## Facts

- Mamie Walters Robinson conveyed approximately 27 acres to Wayne and Debbie Hollingsworth by warranty deed on April 11, 1983.
- The Hollingsworths did not record their deed until April 30, 1985.
- The chancery court found that, beginning around April 1, 1983, the Hollingsworths maintained actual, open, and visible possession of 18 acres within the 27-acre tract.
- After Robinson’s death, her descendants executed a deed of trust on January 24, 1984, to secure indebtedness to the Bank of Mississippi; the deed of trust covered about 60 acres and mistakenly included the same 18 acres possessed by the Hollingsworths.
- The Bank recorded its deed of trust on January 27, 1984.
- The Bank did not conduct a physical inspection or obtain a survey before taking the deed of trust.
- When the Bank initiated foreclosure steps in 1989, the Hollingsworths sued to enjoin foreclosure and to cancel the deed of trust as to the 18 acres.

## Issues

1. Whether a prior grantee’s actual, open, and visible possession under an unrecorded deed gives notice to a subsequent lender sufficient to subordinate the lender’s earlier-recorded deed of trust.

## Decision

- The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed the chancery court.
- The court held that the Hollingsworths’ open and visible possession at the time the Bank took its deed of trust charged the Bank with notice of their ownership claim.
- Because the Bank had notice, it could not claim priority based solely on earlier recordation.
- Partial cancellation of the deed of trust as to the 18 acres was proper, and the foreclosure was enjoined to that extent.

## Legal Principles

- Actual, open, and visible possession of land is notice to subsequent purchasers and mortgagees of the possessor’s rights.
- When a party other than the record owner is in visible possession, a subsequent purchaser or lender has a duty to inquire into that party’s claim.
- Recording statutes protect subsequent purchasers or encumbrancers only if they take without notice of prior unrecorded interests; visible possession constitutes constructive notice defeating that protection.
- A lender who relies on record title alone, without inspecting or inquiring in the face of obvious possession, takes subject to the possessor’s prior interest.

## Conclusion

Visible, continuous possession by the Hollingsworths under an earlier unrecorded deed provided notice that defeated the Bank’s claim to priority based on its earlier-recorded deed of trust, justifying partial cancellation of the deed of trust as to the possessed 18 acres.


Bank of Mississippi v. Hollingsworth, 609 So. 2d 422 (Miss. 1992)