Opinion ID: 1150101
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Brown Place

Text: This property consisted of approximately eighty-five (85) acres of pasture and undeveloped land adjacent to the City of Aberdeen. Reed Walters had purchased this land in 1964 for $7,500. In 1966, Walters was faced with imminent foreclosure of a deed of trust to Monroe Banking & Trust Co. (predecessor in title to Bank of Mississippi; appellee here, defendant below). Mrs. Walters and Mrs. Patterson provided the $8,000 needed to pay Walters' debt to the bank. Each contributed $4,000. Reed Walters conveyed the land to them by warranty deed. Both Reed Walters and Mrs. Patterson testified that Walters was orally given a right to redeem the land. According to Mrs. Patterson, the right was limited to one year. Walters testified that the right to redeem was for an indefinite time period  possibly extending to fifty years. There was no written memorandum of this agreement. In 1976, Mrs. Sadie Walters died. She devised the Brown Place to Mrs. Xema Patterson. After the 1966 conveyance, Reed Walters performed the following acts of possession on the Brown Property: (1) At some point after 1966, Bob Patterson, Xema's husband, placed a hog pen on the property. Walters contacted his mother who had the hogs removed within a week. (2) On July 22, 1968, Walters offered to the City of Aberdeen a 15 acre drained lake for garbage disposal. Mr. Patterson, who was a city alderman, did not dispute Mr. Walters' right to offer the land. (3) In 1969, Walters parked construction equipment and placed an 8 x 10 steel metal office building on the property. (4) In 1969 Walters cleared land and planted 29 acres of watermelons. (5) Walters cut bodock posts from the land from 1964 to 1983. (6) In 1983, Walters submitted a bill to Mrs. Patterson for backhoe work on the Brown Place. She assigned a right to payment of $1,779 from the United States Department of Agriculture to Walters. Mrs. Patterson testified that all of these acts were with her permission. On July 2, 1982, Mrs. Patterson executed a deed of trust for the Brown Place to Bank of Mississippi. Another deed of trust was executed on July 1, 1983. A third deed of trust was recorded in 1984 and was outstanding at the time of trial. In 1983, Mrs. Patterson had Reed Walters prosecuted for trespass on the Brown Place. In that same year, Mrs. Patterson executed an option to purchase fifteen (15) acres of this property to Mr. Denton Roberts.