Robert E. Ratliff Co., Inc. v. Mississippi State Highway Commission, 52789

• Decision Date: 22 July 1981
• Docket Number: No. 52789,52789
• Citation: 400 So.2d 1211
• Parties: ROBERT E. RATLIFF COMPANY, INC., v. MISSISSIPPI STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 1211

400 So.2d 1211

ROBERT E. RATLIFF COMPANY, INC., v. MISSISSIPPI STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION.

No. 52789.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

July 22, 1981.

A. E. (Gene) Harlow, Grenada, for appellant.

Mitchell M. Lundy, Grenada, for appellee.

Before SMITH, BOWLING and HAWKINS, JJ.

HAWKINS, Justice, for the Court:

This case is on appeal from the Chancery Court of Grenada County in which the court dismissed with prejudice a bill of complaint filed by appellant Robert E. Ratliff Company, Inc., against the appellee Mississippi State Highway Commission to remove a cloud upon the title to a strip of realty allegedly owned by appellant, and for injunctive relief as well. We affirm.

The realty in dispute is a strip of realty forming a part of the right-of-way of Mississippi State Highway Number Eight, and is 25 feet wide north and south and 350 feet long east and west.

On March 9, 1939, T. J. Hallam, a single man, executed a warranty deed unto the State Highway Commission of Mississippi, duly recorded on March 21, 1939 in the land deed records of Grenada County, to the following described real property in that county:

A strip of land varying in width, extending through, over, on and across the following described lands in said county and State: the Southeast 1/4 of the Northeast 1/4 of Section 17, Township 22 North, Range 5 East and containing 3.7 acres, more or less, and being all the land owned by me/or us within certain limits more particularly described as follows: A strip of land extending 50 feet right and left from the center line, and beginning at Station 68 k 45 and ending at Station 74 k 50 and a strip of land extending 75 feet right and left from the center line, and beginning at Station 74 k 50 and ending at Station 78 k 00 and a strip of land extending 50 feet right and left from the center line, and beginning at Station 78 k 00 and ending at Station 82 k 81 of a proposed highway as now surveyed and shown by the plans for said highway on file in the office of the State Highway Department at Jackson, Mississippi, and known as State Project No. 8-1147-B(1) between Grenada and Calhoun City and said plans are hereby specially referred to and made a part hereof by reference.

The area in dispute is the south 25 feet of the right-of-way of Highway Eight beginning at Station 74 k 50 on the west and ending at Station 78 k 00 on the East. The reason for the extended width of the right-of-way between these two stations was the road ran through a lake or low swampland and additional right-of-way was needed for the fill for the highway.

On July 22, 1974, Jessie V. Harper and other grantors conveyed a tract of realty containing approximately 15 acres adjacent to the south right-of-way of Highway Eight to appellant Robert E. Ratliff Company, Inc., a close corporation of which Robert E. Ratliff individually is president, and the description of which included this 25 feet wide strip of realty. If this deed to Robert E. Ratliff Company, Inc., were correct, the right-of-way on the south side of Highway Eight in the disputed area would have been only 50 feet wide as opposed to 75 feet. Also, undisputed testimony indicated the existence of a fence on the south side of this highway since the early 1940's along what would have constituted a 50 feet right-of-way on the south side, rather than a 75 feet right-of-way on the south side of the highway.

After Mr. Ratliff purchased the realty he began filling in a portion of the area next to the highway and constructed several commercial stores thereon. He asked a Mr Suggs Ingram, an employee of the highway department who inspected for encroachments, about filling in the realty south of the highway and was told by Mr. Ingram that a Mr. Jim Anderson, permit inspector for the highway department, agreed to the fill. Mr. Anderson denied giving any such authority, and testified such a permit would have violated highway regulations, and even if authorized would have to be in writing.

On August 11, 1978, Mr. T. E. Foshee, district engineer of the highway department, wrote Mr. Ratliff to remove some gasoline pumps which were on the 75 feet right-of-way.

The original bill of complaint to remove the cloud upon title of this corporation was initially filed in the Chancery Court of Grenada County on January 18, 1979, and an amended bill was filed on February 26, 1979. The highway department answered the bill of complaint, and trial was had thereon before the Chancery Court.

The amended bill of complaint alleged that the deed to the State Highway Commission was insufficient to put the complainant on notice of its interest in the right-of-way and that the complainant was an innocent purchaser for valuable consideration. The bill further alleged the disputed area had been abandoned, and the conduct of the highway department estopped it from making any claim to this area.

After hearing the cause, the chancellor found as a fact that the deed to the highway department was a good and valid deed and the description was adequate to put the complainant on notice that the highway commission had an interest in the realty. The court further found as a fact that Mr. Ratliff, president of the complainant corporation, had previously been involved in obtaining highway department permits for...