Cooper v. Keyes, 57830
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Mississippi |
| Writing for the Court | ROY NOBLE LEE; WALKER |
| Citation | 510 So.2d 518 |
| Parties | William B. COOPER v. Edna Blanche Cooper KEYES. |
| Docket Number | No. 57830,57830 |
| Decision Date | 22 July 1987 |
Gregory L. Gore, Hattiesburg, for appellant.
Ann E. Wedding, Billy W. Keyes, Keyes, Moss, Piazza & Woods, Jackson, for appellee.
Before ROY NOBLE LEE, P.J., and DAN M. LEE and ANDERSON, JJ.
William B. Cooper appeals his contempt citation issued by the Chancery Court of Jones County for his failure to convey lien-free a 1977 Cadillac to the appellee. We reverse and render.
The parties were divorced on the ground of irreconcilable differences in August, 1981. According to the terms of the property settlement agreement, Mr. Cooper agreed
That Edna Blanche Cooper, wife, shall have the right, title, and possession to a 1977 Cadillac automobile, and William B. Cooper, husband, shall effect all necessary documentation so as to give unto wife legal and equitable right, title and possession of said automobile.
It is undisputed that Mrs. Keyes had exclusive use and possession of the Cadillac at all times.
At the time of the divorce, Mr. Cooper lived and worked in Saudia Arabia. Because there was a bank installment loan in Mr. Cooper's name outstanding on the automobile, he forwarded to the bank (which held the original title) a power of attorney, assuming the bank would see to the details of reissuing title in Mrs. Cooper's name. That was never accomplished. Mr. Cooper made the installment loan payments and continued insurance coverage until March, 1983, when he learned the Cadillac had been destroyed by fire in November, 1981, and that the insurance benefits had been paid to Mrs. Cooper, who used the proceeds to purchase another car and substituted the new automobile as collateral on the bank loan. Mrs. Keyes instituted this action to recover the final two thousand thirty-eight dollars and thirty cents ($2,038.30) still outstanding on the auto loan in March, 1983. Only the automobile issue is before this Court.
A contempt citation is proper only when the contemner has wilfully and deliberately ignored the order of the court. Millis v. State, 106 Miss. 131, 63 So. 344 (1913). Mr. Cooper took the initial steps to convey title to the automobile. He made car payments and kept the insurance premiums current. At worst he neglected to ascertain that the paper work was completed by the bank. However, there is no evidence that Mrs. Keyes ever complained of the bank's failure to reissue the title. We find no contumacious conduct here, and the finding by the lower court to the contrary is...
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Mizell v. Mizell
..."A contempt citation is proper only when the contemner has wilfully and deliberately ignored the order of the court." Cooper v. Keyes, 510 So.2d 518, 519 (Miss.1987), citing Millis v. State, 106 Miss. 131, 63 So. 344 (1913). It is a defense to a contempt proceeding that the person was not g......
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...has willfully and deliberately ignored the order of the court. Brame v. State, 755 So.2d 1090, 1093 (Miss.2000) (quoting Cooper v. Keyes, 510 So.2d 518, 519 (Miss.1987) citing Millis v. State, 106 Miss. 131, 63 So. 344 (1913)). Here, there was no clear order by the trial court specifying th......
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Walls v. Spell, 97-CA-00378-SCT.
...A citation for contempt is proper when the contemnor has wilfully, deliberately, and contumaciously ignored the court. Cooper v. Keyes, 510 So.2d 518, 519 (Miss.1987). A decree which defines with reasonable specificity what the alleged contemnor must do or refrain from doing must be issued.......
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Premeaux v. Smith, 89-CA-0377
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