Title: Holmes v. Jones
Citation: 318 So. 2d 865
Docket Number: 48222
State: Mississippi
Issuer: Mississippi Supreme Court
Date: September 29, 1975

318 So. 2d 865 (1975) A.B. HOLMES, Individually and as next friend of Alvin Holmes et al. v. C.W. JONES et al. No. 48222. Supreme Court of Mississippi. September 29, 1975. *866 Charles H. Ramberg, Brandon, Barry H. Powell, John L. Maxey, II, Jackson, for appellants. W.E. McIntyre, Jr., McLaurin &amp; Nicols, George T. Kelly, Brandon, Chill, Chill &amp; Dove, Jackson, for appellees. Before GILLESPIE, SMITH and ROBERTSON, JJ. ROBERTSON, Justice. A.B. Holmes and Bobbie D. Mangum, individually and as next friends and fathers respectively of Alvin Holmes and Bobbie Jean Mangum, minors, brought suit in the Chancery Court of Rankin County, Mississippi, against Milton Singletary, Hilton Richardson, R.L. Cross, Tom Rives and Steen Patrick, Supervisors of Rankin County, Mississippi, and the United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company, the surety on their official bonds, and C.W. Jones, for the illegal and unconstitutional leasing of 16th Section school lands to C.W. Jones for a grossly inadequate rental. The complainants averred in their bill of complaint: The complainants attached to their bill of complaint as exhibits: 1. A copy of an Order of the Board of Supervisors duly and unanimously adopted on January 26, 1970, and recorded on the Board's official Minutes, authorizing and ordering a 25-year lease of 150 acres of 16th Section land to C.W. Jones for an annual rental of $37.50, being approximately $.25 per acre per year. 2. Copy of the lease, executed on January 26, 1970, by "THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF RANKIN COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI BY (Signed) C.W. Jones, County Superintendent of Education of Rankin County, Mississippi" to himself, C.W. Jones. *867 The order of the Board of Supervisors, Exhibit "F" to the bill of complaint, recites among other things: The lease from C.W. Jones, County Superintendent of Education of Rankin County, to C.W. Jones, individually, recites: Exhibit "H" to the bill of complaint is a Lease Contract from C.W. Jones as lessor to David Patrick as lessee, of the same 150 acres of 16th section land [less 10 acres, and plus 7 acres in Section 15], for a three-year term for an annual rental of $900. The lease recites: The complainants specifically prayed for a judgment against the defendants, jointly and severally, for $18,695.14, (which complainants averred was the value of the 25-year lease at a fair rental of $1,462.50 per year, discounted at 6% per annum), and also for general relief. The chancellor sustained general demurrers, one filed by the Supervisors and one filed by C.W. Jones, on March 1, 1974, to the bill of complaint. Complainants contend on this appeal that the Chancery Court erred in sustaining general demurrers to their bill of complaint. We agree. As correctly stated in the bill of complaint, Sixteenth Section school lands are trust lands to be administered for the benefit of the inhabitants and educable children of the township for the support of the public schools therein. Mississippi Code Annotated section 29-3-1 (1972) provides: The Legislature in 1974 amended Section 29-3-1, inserting this proviso: This amendment did not take effect until March 14, 1974, which, of course, was four years after the acts complained of in the case at bar. Mississippi Code Annotated section 29-3-57 (1972) provides: In State ex rel. v. Dear et al., 209 Miss. 268, 46 So. 2d 100 (1950), we said: The complainants, representing the beneficiaries of this trust estate, were proper parties to bring this suit. The bill of complaint on its face shows that C.W. Jones, County Superintendent of Education of Rankin County, Mississippi, acting in a fiduciary capacity, violated a solemn trust and executed a 25-year lease of the trust property to himself for a grossly inadequate consideration of $37.50 a year for 150 acres of trust lands. A fiduciary cannot take advantage of his position of trust in administering the estate entrusted to him. The intent of the Legislature is unmistakeably clear in the general law on this subject. Mississippi Code Annotated, sections 91-7-253 and 91-7-255 (1972) provide: The averments of the bill of complaint and the exhibits thereto clearly show a good cause of action against each member of the Board of Supervisors, the surety on their bonds, and C.W. Jones. The lease of January 26, 1970, from C.W. Jones, County Superintendent of Education of Rankin County, to C.W. Jones individually was void on its face. The lease contract from C.W. Jones to David Patrick, providing for the payment of an annual rental of $900, beginning March 15, 1970, (less than two months after the execution on January 26, 1970, of a lease of substantially the same sixteenth section school land by C.W. Jones, County Superintendent of Education, to C.W. Jones, individually, for $37.50 annual rental) shows on its face that the lease to Jones was for a grossly inadequate consideration amounting to a donation of public property to a private individual, in clear violation of Section 95 of the Constitution of the State of Mississippi, which provides in part: The bill of complaint also states a prima facie case against all the defendants for the recovery of the difference between the $900 annual rental and the $37.50 annual rental for each of the three years of the lease from Jones to Patrick, plus legal interest. *870 The decrees of the chancery court sustaining the general demurrers to the bill of complaint are reversed and this cause remanded for a trial on the merits. Reversed and remanded. RODGERS, P.J., and PATTERSON, INZER, SUGG, WALKER and BROOM, JJ., concur.