Greenlee v. Mitchell

• Decision Date: 12 August 1992
• Docket Number: No. 89-CA-0464,89-CA-0464
• Citation: 607 So.2d 97
• Parties: W.H. GREENLEE, Jr., Rosa L. Greenlee, and Weyerhaeuser Company v. Jewell Greenlee MITCHELL, Christine Miller Edwards and Wendell H. Miller.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 97

607 So.2d 97

W.H. GREENLEE, Jr., Rosa L. Greenlee, and Weyerhaeuser Company v. Jewell Greenlee MITCHELL, Christine Miller Edwards and Wendell H. Miller.

No. 89-CA-0464.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Aug. 12, 1992.

George M. Mitchell, Jr., Fortner & Mitchell, Eupora, Robert Thomas, Alford Thomas & Kilgore, Philadelphia, for appellants.

Buchanan Meek, Jr., Meek & Meek, Eupora, for appellees.

Before ROY NOBLE LEE, C.J., and ROBERTSON and SULLIVAN, JJ.

SULLIVAN, Justice, for the Court:

Two deeds, one dated in 1949 and the other in 1953, form the basis of this suit. The 1949 deed was from W.H. Greenlee, Sr. to his sons, W.H. Greenlee, Jr. and Frank Greenlee. The 1953 deed covered the same property and was from Jewel Greenlee Mitchell, Cora Greenlee Miller, and Laura Greenlee (W.H. Greenlee, Sr.'s daughters and widow) to W.H. Greenlee, Jr. and Frank Greenlee (W.H. Greenlee, Sr.'s sons). This deed recited a conveyance of the 1/5 interest of each grantor, but was signed by only Jewell Greenlee Mitchell and Laura Greenlee.

W.H. Greenlee, Jr. and his wife Rosa (hereinafter "the Greenlees") claim that the 1949 deed is valid and through it W.H., Jr. received one-half ( 1/2) of the subject property. The Greenlees assert that the 1949 deed was witnessed by Jewell Greenlee Mitchell, one of the Appellees, and Mrs. A.W. (Cora) Miller, the mother of the remaining Jewell Greenlee Mitchell and Christine and Wendell Miller (the children of Cora) claim W.H. Greenlee, Sr. lacked the mental capacity necessary to execute the 1949 deed. Further, they allege that the 1949 deed is invalid because it was not notarized. From the time of the 1949 deed until 1985, the Appellees (hereinafter "Mitchell/Millers") claim that the property was treated as though jointly owned by all of the heirs of W.H. Greenlee, Sr. and that Jewell Greenlee Mitchell paid the property taxes. W.H. Greenlee, Sr.'s widow, Laura, exercised ownership over the property during her lifetime; after her death, to the extent anyone did, it was the Mitchell/Millers. In 1985, the Mitchell/Millers claim W.H., Jr. recorded the 1953 deed and bought his deceased brother Frank's interest and conveyed it to his wife, Rosa, who subsequently sold the timber to Weyerhaeuser and then conveyed the property back to W.H., Jr.

two Appellees. W.H., Jr. claims that he owns the entire subject property as he bought the one-half interest that had belonged to his brother Frank, now deceased. According to W.H., Jr., the 1953 deed was given in order to clear up any potential problems with the 1949 deed.

Weyerhaeuser claims to be caught in the midst of a family feud it knows nothing about. It entered into negotiations to buy the timber in 1984 and was high bidder. In 1985 it requested a title check. The resulting title opinion showed the owner of the property to be Mrs. Rosa L. Greenlee. Rosa executed a warranty deed for the timber to Weyerhaeuser, who then harvested the timber.

It is stipulated that W.H. Greenlee, Sr. was the owner in fee simple of the subject land prior to the execution of the 1949 deed. It was further stipulated that Weyerhaeuser purchased the timber from Rosa Greenlee by competent bid in which Weyerhaeuser was high bidder and that Weyerhaeuser obtained a title opinion on the land in question from a local attorney; Weyerhaeuser obtained a warranty deed from Rosa Greenlee and paid her the bid price for the timber; and Weyerhaeuser was required to hire an attorney as a result of this action at the rate of $60.00 an hour.

W.H. Greenlee, Sr. died on December 10, 1949. His widow, Laura Greenlee, died in January, 1974. This left three heirs of W.H. Greenlee, Sr. Frank Greenlee, a son, had died in 1967. Cora Greenlee Miller, a daughter of W.H. Sr., died in October, 1974.

W.H., Sr. and his wife, Laura, lived on and worked the property until 1949, when they moved in with Cora and her family. W.H., Sr. was suffering from heart difficulties and lung cancer and was taking morphine for his pain. Jewell Greenlee Mitchell testified that W.H., Sr. told her that W.H., Jr. had been trying to get the property. According to Jewell, W.H., Sr. said that he would never deed it to him.

Malcolm Edwards, Christine Miller Edwards' husband, testified that W.H., Sr.'s health was poor from September, 1949, until his death. Edwards testified that W.H., Sr. was bedridden, did not know him, had no conversations with him, was in great pain constantly and was spitting up blood. Edwards also testified that W.H., Sr., was taking morphine shots and that he did not see him in a mentally competent condition from September, 1949, until he died.

Billy Miller testified that in September, 1949, when W.H., Sr. was living with his family, he was so sick he did not know when Billy, his own grandson, came in and out of his room; he cried and coughed a lot and did not carry on any conversations. Billy did not see him in a condition to carry on legal activities from September, 1949, until his death. Billy also testified that W.H., Sr. was on morphine constantly. Christine Miller Edwards' testimony regarding the state of mind and physical health of W.H., Sr. in the months of 1949 prior to his death was substantially the same. W.H., Jr. stated, however, that his father was responsive to conversations as late as October 17, 1949.

After W.H., Sr. died, Laura Greenlee paid taxes on the property. Billy Miller testified that in 1950, W.H., Jr. said the family place would ultimately be divided four ways, but as long as Laura Greenlee In April, 1970, Laura Greenlee executed an oil, gas and mineral lease on the subject land. W.H., Jr. claimed that the only reason she signed as grantor on the lease was because he and Frank had told her she could have control of the property during her lifetime. Christine Miller Edwards testified that the family all agreed in 1953 that the property would be used by Laura Greenlee until she died.

lived, it would be her place. When Laura died in 1974, the property was assessed to the Laura Greenlee Estate from 1975 until 1984. Throughout this time Jewell Greenlee Mitchell paid the taxes on the property.

W.H., Jr. testified that he prepared the 1949 deed which gave the property to him and his brother, Frank, at his father's instruction. W.H., Jr. said that all of the Greenlee children were present when W.H., Sr. and his wife, Laura, signed the deed. W.H., Jr. denied that his father was taking morphine at that time. All of the Greenlee children, with the exception of W.H., Jr., signed as witnesses. W.H., Jr. testified that it was not notarized because there was no notary available and they thought it was valid with three witnesses. He did not consult an attorney regarding the deed and the deed was not filed of record until December 8, 1949, two days before W.H., Sr. died.

Jewell Greenlee Mitchell's explanation for the 1949 deed was that when W.H., Jr. started waving a piece of paper around and telling everybody that "daddy" wanted the children to sign it, Frank told her to go on and sign it to get W.H., Jr. to shut his mouth. She did. She further stated that Frank told her it would not be any good as it was not witnessed or "notified." Jewell says that what everyone signed was a piece of yellow legal paper and not the deed entered into evidence as the 1949 deed. Several other witnesses referred to the yellow piece of paper or legal pad and claimed that it was not the same as the deed in Exhibit 1.

Jewell also testified that Cora was upset by W.H., Jr.'s request that she sign the deed and said she would never sign it. Cora's son, Billy, also testified that his mother said she would never sign "any of it." Jewell denied that the signature of Mrs. A.R. Mitchell on the deed was executed by her and stated affirmatively that she had never seen the 1949 deed. She testified also that the signature on the 1949 deed purporting to be that of her sister Cora was not Cora's signature.

As to the 1953 deed, Jewell testified that she had not seen it until sometime in the year prior to the trial of this matter. Jewell said she did not sign the 1953 deed and has never spelled her name with one "l", as it is spelled on the deed. W.H., Jr.'s wife, Rosa, however, had been known to spell Jewell's name with one "l."

Jewell's son, David, also testified that the signature on the 1953 deed was not that of his mother. We note, however, that the birth certificate of Billy Mitchell, Jewell's son, spells Jewell with only one "l." The information on the document was supplied by Mrs. A.R. Mitchell (Jewell). W.D. Shumake, who was the notary on the 1953 deed, was not known to Jewell. She testified that she had never been paid back for any amount of the taxes she paid on the property from 1974 to 1984.

Shortly after Cora's death in October of 1974, Cora's children, Christine and Billy Miller, approached W.H., Jr. about dividing the home place. Nothing was done about it and W.H., Jr. testified that he did not feel that he needed to point out that he and Frank owned the land since it was a matter of record. Christine testified that she and her brother Billy had talked to W.H., Jr. about dividing the land because they wanted to build a weekend hideaway and that W.H., Jr. was concerned about some outsider buying into their land. Christine said they offered to give him the right of first refusal in writing, which he liked, but he still put them off because he did not have time right then.

In 1977, Max Greenlee, son of the deceased Frank, wrote a letter to his Aunt Jewell and sent copies to W.H., Jr. as well as to Billy and Christine Miller. Max had had the title checked by an attorney and understood that the property was in the name of W.H. Greenlee, Sr.'s Estate. The W.H., Jr. testified that the 1949 deed stayed with him, then went to Frank just before Frank died. At Frank's death his son, Max, mailed the deed back to W.H., Jr., when W.H., Jr. bought out Frank's interest. However, Max had no knowledge of his...