Opinion ID: 1875211
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Heading Rank: 2

Heading: ada bell hinton's appeal

Text: Mrs. Hinton does not challenge the accuracy of C.D. Johnson's calculations of the actual and statutory damages. Her contention is that there should have been no award of statutory damages in any sum because she acted in good faith, under a sincere belief the surveyors were in error. Miss. Code Ann. (1972) § 95-5-3 authorizes penalty damages of $55 per tree of various listed species of trees, and $35 per tree of all others, which are cut down or destroyed, in addition to actual damages. The statute provides that the defendant may establish good faith as a defense. [1] Mrs. Hinton was at the time of the trial in her 80s. Her basic contention was that, from many years experience, she was familiar with and knew the corner, and the surveyors she hired to locate their land boundaries were mistaken. Assuming arguendo, that Mrs. Hinton sincerely believed the surveyors were wrong, is this a good faith defense under the statute? The answer is No. It is not the belief she entertained, but whether or not the belief was warranted under the facts of the case which controls. We note first that in order to make a prima facie case under the statute, the owner is only required to prove (1) that the timber belonged to him, and (2) that without his consent the defendant, his agents or employees cut it. The defendant then, as an affirmative defense, may establish good faith. Lochridge v. Hannon, 236 Miss. 687, 112 So.2d 234, 235 (1959). We have addressed statutory damage claims in numerous cases: Nichols v. Stacks, 485 So.2d 1034 (Miss. 1986); Seismic Petroleum Services, Inc. v. Ryan, 450 So.2d 437 (Miss. 1984); Lochridge v. Hannon, supra ; Strawbridge v. Day, 232 Miss. 42, 98 So.2d 122 (1957); Ginther v. Long, 227 Miss. 885, 87 So.2d 286 (1956); Hudson v. Landers, 215 Miss. 447, 61 So.2d 312 (1952); Sansing v. Thomas, 211 Miss. 727, 52 So.2d 478 (1951); Pippin v. Sims, 211 Miss. 194, 51 So.2d 272 (1951); Howse v. Russell, 210 Miss. 57, 48 So.2d 628 (1950), opinion amended 210 Miss. 57, 49 So.2d 809; Hays v. Lyon, 192 Miss. 858, 7 So.2d 523 (1942); E.L. Bruce Co. v. Edwards, 192 Miss. 1, 3 So.2d 846 (1941); Seward v. West, 168 Miss. 376, 150 So. 364 (1933); J.H. Leavenworth & Son v. Hunter, 150 Miss. 245, 116 So. 593 (1928); Kiern v. Warfield, 60 Miss. 799 (1883). In Rutland v. Corley, 287 So.2d 433, 434 (Miss. 1973), we stated: ... the statute authorizing the penalty for cutting trees is highly penal and must be strictly construed. This Court has always been cautious in the infliction of the statutory penalty and will allow it only where the facts are well proved and where the testimony shows the trespass to have been wilfull, or the negligence so gross, or the indifference so real, or the lack of good faith so evident, as to be tantamount to wilfulness... . In Strawbridge v. Day, supra , we stated, p. 128: The phrase good faith, as used in a statute such as we have here, denotes honesty of purpose, freedom from intention to defraud or to deprive others of rights or property to which in equity and good conscience they are entitled. In order to avoid liability for the statutory penalty in a case of this kind the defendant is not required to prove freedom from negligence, but only that the trespass was not willful, or did not result from wantonness or recklessness... . Unfortunately, some of our cases have stated that mere carelessness or mistake is not enough to impose the penalty. E.L. Bruce co. v. Edwards, supra, 3 So.2d p. 847; Howse v. Russell, supra . Such language in and of itself is incomplete. Good faith requires that any person, before cutting trees, will take reasonable steps under the circumstances of the case to determine that he has a lawful authority to do so. The damage which will ensue from a mistake may also merit special care and caution. When one considers that it takes one-half a lifetime to grow pine timber, and longer for hardwood, and the loss attendant to the destruction of such trees, it is too late after the damage to simply say a mistake was made, or as in this case, she thought she was the owner. Before such a defense need be entertained there must be a showing that prior to cutting or destruction proper precautionary steps were taken by the defendant under the circumstances to assure himself he had the lawful right to do so. Justice Roy Noble Lee, speaking for the Court in the recent case of Seismic Petroleum Services, supra, stated, p. 440: When a person is charged with committing a willful and wanton trespass and cutting trees upon another's property without permission, the standard by which to measure him is whether or not a reasonable man under like circumstances would have gone upon the property, committed a trespass thereon and would have cut trees of the property owner. Justice Griffith, speaking for the Court in Hays v. Lyon, supra, p. 526, made an apt statement for conduct similar to Mrs. Hinton's: ... There is too much of danger in the possibility that conduct, such as this case definitely presents, might be met with violence or breaches of the peace for the law to look upon it with the tolerance which appellant so earnestly invokes. The rule was correctly set forth in Kiern v. Warfield , one of our earliest cases, supra, p. 809: ... The true view of the law on this subject is this: The letter of the statute gives the penalty upon proof of any cutting upon the land of another. The courts have modified its rigor by holding that the defendant may defeat a recovery by showing that it occurred through accident, inadvertence, and mistake; provided, reasonable care and caution were taken to avoid the mistake. The burden, therefore, of showing both the unintentional mistake and the exercise of reasonable care to avoid it, is upon the defendant. What will amount to the exercise of proper care must necessarily depend upon the facts of each case; ... [2] Due and proper regard for the property of another requires of any person, before he engages in the deliberate act of cutting or destroying a tree, to take whatever precaution and safeguards as are reasonably necessary under the facts of that case to assure himself that he has the lawful authority to do so. If he fails to take such necessary steps, he can hardly claim he has acted in good faith. Nor can he fault any fact finder who concludes from such conduct that he has acted with the requisite indifference to be tantamount to wilfulness. We therefore find that a factual issue was made on whether statutory damages should have been assessed against Mrs. Hinton.