Title: Edwards v. Harper
Citation: 321 So. 2d 301
Docket Number: 47959
State: Mississippi
Issuer: Mississippi Supreme Court
Date: November 3, 1975

321 So. 2d 301 (1975) Tommy EDWARDS et al. v. Mrs. Ina McIntyre HARPER et al. No. 47959. Supreme Court of Mississippi. November 3, 1975. *302 Johnston &amp; Adams, Brandon, for appellants. McLaurin &amp; Nicols, Brandon, for appellees. Before RODGERS, SMITH and SUGG, JJ. SUGG, Justice: Complainants filed a bill to confirm title to seventy-five acres of 16th Section land located in Rankin County, within the corporate limits of the City of Brandon, under the provisions of Mississippi Code Annotated section 29-3-103 (1972). Exhibit "A" annexed to the bill of complaint is the application of F.L. Harper for a ninety-nine year extension of existing 16th Section leases on property described in paragraph three of the bill of complaint. The application of Harper alleged that he held the land under two leases for a period of twenty-five years each, one from October 10, 1932, the other from December 8, 1936. Neither of the leases had expired when the application for extension was filed. F.L. Harper died testate and devised his leasehold interest in the seventy five acres to Mrs. Ina McIntyre Harper who later conveyed an undivided one-half interest to Maxine Harper Carr, Orville Earl Harper and Dale Lamar Harper. Mrs. Harper and her grantees, as complainants, named the President of the Board of Supervisors of Rankin County as defendant. The record does not show when the bill of complaint was filed, but it was sworn to on October 15, 1973. On October 20, 1973, the chancellor issued a fiat setting the cause for hearing at 9:00 a.m. on November 2, 1973. On October 23, 1973, Tommy Edwards, one of the appellants, filed a petition to intervene in the case. Edwards alleged that the 1946 lease granted F.L. Harper was void for failure to comply with statutory requirements and that the property was worth in excess of $75,000 at the present market value. On November 3, 1973, James O. Ryals, Jr. and Joseph S. Donnell filed a petition to join in the petition to intervene previously filed by Tommy Edwards. On the same date complainants demurred to the petition to intervene and the chancellor entered an order denying intervention by Tommy Edwards. By separate order, the petition of Ryals and Donnell to join in the petition to intervene filed by Tommy Edwards was denied. We affirm the chancellor's ruling for the reason that the petition to intervene filed by Tommy Edwards did not state a cause of action. On November 2, 1973, Tommy Edwards, James O. Ryals, Jr. and Joseph S. Donnell filed, in the same cause, a petition to set aside the lease. The petition was filed on behalf of the public and all other taxpayers of Rankin County were invited to join. They alleged that the petition was filed because of the failure of the public officials of Rankin County, Mississippi, specifically the President of the Board of Supervisors, to file an answer to the original bill of complaint of Mrs. Harper, et al. *303 On November 2, 1973, complainants demurred to the petition of Edwards, et al, and assigned the following grounds: (1) There is no equity on the face of the petition, (2) the petitioners are not parties in the original bill to confirm title and cannot inject themselves into the case, (3) the petition fails to state a cause of action, and (4) other causes to be shown at the hearing. The first and third grounds of the demurrer raised questions which are properly the subject of a general demurrer, while the second ground assigned is the subject of a special demurrer. In Griffith's Mississippi Chancery Practice § 294 at 278-79 (2nd ed. 1950), the author states: The demurrer should have been overruled because the petition to set aside the lease stated a cause of action sufficient to withstand a general demurrer. Appellants alleged that, at the time of the execution of the lease to Harper in 1946, the land had a fair market value of $22,500, and the ground rental for the ninety nine year period of $400 was so grossly inadequate as to render the lease a donation in violation of Article IV, Section 95 of the Mississippi Constitution of 1890. We have held in two recent cases that 16th Section lands are held in trust and are the proper subject of taxpayer suits. Keys v. Carter, Miss., 318 So. 2d 862 (decided September 29, 1975); Holmes v. Jones, Miss., 318 So. 2d 865 (decided September 29, 1975). The court did not give a reason for sustaining the demurrer; therefore, we can only surmise that the chancellor sustained the demurrer because of the third ground assigned. Parties may not intervene in cases except on formal order of the court unless they are recognized as parties by the others. However, if a special demurrer had been filed on the ground that appellants had not been admitted by an order of the court, and such demurrer sustained, appellants could then have filed a proper application for an order admitting them as parties. The rule governing applications to intervene is succinctly stated in Griffith's Mississippi Chancery Practice § 411 at 402 (2nd ed. 1950), as follows: Measured by the above rule, appellants, as taxpayers, should be admitted as parties. The original suit was a bill to confirm title to a 16th Section lease; appellants were not dilatory in filing their petition to set aside the lease, and the interest of the appellants and other taxpayers could not be protected by a final decree confirming title in complainants to the leasehold interest in the lands involved. Appellants were not injecting new issues into the case, but were contending that the consideration paid for the lease was so inadequate that it amounted to a donation. On remand, the trial court should admit appellants as parties by formal order. The fourth ground of the demurrer should not have been reached by the court because it does not state a ground for demurrer. In Griffith's Mississippi Chancery Practice § 302 at 289 (2d ed. 1950), we find the following: This case is therefore reversed and remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion. Reversed and remanded. GILLESPIE, C.J., and PATTERSON, INZER, ROBERTSON, WALKER and BROOM, JJ., concur.