Opinion ID: 864601
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Breach of Peace

Text: ¶58. Wilson argues that the trial court erred in granting American Lenders' motion for JNOV. The jury found American Lenders guilty of breach of peace and awarded Wilson $1,000,000. The trial court granted American Lenders' motion for JNOV to eliminate the $1,000,000 judgment, finding that no credible evidence supported Wilson's recovery of $1,000,000 against American Lenders. ¶59. In its memorandum opinion the trial court stated: There were two jury verdicts in this case. One against Defendant, GMAC, for $2.5 million dollars, which was reduced to $75,000.00, as per the agreement that Plaintiff would not seek more than $75,000 and one against Defendant, American Lender, for $1 million dollars. This court must look at the facts of the individual case to see if the facts arise to the level to provide a basis where upon this court could assume that either of the Defendant's actions were so outrageous or the type to evoke revulsion, thereby allowing the Plaintiff to not have to put forth evidence of her mental anguish/distress against both Defendants. The court must also look to see if the repossession was done in a manner that would constitute a breach of the peace of conversion. ¶60. In granting the JNOV as to American Lenders, the trial court held: In Hester v. Bandy, 627 So.2d 833, 840 (Miss.1993), the Court held that simply going upon the private driveway of a debtor and taking possession of secured collateral, without more, does not constitute breach of the peace; however, this is the limit of the right to repossess without instituting legal action. citing Code 1972, § 75-9-503. In Hester, the debtor actually physically resisted the repossession, this terminated the repossessor's right to repossess without going through the legal process, and this was considered a breach of the peace. In McComb Equipment Co., Inc. v. Cooper, 370 So.2d 1367 (Miss. 1979), the Court held that Self-help repossession as permitted to secured creditors under Mississippi Code is not tantamount to a taking of property without 18 due process of law. citing Code 1972, § 75-9-503 (current through end of 2002); U.S.C.A. Const. Amend. 14. As to conversion, the Court held in Johnson v. Stinson, 418 So.2d 805 (Miss., 1982) that when repossession was done  peacefully and in accordance with statute, there was no conversion. ... Defendant, American Lenders, did the actual repossession on the instruction of GMAC, and did so without a breach of peace. Under Hester and McComb Equipment Co., the Defendant, American Lenders, had the right to repossess the Mustang, as long as they did not create a breach of the peace. The plaintiff failed to put on credible evidence that the repossession was done in violation of the statute and not done peacefully. There was no credible evidence put forth to give any reason why American Lenders should not have followed GMAC's instructions. By following fellow Defendant, GMAC's, instructions and doing so without a breach of peace, none of the actions taken by Defenant, American Lender's, can be seen as extreme or outrageous. And, once again, the only evidence of emotional distress that Plaintiff put forward is her own testimony that she lost sleep and had some bad dreams. Accordingly, under Gamble, Morrison, and American Bankers, this court holds that a judgment for emotional distress cannot rest upon just those things. ¶61. Wilson relies upon Hester v. Bandy, 627 So.2d 833 (Miss. 1993), to support her claim for breach of peace. However, the facts in Hester differ from those found here. In Hester, the repossession occurred at 3:00 a.m. Id. at 835. Evans moved the Hesters' Camaro in order to get to the Ford van. Id. Mr. Hester awoke to find his van being attached to the wrecker. Id. Hester protested and pursued Evans and fell into a ditch receiving injuries. Id. Hester's injuries included a torn rotator cuff to his right shoulder and a scratch to his left knee. Id. ¶62. The Court in Hester found that Evans breached the peace in repossessing the van. The Court stated: Evans' decision to repossess the van in the early morning hours from the Hester residence was deliberate. His purpose, of course, was to make a quick snatch of the van and get away, all without the knowledge of the Hesters. This was a tactic which guaranteed generating fright or anger, or both, if discovered in progress by the Hesters. It was fraught with the peril of provoking a breach of the peace of the most serious kind. 19 When Evans was in fact discovered and Hester attempted to physically resist the repossession, this terminated Evans' right to continue, because in doing so he caused a breach of the peace. Hester, 627 So.2d at 841 (emphasis added). ¶63. However, the Court also stated simply going upon the private driveway of the debtor and taking possession of secured collateral, without more, does not constitute a breach of the peace. Id. at 840. See Commercial Credit Co. v. Spence, 185 Miss. 293, 297, 184 So. 439, 441 (1938) (holding that the right to take the property from the possession of the other party does not justify the use of force to take it, - it must be done without force or violence.). See Dearman v. Willams, 235 Miss. 360, 109 So.2d 316, 320-21 (1959) (entering a private driveway to repossess a vehicle, without the use of force, does not constitute breach of peace). In Commercial Credit Co. v. Cain, 190 Miss. 866, 1 So.2d 776, 777 (1941), the debtor gave custody and control of the car to her husband who was not a party to the loan. This Court held that there was no breach of the peace by repossessing the car from a public place with the debtor's husband present and objecting. Id. ¶64. In the case at hand, American Lenders did not use any surprise tactics to repossess the car as used in Hester. The repossession agent, Gay, testified that when he arrived at Wilson's home on January 8, 1998, the Mustang was parked at Wilson's trailer, but Wilson was not at home. A little girl arrived at the door and told Gay that Wilson would be back soon. Gay asked the child if they could wait outside for Wilson to return home. Gay drove his truck approximately 100 feet away from the residence and waited for Wilson to arrive home. Gay testified that they waited approximately 15 to 30 minutes for Wilson to arrive. According to Gay, the repossession occurred around 7:00 p.m. He stated that he chose not to repossess the Mustang until Wilson returned home in order not to excite the little girl by hooking up to the Mustang and to allow Wilson to remove her personal belongings from the vehicle. 20 ¶65. Gay testified that Wilson told him they could have the car, and he assisted Wilson in removing her personal belongings. Gay testified that Wilson said, Well, that's fine. I just purchased this one [Saturn] from Herrin-Gear, and there's the Mustang. I can't afford it anyway. Gay testified that Wilson later said that she purchased the Saturn because the Mustang ran hot and she could not pay for it anyway. Gay testified that Wilson went inside the trailer to get the Mustang's keys and returned 3 or 4 minutes later with the keys. Wilson's sister asked to review the paperwork regarding the request for repossession of the Mustang. Gay testified that he allowed Wilson to review the paperwork but not her sister since she was not involved. According to Gay, Wilson saw James's sister, Patricia, ride back by the trailer. Wilson and her sister made comments that they were angry at Patricia riding by the trailer. ¶66. Gay testified that he did not curse either Wilson or her sister. There was no physical altercation involved in the repossession. Gay stated that Wilson never asked for the keys back or that he not take the car. ¶67. Wilson's sister, Hedrick, testified that her sister was threatened by the repossession agents, but she could not articulate any specific threat. She could not state any specific curse words that were allegedly spoken. ¶68. Wilson testified that she was not touched by either of the repossession agents. She admitted at trial that she relinquished the Mustang's keys to the repossession agents. However, she claimed at trial that she objected to surrendering the keys. ¶69. Wilson never made any allegations of American Lenders' breach of peace until she filed suit against American Lenders over two years after the repossession occurred. In fact, Wilson did not reference the alleged breach of peace by American Lenders in her original complaint filed against GMAC. American Lenders contends that Wilson only sued it for the sole purpose of her avoiding diversity of citizenship 21 jurisdiction and removal to federal court. American Lenders also argues that it was retained by GMAC to repossess the Mustang and that it merely followed the instructions sent to it by GMAC to accomplish the repossession. ¶70. Furthermore, Wilson's original attorney, Dulaney, never made reference to any altercation or breach of peace by American Lenders during the repossession. The record also does not reflect that Dulaney ever dealt with American Lenders regarding the repossession, only GMAC. The evidence demonstrates that Dulaney informed GMAC that Wilson did not want to keep the Mustang and that Wilson wanted a complete refund of the extension payment. He made no contact with American Lenders as to its alleged conduct. ¶71. We find that the trial court did not err in determining that no credible evidence existed to support the recovery awarded by the jury against American Lenders for breach of the peace. This assignment of error is without merit.