Colbert v. Henley
Colbert v. Henley
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
The appellant is the owner of a lot in the town of Biloxi, upon which are situated two houses. In one of these she usually resides with her family, but at other times, when summer visitors resort to the town, she rents out her residence and sojourns temporarily with her family in the other. There is, or was until a few days after the levy of the execution of plaintiff upon a part of the lot, a fence dividing the lot into two. Appellant is the head of a household, and the lot is claimed by her as her homestead exemption. The appellee, having recovered a judgment against her, caused an execution issuing thereunder to be levied on so much of the premises as was cut off by the fence from the lot on which the residence proper is located, and thereupon the appellant exhibited this bill to enjoin the sale upon the ground that it would cast a cloud upon her title. On final hearing the bill was dismissed, and from this decree the complainant appeals.
Much proof was taken in the case to show that the entire lot
In view of the fact that the parties have directed their attention to this branch of the case, and that no objection was taken in -the court below to the introduction of this evidence, we should be disinclined to hold the appellee bound by the answer in its present form, but would remand the cause that an amendment might be made were it not for the further fact that under the levy as made it would be impossible to afford relief, even if the answer were amended and converted into a cross-bill. The appellee has not caused his execution to be levied upon the whole of the land, because its value exceeds the value of the exemption allowed by law. His effort is to subject a certain portion of the lot to his judgment, irrespective of the value of the whole, because it was separated by a fence from the remainder, and, as he contends, was thereby dissevered from the homestead. It is manifest that in this condition of affairs he must subject the property upon this ground or fail of all relief.
The case in the only phase in which it can be considered is fully covered by the recent case of Baldwin v. Tillery, 62 Miss. 378.
The decree is reversed, the injunction reinstated, and a decree directed to he entered here making it'perpetual.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Bridget Colbert v. J. L. Henley
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Chancery Practice. Averments of bill. Effect of failure to deny specifically. Section 1892, Code of 1880, applied. H., a judgment-creditor of C., caused an execution to be levied on a part of a town lot, separated by a fence from the main part. C. filed a bill to enjoin the sale under the execution on the ground that the whole of the lot was not worth more than seventeen hundred dollars, and that it was owned and occupied by complainant as a homestead. H. traversed the allegations of the bill generally, but failed to deny specifically the allegation as to the value of the lot, and contended that the part of the lot levied on was cut off from and not a part of the homestead occupied by C. Evidence was adduced by H. to show that the value of the entire lot was more than two thousand dollars. Held, that such evidence was irrelevant under $ 1892, Code of 1880, which provides that ‘‘ all facts averred in the bill, and not denied by the answer otherwise than by the general traverse, may be taken as admitted.” 2. Same. Homestead exemption. Levy on dissevered lot. Value of whole. But even if the defendant’s answer in the case above stated were amended so as to make the evidence referred to competent and it were made a cross-bill, he would not be entitled to any relief based upon such evidence, because his levy was not upon the entire lot with the view of subjecting the excess of its value over two thousand dollars (the amount of a homestead exemption), but upon a part of the lot as severed from the homestead. 3. Homestead Exemption. Two houses on same lot. Right of judgment-creditor to subject. A part of a town lot on which is a house, occupied as a residence at certain seasons of the year, and separated by a fence only from the main part of the lot, on which is situated a house, occupied usually as a homestead, cannot be subjected to an execution against' the owner and occupant thereof unless it be shown that the whole is worth more than two thousand dollars, the amount of a homestead exemption. Baldwin v. Tillery, 62 Miss. 378, cited.