Opinion ID: 1724258
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: whether the chancellor erred in his decree awarding statutory penalty by failing to allow for, adjust, or account for depletion of the mineral reserve subsequent to the trial court judgment date of april 11, 1988, when assessing the 15% penalty of said reserves.

Text: ¶ 24. The Haynes Appellants argue that the chancellor erred further in valuing the mineral estate of the subject property. They contend that the chancellor gave no consideration to the fact that the oil and gas produced during the period from April 11, 1988 (the date of the original judgment), to December 16, 1991 (the date of this Court's mandate), greatly reduced the value of the mineral reserves as of the latter date, which the chancellor used in valuing the mineral reserves. ¶ 25. The Steele Appellees counter, arguing that the Haynes Appellants' argument must fail for three reasons. First, the Haynes Appellants are estopped from raising this argument on appeal because they did not raise it in the court below. Second, judicial precedent clearly indicates that the date of the Supreme Court's judgment or mandate is an appropriate date on which to value the mineral reserves for purposes of applying the statutory penalty. Finally, the Haynes Appellants received their fair share of the royalty payments generated by the mineral production between April 11, 1988, and December 16, 1991. Thus, the Haynes Appellants cannot argue that they have somehow been wronged by the depletion that occurred between these two dates. This assignment of error warrants no relief. ¶ 26. The Haynes Appellants filed a motion in chancery court in the remanded action requesting the chancery court to apply the fifteen percent penalty in a certain manner. The Haynes Appellants specifically stated, in their section entitled Specific Relief Sought, that the fifteen percent statutory penalty should include fifteen percent of the value of: (c) Movants' parts of the value of the minerals or mineral reserves in place as of December 16, 1991, the date of the subject Supreme Court mandate; (d) That the aforesaid values are to be determined as of December 16, 1991, the date of the subject Supreme Court mandate, pursuant to the authority of: Peoples Bank & Trust v. L. & T. Developers, Inc., 437 So.2d 7 (8-17-83), Lowicki v. Lowicki, 429 So.2d 917 (4-6-83), M.T. Reed Construction Co. v. Martin, 215 Miss. 472, 63 So.2d 528 (3-16-53), and Johnson v. Black, 480 So.2d 519 (11-13-85). In addition, an interrogatory response provided by the Haynes Appellants on remand contained the following language: the date upon which the valuation of the subject properties should be made in connection with the assessment of the 15% statutory penalty is December 16, 1991, the date of the Mississippi Supreme Court's mandate affirming the Lower Court's decision. The basis for the selection of this particular date is supported by the several Mississippi Supreme Court cases indicating the same, said cases being set forth in the [Haynes Appellants'] reply brief. ¶ 27. This Court has repeatedly held that no new issues may be raised on appeal. Crowe v. Smith, 603 So.2d 301, 305 (Miss. 1992) (appellant is not entitled to raise a new issue on appeal); Parker v. Game and Fish Comm'n, 555 So.2d 725, 730 (Miss. 1989) (trial judge will not be put in error on a matter which has not been presented to him); Mills v. Nichols, 467 So.2d 924, 931 (Miss. 1985) (trial court will not be put in error on appeal for matter not presented to it for decision). Nothing in the designated record on appeal indicates that the Haynes Appellants ever argued below that the appropriate date for valuation was April 11, 1988, rather than December 16, 1991. The record on appeal is also absent of any indication that the Haynes Appellants argued below that the chancery court should account for the depletion between April 11, 1988, and December 16, 1991. Thus, the Haynes Appellants are estopped from arguing on appeal that the chancery court erred by valuing the mineral reserves as of December 16, 1991, because such valuation did not take into account the depletion of the mineral reserves between April 11, 1988, and December 16, 1991. ¶ 28. Although the Haynes Appellants are procedurally estopped from making such an argument on appeal, it is still without merit for two reasons. The Haynes Appellants properly noted in their pleadings before the chancery court that judicial precedent clearly indicates that the date of the Supreme Court's judgment or mandate is an appropriate date on which to value the mineral reserves for purposes of applying the statutory penalty. In Lowicki, a chancery court had entered a final decree granting the wife a divorce and awarding her possession of the home in which she and her husband had lived. Lowicki, 429 So.2d at 918. The husband appealed, and on February 2, 1983, this Court affirmed the chancery court's decree. The wife filed a motion for assessment of the statutory penalty and this Court awarded her damages in the amount of fifteen percent of the fair market value of her husband's interest in the house as of February 2, 1983, the date of the Supreme Court's affirmance. Id. at 920. ¶ 29. In Peoples Bank & Trust v. L. & T. Developers, 437 So.2d 7 (Miss. 1983), this Court determined that the date on which the trial court entered its judgment is not the appropriate date upon which to value property to which the statutory penalty is to be applied. There, this Court, when applying the statutory penalty, had to determine whether to value land as of the date of the decree appealed from or as of the present date. The Court held: A persuasive argument could be made that the value should be determined as of the date of the final decree appealed from... . The argument is that the appellant should not be allowed to escape the sting of the penalty by the fortuity that the property may depreciate in value during a long drawn out appellate process. The statute is silent on the point. We construe it here to refer to present value (a) because of the impracticability of determining with any accuracy value as of an arbitrary prior date such as [the date upon which the trial court entered judgment], and (b) because more often than not the value of property will, if anything, increase. Peoples Bank & Trust, 437 So.2d at 12 n. 4. But see Walters v. Inexco Oil Co., 440 So.2d 268 (Miss. 1983). ¶ 30. Thus, the chancellor was not in error in applying the fifteen percent statutory penalty to the value of the Haynes Appellants' interest in the mineral reserves as of December 16, 1991, as this Court's holding in Lowicki clearly establishes that this was an appropriate date for valuation of the mineral reserves which remained in the ground. ¶ 31. Finally, as the proceeds paid into the chancery court's registry were to be disbursed to both parties according to their respective percentage of ownership, the Haynes Appellants would have received value for their share of any mineral reserves depleted during the period in question. This assignment of error is without merit and warrants no relief.