T & W Homes Etc, LLC v. Crotwell

This interlocutory appeal involves an action by Lucille Crotwell’s heirs against Richard Prestage’s successors in title. In 1973, Gilbert Lum conveyed a forty-acre tract of land by warranty deed to his daughter, Lucille Crotwell, reserving a life estate in the lands and all mineral interests owned by him. The deed recited receipt of good and valuable consideration and was filed of record. No words of inheritance were contained in the deed. A quarter of a century later, Lum attempted to reconvey one acre of the same forty-acre tract to Prestage. By special warranty deed, Prestage subsequently deeded the property from himself to himself and his wife, Sheri, as an estate by the entirety with full rights of survivorship. The Prestages then executed a deed of trust in favor of American Title Company, Inc., as trustee for Hurricane Mortgage Company, Inc. This deed of trust ultimately was assigned to HSBC Bank, USA, N.A., as trustee for Wells Fargo Asset Securities Corporation Home Equity-Backed Certificates. In 2011, Emily Courteau, as Substituted Trustee, conducted a foreclosure sale of this deed of trust. T&W Homes, Etc, LLC (“T&W”) was the successful bidder and received a Substitute Trustee’s Deed. The Crotwells filed a complaint to confirm title, remove cloud on the title, and for ejectment. The parties filed competing motions for summary judgment. The chancellor found that Lum had reserved a life estate in the land and minerals only and that he could have conveyed his reserved life estate, but that reading the conveyance as retaining the right to reconvey title in fee simple was repugnant to the granting clause in the conveyance to Crotwell. The Chancery Court granted summary judgment to the Crotwells on this issue only. T&W Homes filed this interlocutory appeal. Finding no reversible error, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed. View "T & W Homes Etc, LLC v. Crotwell" on Justia Law