the taking of some testimony, the hearing was again continued until September 22, 1959, and at the completion of the testimony on that date, the case was taken under advisement by the chancellor for a decision in vacation. On June 21, 1960, he rendered a decree dismissing the bill on the ground that the complainant had not met the burden of proof in establishing her right to the property or its value.

It is argued that the decree is manifestly wrong and against the overwhelming weight of the evidence.

Mr. W. W. Maxie, Sr., as an adverse witness, testified that he took possession of the property in September 1956. He estimated the stock and equipment as worth $1700 or $1800; the stock inventoried $990.93, but there was no appraisal of the equipment. He collected on accounts receivable about $200 or $300 and turned this over to his son, who at that time was married to the complainant. He testified that the store was turned over to him on his assumption of $1900 or $2000 worth of debts to wholesalers. He denied there was any agreement to swap any property in Louisiana. He testified [486]*486that he and his wife did agree that complainant and her husband could live in the house on the Louisiana property rent free. Maxie, Jr., was then working at a supermarket in Vidalia. His testimony was that the gross profits from the operation of the store were about $170 per month, from which expenses had to be paid. The store was turned over to Maxie, Sr., and his wife in September 1956, and complainant and her husband moved to the Louisiana property. Complainant and her husband separated about November or December of that year. She returned to Adams County, filed suit and obtained a divorce in January 1957, and soon thereafter remarried. After she had remarried, she and her ex-husband signed a deed to Maxie, Sr., and his wife to the property they owned near the store.

W. W. Maxie, Jr., was also called as an adverse witness. He was asked about the deed to the land. He said there was a $2300 mortgage on it; that his father was supposed to pay that; that there was no agreement to swap any Louisiana property for the store.

Mrs. Williams, the complainant, testified as to the various dealings from the time she and her husband married until their separation. They had bought two or three different stores. The particular store here involved was purchased in December 1955 from a Mrs. Velma Maxie and her husband, and in July 1956, she purchased Mrs. Bass’ store just across the street, moved into Mrs. Bass’ place of business which she was renting, and there operated the store here involved. She exhibited some checks, one issued in July, and the others in August and September 1956, totaling $2,722.41 that she claimed were for stock purchased and placed in the store. She claimed the business grossed about $4,000 a month after she moved into the Bass place of business; that the Bass store was the only other one in the neighborhood, and by its purchase she eliminated competition. Profit on sales was twenty percent, from which [487]*487expenses had to be deducted, leaving her a net profit of $694 per month. Accounts receivable were $2130, of which some few hundred dollars were paid. She gave as her reasons for trading the store that she was tired of working, wanted to build a home, and keep house, and that she agreed with Maxie, Sr., and his wife to swap the store for a Louisiana farm, but no deeds were ever executed though she and her husband took possession of the farm and Maxie, Sr., and his wife took possession of the store. She admitted that there were some bills owing at the time she left the store. She also testified that she received no consideration for the deed signed in March 1957, but this suit does not seek to cancel that deed. However, it was shown in her testimony that some months after the deed was executed, she collected $550 from one Leslie Henson and divided this with her ex-husband, W.

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113 So. 2d 661 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1959)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
135 So. 2d 406, 242 Miss. 481, 1961 Miss. LEXIS 589, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-maxie-miss-1961.