Smith v. Anderson

1

LAVERN J. SMITH, HELLENA INGRAM, SUSIE JOHNSON, CECIL JOHNSON, JR., MARION GROTT AND ELLENA LEWIS, HEIRS-AT-LAW OF ETHEL LEE JOHNSON, DECEASED, HEIRS-AT-LAW OF DEMETRICA JOHNSON, DECEASED, AND HEIRS-AT-LAW OF RODNEY JOHNSON, DECEASED APPELLANTS v. TYRONE R. ANDERSON, RODNEY JOHNSON, JR., DEONE JOHNSON AND TYRONISHA J. SEABROOKS APPELLEES

No. 2022-CA-00959-COA

Court of Appeals of Mississippi

December 3, 2024

DATE OF JUDGMENT: 05/13/2022

COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED: HOLMES COUNTY CHANCERY COURT TRIAL JUDGE: HON. ROBERT GEORGE CLARK III

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANTS: EDNA FAYE JONES-STRINGER

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEES: KATHERINE BARRETT RILEY SARAH STERLING ALDRIDGE BRANDI RATLIFF HAMILTON

BEFORE BARNES, C.J., McDONALD AND EMFINGER, JJ.

BARNES, C.J.

¶1. This appeal concerns a dispute among cousins over 159 acres (the subject property) owned by a family elder, Sam Johnson until his death in 1984. Sam's last will and testament provided that upon his death, the subject property was to be devised into a trust and administered by two designated trustees-Sam's sister, Ethel Johnson, and Ethel's daughter, Hellena Henry (now Hellena Ingram). The subject property was to remain in the trust for twenty years and then revert to Sam's heirs-his two sons (Tyrone Anderson and Rodney Johnson Sr.)^[1] and his grandchildren (Rodney Johnson Jr., Deone Johnson, and Tyronisha Johnson Seabrooks)-in equal shares.

¶2. In 2018, Sam's heirs (the Plaintiffs) filed a complaint to quiet and confirm title to the subject property with the Holmes County Chancery Court.^[2] However, several of Ethel's children-Lavern Smith, Susie M. Johnson, Cecil Johnson Jr., Marion Grott, Hellena Ingram, and Ellena Lewis (the Defendants)-claimed they had title to the subject property by adverse possession because they had assisted Ethel in maintaining the property and paying the taxes since 2004.^[3] Another one of Ethel's children, Brenda Johnson, filed a separate answer and counter-complaint (purportedly on behalf of herself and her siblings), alleging several affirmative defenses and claiming Ethel's heirs had title to the property.

¶3. The chancery court entered a final judgment on May 13, 2022, finding the Plaintiffs were record title owners of the subject property and dismissing the Defendants' claim of adverse possession. The Defendants filed a motion to reconsider, which the court denied. On appeal, we find no merit to the Defendants' claims of error, and we affirm the chancery court's judgment.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶4. On November 21, 1984, Sam Johnson (father and grandfather to the Plaintiffs) died testate.^[4] His last will and testament left 159 acres of real property in Holmes County, Mississippi, to be held in a twenty-year trust overseen by the trustees Ethel and Hellena, who were also appointed as the joint executrixes of the will.^[5] The will granted the trustees "full power to rent, lease, farm, etc. as they see fit."^[6] Sam's will also expressed his "desire that the trustees allow [his] two sons, Tyron[e] Anderson Johnson and Rodney Johnson to farm all my land, if they so desire." Upon the expiration of the trust, the property was to revert to Tyrone, Rodney Sr., and Rodney's children (Rodney Jr., Deone, and Tyronisha) to "share and share alike."

¶5. In the mid-1990s, Webb O'Reilly began leasing the property from Ethel (who was acting on behalf of the Sam Johnson Trust) for agricultural purposes.^[7] After Ethel died in 2011, her daughter Demetrica took over the duties of collecting rent from O'Reilly and paying the property taxes until her death in 2016. Shortly after Demetrica died, O'Reilly contacted one of the Defendants and expressed his interest in purchasing the subject property (minus the 4.92-acre parcel).^[8] After conversations between some of the Defendants and some of the Plaintiffs regarding O'Reilly's offer, and upon advice from an attorney, the Plaintiffs filed a complaint to quiet and confirm title to the subject property on February 8, 2018. In the complaint, the Plaintiffs asserted that they had acquired fee simple title in 1987 by virtue of Sam's last will and testament.

¶6. On March 20, 2018, attorney J. Lane Greenlee entered an appearance on behalf of the Defendants. He filed an answer to the complaint on their behalf on March 30, 2018, asserting a claim of title based on adverse possession.

¶7. On April 2, 2018, represented by attorney Charles Edwards, Brenda Johnson (purportedly on behalf of herself, the Defendants, and unnamed heirs-at-law of Ethel, Demetrica, and Rodney Sr.) also filed an answer and counter-complaint to quiet and confirm title. The answer alleged several affirmative defenses (i.e., failure to name a necessary party, equitable estoppel, judicial estoppel, doctrine of laches, adverse possession, and statute of limitations). The counter-complaint asserted that "the Defendants/Counter-Plaintiffs are the record owners of said subject property" and, alternatively, that since the closing of Sam's estate, "Ethel Johnson and heirs and assigns have adversely possessed said property."

¶8. The Plaintiffs filed an amended complaint on May 10, 2018. The Defendants (represented by Greenlee) filed another answer and counterclaim on June 1, 2018, again asserting only that they had title to the subject property through adverse possession.

¶9. The chancery court held status hearings on May 13, 2020, and June 22, 2020, with the Defendants now represented by attorneys Larry and Anita Stamps.^[9] Edwards, Brenda's attorney, argued at the June hearing that "[t]he family cannot adversely possess the property" and that Brenda was the only one who could adversely possess the property.

¶10. The Plaintiffs filed a motion for summary judgment on September 4, 2020, which Brenda joined. Refuting the Defendants' claim that they had adversely possessed the subject property since 2004 (when the trust expired), the Plaintiffs noted that the Defendants' individual interrogatory responses plainly state their belief that they would inherit the property when Ethel died. Because Ethel died in 2011, the Plaintiffs argued that the ten-year statutory period for adverse possession had "not ripened." After a hearing, the chancery court denied summary judgment.

¶11. A trial on the merits was held on March 7-8, 2022.^[10] Deone Johnson, a Michigan native who was a minor when the will was probated, testified that he had knowledge "that we had land in Mississippi" and "that the land was ours and that there was a will with - that was made for us." Deone admitted he did not ask questions about the land, assuming someone would "reach out" and contact them. After extensive testimony by the Plaintiffs' attorney regarding her title-search history, the chancery court granted the motion for a directed verdict as to deraignment of title, finding that "Rodney Johnson Jr., Deone Johnson, Tyronisha Seabrooks and Brenda Johnson" were the record title owners of the subject property.^[11]

¶12. The chancery court then allowed the Defendants to present their case-in-chief for the counterclaim of adverse possession. Counsel for the Plaintiffs asked the court to take judicial notice that each defendant must meet the elements of adverse possession. The Defendants' attorney objected, arguing that "as a unit, as a family, they worked together to keep this property." The court said that it would "listen to the testimony and . . . apply it as the [c]ourt interprets the law."

¶13. O'Reilly testified that "in the mid-to-early 90's" he had entered into a lease with "Sam Johnson Trust or Sam Johnson Estate" to farm the subject property. After Ethel's death, O'Reilly "dealt with Demetrica Johnson and she was aware as well that they did not own the property." After Demetrica died, O'Reilly said that Demetrica's siblings came to him to discuss what to do with the land because "[t]hey were not that familiar with the property and they wanted to get everybody in one accord as to what was what and who needed to do what." When he met with the Defendants in 2017 about purchasing the subject property, he "got the impression that some ha[d] not been on that property in a number of years and [had not] dealt with it in such a time that they did not know exactly what was where and whose was whose." O'Reilly also noted that Demetrica would occasionally get an advance on rent from him, telling him she needed it to pay the taxes.

¶14. In his affidavit entered into evidence, O'Reilly averred that Ethel and Demetrica "both told me the property didn't belong to them" and that he "understood and believed that the property was owned by the beneficiaries of the Sam Johnson estate, not by Ethel Lee Johnson, Hellena Henry or any of their heirs." He also stated that he had "maintained the property over the last twenty (20) years, not any of the local Johnson family members," and had "never seen any of Ethel Lee Johnson's or Hellena Henry's family taking care of the land in any way, including mowing, bush hogging, trimming limbs, etc." O'Reilly also noted at trial that he maintained the property "to have a crop on it . . . whatever it needed to make it productive" (e.g., "keeping ditches from washing and stop[ping] erosion").

¶15. Hellena Ingram, the former co-trustee of the property conceded that the property belonged to Sam's heirs until 2004. However, her "belief" was that when Sam's heirs never "returned back to redeem the land or its responsibilities," her mother Ethel became the owner of the property. Hellena, who only visited Mississippi "two to three times a year," said that she had contributed funds to her mother since 2004 "to help pay the taxes, to upkeep the property, which would be cutting grass, to keep in the pasture." She claimed that "the rental money did not generate...