Thomas v. Romano
Thomas v. Romano
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
Mary Thomas and her two minor children owned and were tenants in common of certain lots of land in the city of Vicksburg, and were nonresidents, living in Delta, Louisiana. In March, 1896, the sheriff and tax collector of Warren county sold the land for the unpaid taxes of 1895, when S. R. Hughes became the purchaser. Hughes had his deed recorded, and on the 27th day of June, 1898, the land not having been redeemed, he filed his bill in the chancery court against Mary Thomas and her two children, Mamie and Nona McNamara, for confirmation of his tax title, and had a decree confirming the same. At the September term of the chancery court, 1899, this matter for the confirmation was reopened and Mrs. Thomas and her two minor children, who had only been served by publication, each filed a demurrer to Hughes’ bill. The demurrer was sustained, with a decree following dismissing the bill, and Hughes appealed to this court (29 South., 74), and the case was affirmed, and Hughes’ tax title declared void. In the meantime, and prior to the dismissal of Hughes’ bill, Mrs. Thomas came over to Vicksburg, and there ascertained that Hughes had been paying taxes on her land for about three years. She was later
We have only stated such facts as we think necessary to the understanding of the proposition seriously involved here. The bill in this case was filed and proceeded with upon the ground of estoppel upon the part of Mrs. Thomas to assert title to a one-third interest in the land, and the case was, in its last analysis, fought out on that basis. In the absence of fraud, misrepresentation, culpable silence, or their equivalents — and there is no fraud alleged, ho misrepresentation proven, no culpable silence shown — the weight of authority'is that one cannot be divested of the legal title to real estate by estoppel. Mrs. Thomas never had any negotiations with Mr. Hughes, and had no settlement of any doubtful claim, because it is admitted that all parties thought Hughes held a good title to Mrs. Thomas’ one-third interest. Hughes’ tax title was on record, void on its face; but Mrs. Thomas made no representation concerning her title, and in fact knew really nothing about its real condition. Her information was obtained from Hughes’ attorneys and Hennessey, the real estate agent. She never saw Mrs. Romano before the sale by Hughes conveying the land to Mrs. Romano. There is no contention that she authorized any one to make any representation, or that any one undertook to make any representations to Mrs. Romano for her. Conduct relied on to sustain equitable estoppel must have been made with full knowledge of the facts by the. party to be estopped, unless he asserts as true a fact which he does not know to be true, and his adversary relies upon such statement, to his injury. Silence, in the absence of knowledge of one’s rights will not work an estoppel. In vol. 11, Am. & Eng. Enc. Law (2d ed.), p. 434, it is laid down as a general rule “that it is essential to the application of
The decree will be reversed, and the case remanded for an accounting to be taken in keeping with this opinion.
Reversed and remanded.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.