Sones v. Sones Chapel Baptist Church


<- Return to Search Results


Docket Number: 2005-CA-02079-COA

Court of Appeals: Opinion Link
Opinion Date: 01-16-2007
Opinion Author: ROBERTS, J.
Holding: Affirmed

Additional Case Information: Topic: Real property - Deed restrictions - Section 79-11-31 (1) - Resolution
Judge(s) Concurring: KING, C.J., LEE AND MYERS, P.JJ., CHANDLER, GRIFFIS, BARNES AND ISHEE, JJ.
Non Participating Judge(s): CARLTON, J.
Concurs in Result Only: IRVING, J.
Procedural History: Summary Judgment
Nature of the Case: CIVIL - REAL PROPERTY

Trial Court: Date of Trial Judgment: 09-19-2005
Appealed from: PEARL RIVER COUNTY CHANCERY COURT
Judge: Sebe Dale, Jr.
Disposition: REVERTER CLAUSE EXTINGUISHED AS CLOUD TO TITLE. After considering arguments on summary judgment, the chancellor granted the Church’s motion for summary judgment. The trial court denied the Sones' motion for reconsideration.
Case Number: 04-0558-GN-D

  Party Name: Attorney Name:  
Appellant: LAURA DAVIS SONES




JEFFREY LOEWER HALL



 

Appellee: SONES CHAPEL BAPTIST CHURCH BY AND THROUGH ITS CLERK AND TREASURER, ADRIAN LUMPKIN, JR. CANDANCE L. RICKMAN, WILLIAM E. ANDREWS  

Synopsis provided by:

If you are interested in subscribing to the weekly synopses of all Mississippi Supreme Court and Court of Appeals
hand downs please contact Tammy Upton in the MLI Press office.

Topic: Real property - Deed restrictions - Section 79-11-31 (1) - Resolution

Summary of the Facts: In 1922, Sones Chapel Baptist Church was deeded the land upon which its sanctuary had stood for more than twenty years. The legal description in the deed was inaccurate, and in 1978 the original grantor’s successors in interest agreed to a deed exchange to correct the inaccuracy. Included in the deed was a reverter clause stipulating that if the Church “cease[d] to be used as a place for Landmark Missionary Baptist Ministry, or of like faith and order,” the property would revert back to the grantors. In 2004, a minority of the Church’s members became dissatisfied and requested a trustee of the Church to enforce the reverter clause and deed the property back to the grantors. The trustee obliged the group, and the Church received a notice to vacate the property. The Church filed a complaint arguing that the trustee had no authority to transfer Church property and the reverter clause was void, and eventually filed a motion for summary judgment. The court granted the motion for summary judgment, and the grantor appeals.

Summary of Opinion Analysis: Sones argues that she and her husband were exercising their right as owners of the property to include deed restrictions and such deed restrictions should be upheld as the Soneses did not prohibit the trustees from familiarizing themselves with the restrictions. Section 79-11-31 (1) provides that upon the completion of the organization of a society, the title to the real property theretofore owned by it shall thereupon vest in the society, and shall not be divested out of the same, or encumbered, except by a deed, deed of trust, or mortgage duly executed under the authority of a resolution adopted by a majority vote of the members present at a meeting called for that purpose, at which meeting at least twenty per cent of the members in good standing of such organized society must be present. A condition subsequent has been said to render a vested estate liable to be defeated. All that remains in the grantor, or his heirs, is a mere possibility of reverter or right of entry on condition broken. As mere as these future interests may be, they create the possibility that the Church’s real property may be divested without the resolution required by section 79-11-31. As such, for the clause in question to have been rightfully included in the 1978 deed, a resolution must have specifically authorized the clause. The resolution did not authorize the clause or any such restrictions, but only an exchange of deeds to correct an inaccurate description of the land upon which the Church had stood for more than a century. Therefore, the chancellor did not err in holding the clause cancelled as a cloud on the title of the Church.


Home | Terms of Use | About the JDP | Feedback | Using JDP | MC Law Library | Mississippi Supreme Court