Newton Cty. v. Deerfield Est. Subdivision Prop. Owners Ass'n

385 So.3d 765

NEWTON COUNTY, Mississippi

v.DEERFIELD ESTATES SUBDIVISION PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION, LLC

NO. 2022-CA-01227-SCT

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

05/09/2024

NEWTON COUNTY CHANCERY COURT, HON. H. DAVID CLARK, II, JUDGE

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANT: WILLIAM ROBERT ALLEN, Brookhaven, JASON AVERY MANGUM, Newton, LANCE WESLEY MARTIN

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE: JAY MAX KILPATRICK, Ridgeland

BEFORE KITCHENS, P.J., COLEMAN AND GRIFFIS, JJ.

KITCHENS, PRESIDING JUSTICE, FOR THE COURT:

¶1. This case presents the question of whether the main roads within a subdivision are private or public roads. In 2001, the Newton County Board of Supervisors entered into its minutes that it had voted unanimously to accept the two main roads of the Deerfield Estates subdivision into the Newton County road system. However, the roads never were added to the official county road registry. In 2020, the subdivision filed a complaint seeking a declaratory judgment that the roads are public roads and seeking an injunction mandating the county to add them to the registry and to perform repairs. Following a trial, the chancellor held that the roads had become public roads via express common law dedication and ordered that the roads be added to the county map and road register.¹ The chancellor’s decision is affirmed.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

¶2. On August 3, 2001, the developers of Deerfield Estates subdivision sent a letter to the Newton County Board of Supervisors explaining that it had platted and subdivided the subdivision property and had constructed and paved two roads through the subdivision. The letter then stated, "[w]e submit these roads to you and request that you accept them as part of your road system in the County." The property is located in Beat 3² of Newton County. Milton Smith, Beat 3 supervisor at the time, inspected the roads and then recommended that the board accept them. At the board’s meeting on August 13, 2001, the supervisors voted unanimously to accept the two subdivision roads as county roads. The minutes reflect:

Acceptance of Lake View Drive and Deerfield Lane as County Roads

Motion by Milton Smith, seconded by Kenneth Harris to accept Deerfield Lane and Lake View Drive into the Newton County Road system. Deerfield lane is .064 miles and Lake View Drive is .537 miles in length. Motion carried unanimously.

The development contemplated serving approximately thirteen to sixteen homes, and two homes had been built at the time the board accepted the dedication.

¶3. Robin Bauer and Denise Bauer were successors to the original developer’s interest in the subdivision. In 2010, the Bauers conveyed a permanent easement to the county covering the roads in question and consisting of approximately 4.3 acres. The conveyance opens with the following paragraph:

WHEREAS, on August 13, 2001, the Board of Supervisors of Newton County, Mississippi, did meet and unanimously accept Lake View Drive (.537 miles) and Deerfield Lane (.064 miles) as County Roads, all as shown by the board minutes attached hereto as Exhibit "A", made a part hereof as if copied in full herein and recorded in Book 68 at Page 575, in the office of the Chancery Clerk of Newton County, Mississippi.

The easement was recorded.³ In a separate conveyance, the Bauers conveyed the roads to the owners’ association via a warranty deed, subject to the county’s easement. Since the recording of the easement, the county has never assessed taxes to the owners’ association for the roads.

¶4. The Deerfield Estates homeowners’ association was formed in 2009. The minutes of the association’s organizational meeting note: "[w]e discussed the repairs needed on our road. Our road is a county road and we talked about waiting till more homes were built before asking the county to repair it." Subsequent minutes continue to reflect the residents’ belief that the roads were county roads. However, by 2012, the association minutes reflected that confusion existed over whether the roads were private or public because they had not been entered into the county road register.

¶5. In 2015, association member Brodie Cooper approached county officials on behalf of residents, seeking county resources to conduct repairs. Charles Moulds had succeeded Milton Smith as Beat 3 supervisor.⁴ In 2015, four of the five board members (excluding Smith) and the county engineer inspected the Deerfield roads. The engineer prepared a report estimating that it would cost more than $100,000 to repair them. Without providing notice to Deerfield residents that the matter would be considered, the board determined at a December 2015 meeting to "not accept" the Deerfield roads as public roads. The minutes reflect:

Deerfield Lane and Lakeview Drive Not accepted into County Road Inventory

The board attorney presented a written report from the County Engineer & supervisors concerning the condition of the road surrounding Deerfield and Lakeview Roads in Beat #3. The engineer personally inspected and provided a cost estimate for reconstructing the existing roads. He analyzed the existing roads and subsurface and found that the subsurface is inadequate and, therefore, the surface does not meet State Aid Specifications. The estimated repair cost would be $106,228.00. Supervisors #1, #2, #4, and #5 were appointed per Miss. Code Ann. Sec 65-7-57 to examine and view the contemplated route of the road and make a report to the entire Board of Supervisors at its next meeting. On or about November 10, 2015 the above beat supervisors, Beats 1, 2, 4, and 5 examined the Roads known as Lakeview Drive and Deerfield Lane located just west of Union, Mississippi off Highway 492 and foundthe following: (1) Road bed is inadequate and in our opinion would need significant work to repair., (2) Dam on the East end seems to be compromised and would need to be totally reconstructed in order to maintain an adequate base., (3) An inadequate amount of asphalt was laid when built to be duratile and is currently in disrepair., (4) Current utility lines would have to be moved in order to bring the road up to State Aid Specs: (5) The anticipated costs to properly repair and replace said roads would be significant. Due to these factors we do not feel that the acceptance of these roads would be in the best interest of the citizens of Newton County. Signed-_Kenneth Harris, Joe Alexander, L.M. Bonds, and Jimmy Johnson. Charles Moulds made a motion and Jimmy Johnson voiced a second to the motion that based on the findings of the County Engineer and the findings from the beat #1, 2, 4, & #5 supervisors that Beat #3 Newton County would not accept Deerfield Lane and Lakeview Drive as county roads. The motion carried unanimously.

¶6. In 2019, a local newspaper published a story on the state of disrepair of the roads and the bureaucratic dispute over whether the roads were public or private. That article referenced the 2015 board vote to "not accept" the roads. The residents testified that the publication of the 2019 article was the first time they became aware of the board’s 2015 declaration that it did not accept the roads. In July 2020, Deerfield filed a complaint in chancery court seeking a declaratory judgment that the subdivision roads were county roads. The complaint included a request for injunctive relief, asking that the county be mandated to add Deerfield Lane and Lake View Drive to the official map of the county road system. It also sought a permanent injunction mandating the county "to allocate appropriate funding to immediately repair Deerfield Lane and Lake View Drive …."

¶7. The county moved for summary judgment, arguing that Deerfield Estate’s claims were barred by the doctrine of laches or by the general statute of limitations and, in the alternative, arguing substantively that the roads were private roads. The chancellor granted the county’s motion for summary judgment partially, holding that neither prescription nor the statutory procedure of Mississippi Code Section 65-7-57 (Rev. 2021) had operated to convert the roads from private roads to public roads. However, the chancellor held that the question of whether the roads became public roads via common law dedication should proceed to trial. The chancellor’s order stated also that the motion for summary judgment "is denied and dismissed as to all remaining issues."⁵

¶8. The chancellor entered a pretrial order articulating stipulated facts, disputed facts, and defining the issue to be litigated as:

The sole matter to be tried is whether or not the actions of Newton County, Mississippi, acting through its duly-elected Supervisors, either by entry upon Board Minutes on August 13, 2001, or subsequent actions/inactions with respect to Deerfield Lane and Lakeview Drive are sufficient for adjudication that Deerfield Lane and Lakeview Drive are public roads for Newton County, Mississippi.

The stipulated facts included that the county has never assessed taxes on the rights of way for the roads and that New- ton County has never performed any maintenance on them. The disputed or partially disputed facts included whether Newton County had provided culverts for Deerfield residents and whether the Deerfield street signs are green (indicating public roads) or red (indicating private roads).

¶9. At trial, the court heard testimony from three current or former supervisors, several Deerfield residents, and the county’s chancery clerk. Former supervisor Milton Smith testified that he believed the board’s acceptance of the dedication through its minutes had been effective and that it served the public interest. He testified also that during his 2000-2004 term, the county accessed the Deerfield Estates subdivision during heavy rains to add riprap rock to a pond dam. He had authorized and supervised the work because he was concerned that if the dam gave way, it would cause damage to public roads downstream.⁶

¶10. Charles Moulds, Beat 3 supervisor since 2004, testified.⁷ He acknowledged that the estimated expense...