Opinion ID: 1723439
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: did the chancellor commit error in failing to allow a cause of action for trespass or assault?

Text: The general standard of review in such cases is to reverse a chancellor's findings only where his decision is manifestly wrong or not supported by substantial, credible evidence. Snow Lake Shores Property Owners Corp. v. Smith, 610 So.2d 357, 360 (Miss. 1992). This Court presumes with no specific findings on the record, the chancellor resolved all such fact issues in favor of appellee. See, e.g., In re Estate of Mason, 616 So.2d 322, 329 (Miss. 1993). In this case, the chancellor found no action for trespass or assault. This decision is amply supported by the evidence. As for the incident giving rise to the assault cause, McIntosh merely stood by his car, on the road, and told the workers from Murray Church that they had ten, and then five minutes to get off his property. A witness alleging assault stated that McIntosh did not make his statement in a manner like he was going to jump on us. However, McIntosh did frighten them, according to the witness. Mississippi law gives a definition of civil liability for assault in Webb v. Jackson, 583 So.2d 946 (Miss. 1991). Webb states that liability for assault arises when a person acts intending to cause a harmful or offensive contact with the person of another or a third person, or an imminent apprehension of such a contact, and the other is thereby put in such imminent apprehension. Webb, 583 So.2d at 951, citing Restatement (Second) of Torts § 21 (1965). In this case, the witness' testimony indicates that McIntosh was not indicating imminent contact, where the witness noted that McIntosh did not act as if he was going to attack them at all, let alone imminently. The chancellor was amply justified in refusing to allow assault. Murray Church also argues that McIntosh should be liable for punitive damages on trespass, since he occupied ground he knew had been deeded to Murray Church. To receive punitive damages for trespass upon real property, Mississippi law requires the trespass to be willful or wanton. Seismic Petroleum Serv., Inc. v. Ryan, 450 So.2d 437, 440-41 (Miss. 1984). Murray Church cannot expect McIntosh, who was unrepresented by legal counsel, to know about the nuances of estoppel, to which reasonable people can differ.