Opinion ID: 1740076
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Title search raises questions

Text: The article appears under the byline of news editor Julia Nichols. The fourteen paragraph article raised questions whether Joe B. Garrard, a former city alderman, held valid title to certain marshland property that had been assessed to him by the City of Ocean Springs since 1974. In discussing Garrard's claim of title to the land, the article refers to a quitclaim deed executed in 1970 by D.B. [sic] Fulton and Jeanette F. Fulton to Garrard. At most, fifteen lines out of the 125 line article (which in its entirety is an appendix to this opinion) have reference to the Fultons: A 1970 quitclaim deed from D.B. Fulton and Jeanette Fulton includes the marshland property, but no evidence could be found that the Fultons ever owned the property quitclaimed. One obviously cannot convey property one does not own.       Some questions that remain to be answered are why the Fultons signed a quitclaim deed for land they did not own and why no one was paying taxes on the marshland property between 1970 and 1974. If, as MacWhorter suggests, no taxes were assessed, why not? Why were changes made on the basis of a questionable Abstract? Or if the Abstract is valid, why is it not part of the records? Follow-up articles appeared on July 8, 1982, and July 22, 1982. Each of those articles again questioned Garrard's claim to the marshland property but neither mentioned the Fultons. Notwithstanding the incidental references to them in the June 24 article, the Fultons took great offense and on June 1, 1983, filed in the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Mississippi, their complaint charging that the article had defamed them and demanding substantial damages. The defendants, Mississippi Publishers Corporation d/b/a Ocean Springs Record and Wayne W. Weidie, editor, (hereinafter collectively referred to as the Record ) answered, denied the essential allegations of the complaint, and moved in due course for summary judgment. On April 26, 1984, the Circuit Court granted the motion and entered final judgment in favor of the Record and against the Fultons on grounds, among others, that the article complained of, including the particular portions cited by the plaintiffs, is not defamatory. The Fultons have appealed to this Court where they now urge that the Circuit Court committed error in summarily dismissing their complaint.