author: WALLER, Justice, McRAE, Presiding Justice,

text:
    Todd W. DUNN v. Judy H. DUNN.
    No. 2002-CA-00283-SCT.
    Supreme Court of Mississippi.
    June 12, 2003.
    Rehearing Denied Sept. 18, 2003.

      David Michael Brisolara, attorney for appellant.
    Dolton W. McAlpin, Starkville, attorney for appellee.
   WALLER, Justice,

for the Court:

¶ 1. The Oktibbeha County Chancery Court reformed a certain real estate deed in favor of Judy H. Dunn and against Todd W. Dunn. The chancery court also ordered Judy to pay $42,973.57, an amount owed pursuant to a mortgage on the real estate, to the Merchants & Farmers Bank in Starkville. Judy made the payment after the final judgment was entered in the chancery court, resulting in this fact not being a matter of record on appeal. Todd appealed to this Court, which reversed and rendered. This ruling’s effect was that Todd was never divested of the title. Judy then filed, in the chancery court, a motion for restitution and other relief against Todd to recover the $42,973.57 paid by her to satisfy the debt against the real estate. Todd responded, alleging that the issue of restitution had been raised before and ruled upon by this Court. Therefore, he argued, res judicata prevented Judy from relitigating the issue. The chancery court, rejecting Todd’s argument, and noting that Judy made the payment under court order, granted Judy’s motion for restitution. Todd appeals, arguing that allowing Judy to proceed in chancery court after this Court has reversed and rendered, flies in the face of the principle of finality of judgments. He claims that the issue was before the Court on appeal because the order that was appealed both reformed the deed and ordered Judy to pay the funds to the bank. Because Judy did not present her claim for restitution to this Court by way of a cross-appeal, Todd argues that Judy’s only recourse would have been to file a motion for rehearing under M.R.A.P. 40. Because she failed to do so, she is procedurally barred from proceeding in the chancery court.

¶2. We find that the issues of Judy’s payment and Todd’s unjust enrichment were not raised in the first appeal, are not barred by res judicata, and therefore were properly brought before the chancery court by way of motion for restitution.

DISCUSSION

I. WHETHER JUDY IS BARRED FROM PROCEEDING ON A MOTION FOR RESTITUTION IN CHANCERY COURT WHEN SHE FAILED TO FILE A CROSS-APPEAL IN # 2000-CA-00714-SCT.

¶3. We have never addressed the issue of when a party must file a cross-appeal. We therefore review authority from other jurisdictions.

¶4. Michigan courts have held, “Generally, the failure to file a cross appeal precludes the appellee from raising an issue not raised by appellant.” Hajj v. Roat, 2002 WL 571785 *1 (Mich.Ct.App.2002) (citing Kosmyna v. Botsford Cmty. Hosp., 238 Mich.App. 694, 607 N.W.2d 134 (1999)). However, “[wjhile a cross appeal is necessary to obtain a decision more favorable than that rendered by the lower tribunal, it is not necessary to urge an alternative ground for affirmance, even if the trial court considered and rejected that alternative ground.” Hajj,2002 WL 571785 at *1 (citing In re Herbach, 230 Mich.App. 276, 583 N.W.2d 541 (1998)); see also Kosmyna, 607 N.W.2d at 136.

¶ 5. Likewise, Arizona courts have held that “[a] party may not appeal from any portion of a judgment that does not aggrieve it.” Larkin v. State ex rel. Rottas, 175 Ariz. 417, 857 P.2d 1271, 1279 (Ct.App.1993) (citing State v. O’Connor, 171 Ariz. 19, 827 P.2d 480, 485 (Ct.App.1992)).

¶ 6. Our own Court of Appeals has recently held that “[i]n order for the appellee to gain reversal of any part of the decision of a trial court about which the appellant brings no complaint, the appellee is required to file a cross-appeal.” Delta Chem. & Petroleum, Inc. v. Citizens Bank of Byhalia, Miss., 790 So.2d 862, 878 (Miss.Ct.App.2001).

¶ 7. The State of Ohio has adopted an appellate rule of procedure which states as follows:

3(C)(1): Cross appeal required. A person who intends to defend a judgment or order against an appeal taken by an appellant and who also seeks to change the judgment or order or, in event the judgment or order may be reversed or modified, an interlocutory ruling merged into the judgment or order, shall file a notice of cross appeal within the time allowed by App.R. 4.
3(C)(2): Cross appeal not required. A person who intends to defend a judgment or order appealed by an appellant on a ground other than that relied on by the trial court but who does not seek to change the judgment or order is not required to file a notice of cross appeal.

Ohio App. R. 3(C)(1).

¶ 8. Following this precedent, we conclude that an appellee should not be required to file a cross-appeal unless he or she is aggrieved by the trial court’s judgment. Because Judy won a favorable judgment in the chancery court, her position on appeal was to have this Court affirm the judgment. She did not seek to alter or reverse the judgment below. Therefore, she was not required to raise any issues on cross-appeal. Also, the issue of unjust enrichment did not ripen until this Court entered its judgment.

II. WHETHER JUDY IS BARRED FROM PROCEEDING ON A MOTION FOR RESTITUTION IN CHANCERY COURT WHEN SHE FAILED TO FILE A MOTION FOR REHEARING IN # 2000-CA-00714-SCT.

¶ 9. Under M.R.A.P. 40, motions for rehearing are properly brought when the court has overlooked or misapprehended points of law or fact. Here, the Court did not overlook or misapprehend any points of law or fact because the issue of restitution was not raised in the first appeal. As stated above, the issue of restitution did not ripen until this Court entered its judgment.

¶ 10. If no motion for rehearing is filed within fourteen days of the entry of the appellate court’s judgment, see M.R.A.P. 40(a), the judgment becomes res judicata. This is so even where the issue was not raised during appeal and the appellate court did not consider it on the merits. It is axiomatic that res judicata prevents the parties from relitigating all issues tried in the prior lawsuit, as well as all matters which should have been litigated and decided in the prior suit. Dunaway v. W.H. Hopper & Assocs., Inc., 422 So.2d 749, 751 (Miss.1982).

1111. We find that the issue of restitution could not have been raised before the Court in a motion for rehearing because there was absolutely no evidence in that record concerning any actions by the parties in response to that part of the judgment which ordered Judy to pay the bank. Because Judy’s payment to the bank in accordance with the chancery court’s order was not in the record, the issue of restitution was not a proper basis for a motion for rehearing. The only thing Judy could do was what she did: she went back to the chancery court via a motion for restitution, made a record that the payment was remitted, and, in light of this Court’s ruling, asked for restitution. This Court could not have reviewed the issue of restitution until a record showing the payment was before the Court. Therefore, res judicata does not apply to the issue of restitution.

III. WHETHER TODD WAS UNJUSTLY ENRICHED.

¶ 12. The equitable principle of unjust enrichment clearly applies to the facts at hand. Judy paid the bank with the understanding that she had title to the property. When she was divested of title, Todd, the owner, got the property back debt-free as Judy had paid off his indebtedness. Todd is not entitled to profit from Judy’s payment. See, e.g., Milliken & Michaels, Inc. v. Fred Netterville Lumber Co., 676 So.2d 266, 269 (Miss.1996). In Milliken, the Court quoted at length from Bessler Movable Stairway Co. v. Bank of Leakesville, 140 Miss. 537, 106 So. 445 (1925), as follows:

Money paid to another by mistake of fact, although such mistake may have been caused by payor’s negligence, may be recovered from the person to whom it was paid, in an action for money had and received. The ground on which recovery is allowed is that one receiving money paid to him by mistake should not be allowed to enrich himself at the expense of the party who paid the money to him by retaining it, but in equity and good conscience should refund it. In order that this rule may apply, the party to whom the payment mistake was made must be left in the same situation after he refunds it as he would have been left had the payment not been made.

Milliken, 676 So.2d at 269 (citations omitted). See also U.S.F. & G. Co. v. Newell, 505 So.2d 284 (Miss.1987). Even though the money was not paid directly to Todd, he benefitted from the payment of the money. In equity and good conscience, Todd should have refunded the money to Judy without the necessity of further legal or equitable action. Therefore, the chancery court did not err in ordering restitution.

CONCLUSION

¶ 18. Because Judy could not have raised the issue of restitution in the first appeal, res judicata does not apply to her claim. Todd was undoubtedly unjustly enriched by Judy’s payment. We therefore affirm the chancery court’s judgment granting Judy’s motion for restitution.

¶ 14. AFFIRMED.

PITTMAN, C.J., SMITH, P.J., COBB, DIAZ, CARLSON AND GRAVES, JJ., CONCUR. McRAE, P.J., DISSENTS WITH SEPARATE WRITTEN OPINION. EASLEY, J., NOT PARTICIPATING.

McRAE, Presiding Justice,

Dissenting:

¶ 15. The majority erroneously finds that Judy was not required to file a mandatory cross appeal in the original action and that she is not barred by res judicata from re-litigating issues which were decided in the original action. Judy had ample opportunity to litigate her claim and could have utilized the Rules of Appellate Procedure to correct or modify the record in the original appeal to reflect her payment of the loans. Judy’s failure to file a mandatory cross-appeal, motion for rehearing, and/or motion to correct or amend mandate amounts to a procedural bar for review. Furthermore, res judicata most certainly applies under the circumstances of this case since it was the same subject matter, same parties, and basically the same issues. For these reasons, I dissent.

¶ 16. In 2001, this Court decided Dunn v. Dunn, 786 So.2d 1045 (Miss.2001), wherein the same facts presented before us today were litigated. The Chancellor of Oktibbeha County had ordered reformation of a deed in favor of Judy and ordered Judy to pay off the existing loan on the land. Id. at 1047. Before the appeal to this Court, Judy paid off the loan in accordance with the Chancellor’s order. The issues presented and decided on this original appeal included: (1) Did the Court err in its additional findings of facts submitted to the Mississippi Supreme Court in support of the Court’s denial of the Defendant’s Motion for Stay of Execution; (2) Did the Court commit reversible error in reforming the warranty deed based upon a finding of mistake on the part of the Plaintiff; (3) Did the Court err as a matter of law in finding that the Defendant had a confidential relationship with the Plaintiff; and (4) Did the Court err in denying Todd the relief sought in his Counter Complaint. Id. at 1048-55. Ultimately, we reversed the order of the Chancery Court “to the extent that it reformed the warranty deed from Judy H. Dunn to Todd W. Dunn” and “rendered here for Todd dismissing Judy’s complaint and action with prejudice.” Id. at 1055. In conclusion we stated that “[i]n all other respects the judgment is affirmed.” Id. In Dunn, we never addressed any facts concerning Judy’s payment of the loan because there was nothing in the record to that effect and Judy did not raise the issue by cross-appeal. However, our closing statement in the case tends to show that we were aware of the portion of the Chancellor’s order which made Judy responsible for payment of the loan. Thus, Judy was in a position to file either a motion to rehear or a motion to correct or amend the mandate, she did not.

¶ 17. Res judicata clearly applies to the present cause of action. “The requisites for application of the doctrine of res judi-cata are: (1) identity of the thing sued for; (2) identity of the cause of action; (3) identity of the persons and parties to the cause of action; and (4) identity of the quality in the persons for and against whom the claim is made.” Standard Oil Co. v. Howell, 360 So.2d 1200, 1202 (Miss.1978) (citing Pray v. Hewitt, 254 Miss. 20, 179 So.2d 842 (1965)). See also Taylor v. Taylor, 835 So.2d 60, 65 (Miss.2003); Pro-Choice Miss. v. Fordice, 716 So.2d 645, 655 (Miss.1998); Little v. V & G Welding Supply, Inc., 704 So.2d 1336, 1338 (Miss.1997). Res judicata bars litigation in a second action “of all grounds for, or defenses to, recovery that were available to the parties regardless of whether they were asserted or determined in the prior proceeding.” Johnson v. Howell, 592 So.2d 998, 1002 (Miss.1991) (quoting Dunaway v. W.H. Hopper & Assocs., Inc., 422 So.2d 749, 751 (Miss.1982)).

¶ 18. The first requirement is identity of the subject matter. There is no doubt that the original lawsuit and the present action involve the same subject matter. The original action concerned the loan on the land, reformation of the land deed, the trial court’s denial of the Motion to Stay Execution, whether a confidential relationship existed, and costs for damages and rent. Dunn, 786 So.2d at 1048-55. The present action seeks restitution for payment of the loan on the land. These two actions are the same subject matter. Both sought determination as to the land loan and or who owed what. The second requirement is identity of the cause of action. This is found where there is commonality concerning the “underlying facts and circumstances upon which the claim is asserted and relief sought.” Riley v. Moreland, 537 So.2d 1348, 1354 (Miss.1989). This requirement is also fulfilled under the facts and circumstances of both actions. Both the original action and the present action are based on the same facts. The facts have already been litigated in the original action. The third requirement is identity of the parties. Both parties are the same in the original arid present suit. The fourth requirement is identity of the quality or character of the person for or against whom the suit is brought. This too is fulfilled. Thus, the four requirements for res judicata are met. It is of no consequence that Judy failed to cross-appeal and litigate the loan issue in the original action because as we have stated res judicata not only applies to issues that were litigated but also to issues that “should have been litigated.” Johnson, 592 So.2d at 1002. Judy should have raised the loan payment issue on appeal in the original action. Her failure to do so amounts to res judicata since we reversed and rendered in the original suit.

¶ 19. Another important point is finality of judgment. In the Dunn, we reversed and rendered and specifically stated that:

[T]he judgment of the Oktibbeha County Chancery Court is reversed to the extent that it reformed the warranty deed from Judy H. Dunn to Todd W. Dunn, and judgment is rendered here for Todd dismissing Judy’s complaint and action with prejudice. In all other respects the judgment is affirmed.

786 So.2d at 1055. Our opinion was a final judgment on the merits. “A final judgment on the merits of an action precludes the parties and their privies form re-litigating claims that were or could have been raised in that action.” Walton v. Bourgeois, 512 So.2d 698, 701 (Miss.1987) (citations omitted). “A final judgment has been defined by this Court as a judgment adjudicating the merits of the controversy which settles all the issues as to all the parties.” Sanford v. Bd. of Supervisors, 421 So.2d 488, 490-91 (Miss.1982) (citations omitted). “An order is considered final if it ends the litigation on the merits and leaves nothing for the court to do but execute the judgment.’ ” Banks v. City Fin. Co., 825 So.2d 642, 645 (Miss.2002) (quoting Catlin v. United States, 324 U.S. 229, 233, 65 S.Ct. 631, 633, 89 L.Ed. 911 (1945)). Our 2001 opinion in Dunn, was a final order and adjudication on the merits. Judy can not now attempt to attack this ruling. Additionally, we would not have included language to the effect that “[i]n all other respects the judgment is affirmed,” if we were not passing upon the portion of the Chancellor’s order concerning Judy’s responsibility to pay the loan. That was the only part of the order which we did not reverse, why include such language if we were not meaning to affirm that portion of the order which Judy now attempts to litigate.

¶ 20. Additionally, Judy had ample opportunity to utilize the Rules of Appellate Procedure to obtain timely relief on this issue. Under Mississippi Rule of Appellate Procedure 10(e), Judy could have requested correction or modification of the record to clarify to this Court that she indeed had paid the loan in rebanee on the Chancellor’s ruling. Rule 10(e) provides in relevant part:

If any difference arises as to whether the record truly discloses what occurred in the trial court, the difference shall be submitted to and settled by that court and record made to conform to the truth. If anything material to either party is omitted from the record by error or accident or is misstated in the record, the parties by stipulation, or the trial court either before or after the record is transmitted to the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeals, or either appellate court on proper motion or of its own initiative may order that the omission or misstatement be corrected, and, if necessary, that a supplemental record by filed....

Miss. RApp. P. 10(e) (emphasis added). Judy knew that she had compbed with the Chancellor’s order and paid the loan but did nothing to present this Court with the facts surrounding such payment. If Judy had corrected or modified the record to include such information, then this Court would have had the necessary facts to grant rebef in the original action.

¶ 21. Judy’s failure to file a cross-appeal in the original appeal is also a procedural error. Under Rule 3(a) of the Mississippi Rules of Appellate Procedure, a party is required to file a notice of appeal or face possible dismissal of their claim. Rule 3(a) states in relevant part:

In all cases, both civil and criminal, in which an appeal is permitted by law as of right to the Supreme Court, there shall be one procedure for perfecting such appeal.... An appeal permitted by law as of right from a trial court to the Supreme Court shall be taken by filing a notice of appeal with the clerk of the trial court within the time allowed by Rule 4. Failure of an appellant to take any steps other than the timely filing of a notice of appeal does not affect the perfection of the appeal, but is ground only for such action as the Supreme Court deems appropriate, which may include dismissal of the appeal.

Miss. R.App. P. 3(a) (emphasis added). Rule 4(a) prescribes the proper time period for such appeal. Miss. R.App. P. 4(a). Rule 4(a) states in relevant part:

Except as provided in Rule 4(d) and 4(e), in a civil or criminal case in which an appeal or cross appeal is permitted by law as of right from a trial court to the Supreme Court, the notice of appeal required by Rule B shall be filed with the clerk of the trial court within 30 days after the date of entry of the judgment or order appealed from.

(emphasis added). Failure to file timely notice of appeal deprives this Court of jurisdiction to review an issue. See Bank of Edwards v. Cassity Auto Sales, Inc., 599 So.2d 579 (Miss.1992); Duncan v. St. Romain, 569 So.2d 687 (Miss.1990); Tandy Electronics, Inc. v. Fletcher, 554 So.2d 308 (Miss.1989); McCarty Farms, Inc. v. Kelly, 811 So.2d 250 (Miss.Ct.App.2001). Additionally, “[fjailure to file a notice of cross appeal is usually considered fatal.” Lindsey v. Lindsey, 612 So.2d 376, 378 (Miss.1992) See also McCarty Farms, 811 So.2d 250 (holding issues raised by appel-lee would not be determined by this Court since she failed to file a cross-appeal).

¶ 22. These rules make it clear, that cross-appeals are of the same nature as direct appeals. They are prescribed the same procedural rules, and failure to follow the rules prescribed may result in dismissal of the issues on appeal. Additional support for a finding that Judy’s claims are appropriately compulsory cross-appeal claims, is found in the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure. Rule 13(a) of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure provides in relevant part:

A pleading shall state as a counter-claim any claim which at the time of serving the pleading the pleader has against any opposing party if it arises out of the transaction or occurrence that is the subject matter of the opposing party’s claim and does not require for its adjudication the presence of third parties over whom the court cannot acquire jurisdiction .... In the event an otherwise compulsory counter-claim is not asserted in reliance upon any exception stated in paragraph (a), re-litigation of the claim may nevertheless be barred by the doctrines of res judicata or collateral estop-pel by judgment in the event certain issues are determined adversely to the party electing not to assert the claim.

A compulsory counter-claim is of the same nature as a compulsory cross-appeal. Just as failure to raise a compulsory counterclaim may bar subsequent action on an issue, failure to raise a compulsory cross appeal may also lead to res judicata or collateral estoppel. The Court of Appeals has also held that “[i]n order for the appel-lee to gain reversal of any part of the decision of a lower tribunal about which the appellant brings no complaint, the ap-pellee is required to file a cross-appeal.” Brock v. Hankins Lumber Co., 786 So.2d 1064, 1068 (Miss.Ct.App.2000). In Dunn, Judy failed to cross-appeal. She failed to raise any issues concerning her payment of the loan. Her failure to raise such issues on cross-appeal is now a procedural bar in this action. Judy can not now raise such issues as under the Appellate Rules she had “30 days after the date of entry of the judgment or order” to appeal those issues. Miss. R.App. P. 4(a). Ultimately, her procrastination and inadvertence will be Todd’s gain.

¶ 23. Also, Judy’s failure to file a motion for rehearing of the original action amounts to procedural bar. Mississippi Rule of Appellate Procedure 40(a) prescribes the proper procedure and timing for a motion for rehearing. Rule 40(a) states in pertinent part:

A motion for rehearing may be filed within 14 days after a decision is handed down on the merits of a case by the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeals. The motion shall state with particularity the points of law or fact which, in the opinion of the movant, the court has overlooked or misapprehended and shall contain such argument in support of the motion as movant desires to present. The motion for rehearing should be used to call attention to specific errors of law or fact which the opinion is thought to contain; the motion for rehearing is not intended to afford an opportunity for a mere repetition of the argument already considered by the court.

Miss. R.App. P. 40(a) (emphasis added). Judy had fourteen days after this Court’s decision in Dunn to file a motion for rehearing. In such motion, Judy would have had the opportunity to address this Court’s failure to specifically address the portion of the Chancellor’s order which saddled her with the responsibility of paying off the loan on the land. It is not obvious whether the Dunn decision “overlooked” this fact when reversing and rendering a decision in favor of Todd. However, in all equity and fairness, had such information been called to our attention, we would have addressed this issue and likely have reversed the Chancellor’s order which required Judy to pay off the loan. However, Judy’s failure to file a motion for rehearing now acts as a procedural bar to review of this issue.

¶ 24. Finally, Judy’s failure to file a motion to amend or correct the mandate also acts as a procedural bar to the issue she is now presenting. Mississippi Rule of Appellate Procedure 41(e) provides the proper procedure and timing for a motion to amend or correct. Rule 41(e) states:

Any motion to amend or correct the mandate may be filed within fourteen (14) days after the court has issues the mandate or any addition to the mandate.

Miss. RApp. P. 41(e). The content of such motion is controlled by Rule 27(a) which requires the motion to “state with particularity the ground on which it is based, and the order or relief sought.” Miss. R.App. P. 27(a). If Judy took issue with this Court’s opinion in Dunn, she should have filed a motion to amend or correct mandate at least fourteen days after the judgment was issues. Our failure to specifically address the portion of the Chancellor’s order which required Judy to pay the loan would have been ample grounds for such a motion. Her failure to follow the proper procedure can only lead to one result, dismissal of the issues for which she now seeks review. Judy’s failure to file a cross appeal, motion for rehearing, and/or motion to correct or amend acts as a procedural bar to review. Judy’s restitution claim should have been dismissed since res judicata and other procedural bars prevent its re-litigation. Accordingly, I would reverse the chancery court judgment awarding Judy restitution and render judgment finally dismissing Judy’s restitution claim with prejudice as barred by res judicata and other procedural bars.

¶ 25. For these reasons, I dissent.

      . Dunnv. Dunn, 786 So.2d 1045 (Miss.2001).

      . M.R.A.P. 40(a) Time for Filing; Content; Answer; Action by Court if Granted.
      ... The motion shall state with particularity the points of law or fact which, in the opinion of the movant, the court has overlooked or misapprehended and shall contain such argument in support of the motion as movant desires to present. The motion for rehearing should be used to call attention to specific errors of law or fact which the opinion is thought to contain ....

      . See also Edwards v. Thigpen, 433 So.2d 906, 908 (Miss.1983) where this Court stated that “if the issue were raised on appeal then it has been previously litigated and therefore is barred from consideration in the present proceeding ... [and][i]f it were not raised on appeal, then the petitioner has accepted the trial court’s determination of the issue ... Failure to specifically assign such an error in the direct appeal before this Court resulted in petitioner’s acceptance of the trial court’s determination of this issue; therefore it is now barred.”


source: Caselaw Access Project

author: COBB, Justice,

license: Public Domain

text:
    BOARD OF EDUCATION OF CALHOUN COUNTY, Mississippi, v. James Sidney WARNER, Gwendolyn V. Warner, Oliver Poe, Earnestine Winter, Nancy Poe and Lisa Poe Baker.
    No. 2002-CA-00122-SCT.
    Supreme Court of Mississippi.
    June 26, 2003.
    Rehearing Denied Sept. 25, 2003.
    Robert H. Compton, Meridian, Charles Jim Beckett, Bruce, attorneys for appellant.
    David L. Calder, University, Kenneth A. Rutherford, Jackson, attorneys for appel-lees.
    Before SMITH, P.J., WALLER and COBB, JJ.
   COBB, Justice,

for the Court.

¶ 1. This suit involves a land title dispute between the Calhoun County Board of Education (the Board) and various members of the Poe and Warner families (collectively, Poe and Warner). The Board brought suit in the Calhoun County Chancery Court to quiet and confirm title to three tracts of Calhoun County 16th section land in October 1991. Following a hearing on February 11, 1992, the original chancellor found that the parties agreed that the matters before the court “primarily involve! ] a question of law,” and that a motion for summary judgment would thus be an appropriate action. In May 1998, when Poe and Warner moved for summary judgment, the Board promptly filed a counter-motion for partial summary judgment and responded to Poe and Warner’s motion. The case was transferred to a special chancellor, who heard argument on the summary judgment motions on October 19, 1998, but no transcript of this hearing, is before the Court. The chancellor found for Poe and Warner in his judgment entered on March 6, 2000, and denied the Board’s M.R.C.P. 52(b) and 59 motions.

¶ 2. The Board now appeals the chancellor’s award to Poe and Warner, listing thirteen assignments of error which we have distilled into three: (1) whether the lands were adversely possessed during a period when adverse possession against the State was legal; (2) whether the presumption of grant applies to the present facts; and (3) whether the Secretary of State should have been joined as a necessary party. We conclude the Secretary of State should have been joined as a necessary party, and we reverse and remand for entry of an appropriate judgment consistent with this opinion.

FACTS

¶ 3. Tract 2, claimed by the Poes, and Tract 3, claimed by the Warners, are the disputed properties in this appeal. Two underlying facts provide the foundation for the chancellor’s award of fee simple title to Poe and Warner: (1) that the Calhoun County Courthouse burned down in 1922, destroying many original records; and (2) that from 1871 to 1878 the State authorized the conveyance in fee simple of 16th Section lands. See Miss.Code §§ 2015-19 (1871), repealed, 1878 Miss. Laws ch. 14 § 64; Lambert v. State, 211 Miss. 129, 139-40, 51 So.2d 201, 204-05 (1951) (discussing these statutes). Poe and Warner claim, inter alia, that their title to the disputed tracts dates back to such a conveyance by the State.

A. EVIDENCE OF POE AND WARNER’S CLAIM

¶ 4. Tract 2, a plot of some 99.8 acres, is claimed by the Poe family and was conveyed in three parcels, which are identified herein as 2(a), 2(b), and 2(c). The asserted chains of title to Tract 2 are not complete, and no pre-1900 deeds to any of the parcels are found in the record, they having been supposedly consumed by the 1922 courthouse fire. Rather, the Poes rely on abstracts of title and other similar documents from the Secretary of State’s office and from the Calhoun County sheriffs record of tax sales, together with an affidavit by Larry Winter, a Poe descendant. Winter’s affidavit claims that “the L.F. Poe Estate and its predecessors in title have been in continuous possession of the questioned land ... since 1878,” making uses of it similar to those asserted by the War-ners. Winter’s mother “continues to live on the property in a house originally constructed before her birth in 1917.” Winter also asserts that ad valorem taxes have been paid on the land since 1878.

¶ 5. Tract 3, totaling some 167.8 acres, was conveyed in parcels identified as parcels 3(a-e). As with the Poes’ claim to Tract 2, the Warners’ claim to Tract 3 is supported by abstracts of title for the late 19th-century period which is of principal interest in this case, without any title deed in the record until 1938. The Tract 3 chains of title are likewise incomplete even in abstract.

¶6. The Warners cite the same documents as the Poes, plus an affidavit by defendant James Sidney Warner. Warner claims that 3(a) and 3(b) have “been in private possession and conveyed in fee simple since the 1870’s” and that the War-ners have “been in continuous possession of’ 3(a) since 1890, and “in possession of’ 3(b) and 3(e) since 1938. The affidavit is silent on 3(c) and 3(d). Warner states that his family had a house where they lived on the disputed land “for a considerable period of time” and that several of his siblings “were born and reared on the challenged property,” although he does not state when that was or whether anyone fives there now. Warner also attests that his family has long paid ad valorem taxes to the county on the disputed land (although no tax receipts can be found in the record) and that they have made various uses of it (cutting timber, leasing oil and gas rights, farming, making “improvements”).

¶ 7. The asserted chains of title are supported by Poe and Warner by way of photocopies of various documents, characterized in their motion for summary judgment as follows:

Exhibit K “a compilation of conveyances from the records of the Chancery Court of Calhoun County, which was prepared by the clerk’s office in 1992.”
Exhibit L “documents evidencing tax sales from the Office of the State Auditor.”
Exhibit M “documents obtained from the Mississippi Secretary of State.”
Exhibit N “documents obtained from the archives of the State of Mississippi.”

None of these photocopies is notarized or accompanied by any affidavit attesting to its authenticity or origin, except for those in Exhibit M, which are certified by the Secretary of State’s office.

¶ 8. The final evidence presented by Poe and Warner is the affidavit of Larry Winter, an heir to the Poe estate. Winter’s affidavit claims that “the L.F. Poe Estate and its predecessors in title have been in continuous possession of the questioned land ... since 1878,” making uses of it similar to those asserted by Warner. Winter’s mother “continues to five on the property in a house originally constructed before her birth in 1917.” Winter also asserts that ad valorem taxes have been paid on the land since 1878.

B. EVIDENCE OF THE BOARD’S CLAIM

¶ 9. The Board’s evidence includes affidavits by Ottis B. Crocker, Jr., an attorney hired by the Board to research the title to the disputed tracts. Crocker found no title to 2(c) earlier than the 1919 deed from Armstrong to Shipp, and no title to 2(a-b) earlier than the 1924 conveyance from J.F. Poe to L.F. Poe. As for Tract 3, Crocker found that title to 3(a) was conveyed from Beadles to Stewart Warner on February 27, 1890, and that all of Tract 3 was conveyed by forfeited tax land patent from the State to A.V. Warner in 1938.

¶ 10. The Board also presented three other affidavits. Rebecca Prewitt, 16th Section Land Administrator for the Board, attested that no one other than the Poes and Warners claimed any ownership interest in any 16th Section lands in Calhoun County south of the Chickasaw-Choctaw treaty line. William R. Presson, an attorney, attested that he had carefully examined the Legislature’s session laws from 1833 to 1869 and found no indication that the Legislature had ever authorized Calhoun County or Yalobusha County (which contributed land to the new Calhoun County when it was formed in 1852) to sell any 16th Section lands in fee simple. Nor was there any general statute permitting the sale of 16th Section lands. And Dewitt Spencer, the superintendent of the Calhoun County schools and the custodian of school records, attested that his records showed no divestiture of title to the disputed lands. In his memorandum opinion, the chancellor did not consider the tracts and parcels individually, but rather premised his findings on the proposition that

the documentary evidence reveals that the defendants and their predecessors have paid taxes on and have been in open, hostile and continuous possession of Tract two since the 1870’s. The Warner defendants has [sic] been associated with Tract three in a similar fashion. Under these circumstances, ... the Court must presume there was a grant.

The chancellor summarily rejected the Board’s arguments.

¶ 11. A final judgment was entered March 6, 2000, and the Board moved to challenge that judgment, questioning the sufficiency of the evidence (M.R.C.P.52(b)), seeking to amend the judgment (M.R.C.P.59), and asking for a stay of proceedings to enforce the judgment (M.R.C.P.62). On December 20, 2001, the chancellor denied the requested relief in an opinion that set forth the court’s reasoning at greater length. With regard to the issue of insufficient evidence, the chancellor ruled that the Board had waived any issue on this point when it stipulated that “the subject civil action primarily involves a question of law, and that the contested issues between the parties would be appropriate for resolution through Summary Judgment.” The chancellor further found that, alternatively, “Warner and Poe presented ample probative and unrebuked evidence for this Court to quiet title in their favor by way of summary judgment.”

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 12. Poe and Warner vigorously argue that the standard of review in this case requires deference to the chancellor’s findings of fact. However, this Court has clearly held that it “reviews errors of law, which include summary judgments and motions to dismiss, de novo.” City of Jackson v. Perry, 764 So.2d 373, 376 (Miss.2000). See also Miss. Dep’t of Wildlife, Fisheries & Parks v. Miss. Wildlife Enforcement Officers’ Ass’n, Inc., 740 So.2d 925, 929-30 (Miss.1999) (reiterating de novo review of chancellor’s summary judgment).

¶ 13. The chancellor’s memorandum opinion notes that “[b]oth the Plaintiff Board of Education and the individual landowner Defendants have filed a Motion for Summary Judgment.” It appears, therefore, that the chancellor decided this case on summary judgment, and the de novo standard of review should be followed in this case.

DISCUSSION

I. Whether Poe and Warner and/or their predecessors in title adversely possess the disputed lands?

¶ 14. Several arguments are contained within this issue. The Board argues that Poe and Warner presented inadequate proof of any movement of title from the State to private owners during the 1871-78 window, insofar as they offered only “mere skeletonized abstracts” as proof. Because the Board has challenged the adequacy of such evidence, we consider whether the abstracts were properly before the trial court, and then address the case law regarding the abstracts’ probative value.

A. Admissibility of unauthenticated abstracts

¶ 15. In its response to Poe and Warner’s motion for summary judgment, the Board had this to say about the photocopied record exhibits:

the defendants relied upon: documents marked Exhibits “A” through “H” which purport to be outlines of alleged conveyances for designated quarter sections, but which fail to identify the section, township, and range for which the conveyances pertain, and are otherwise un-sworn; ... documents appearing as composite Exhibit “K” which purport to be an unsworn abstract of conveyances within Section 16, Township 23, Range 8 East, Calhoun County, Mississippi and which are apparently maintained within the office of the Calhoun County Chancery Clerk....

The Board also criticized the affidavits as not meeting M.R.C.P. 56(e)’s requirement that they be made on personal knowledge, since nothing in either affidavit demonstrated personal knowledge of real estate’s occupation and ownership in the late 19th century. We review the exhibits and affidavits to determine whether they were admissible evidence on a Rule 56 motion.

¶ 16. In Haygood v. First National Bank of New Albany, 517 So.2d 553 (Miss.1987), one issue was the appellee’s claim that the appellant had submitted an unauthenticated certificate of market value. Id. at 556. This Court stated that

the record does not indicate that appel-lee objected to the form of the certificate or its sufficiency under Miss. R. Civ. P. 56. A party must move to strike an affidavit that violates the rule, and if he fails to do so, he will waive his objection and, in the absence of “gross miscarriage of justice,” the Court may consider the defective affidavit. Brown v. Credit Center, Inc., 444 So.2d 358, 365 (Miss.1983) quoting 10 Wright & Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure §§ 2738, pp. 507-09 (1973).

517 So.2d at 556 (emphasis added). In another case, this Court recently reiterated the necessity of a motion to strike:

Hare claims the State has waived any such objection, because “[w]here the party against whom a motion for summary judgment is made wishes to attack one or more of the affidavits upon which the motion is based, he must file in the trial court a motion to strike an affidavit.” Brown v. Credit Center, Inc., 444 So.2d 358, 365 (Miss.1983). Failure to file the motion to strike constitutes waiver of any objection to the affidavit. Travis v. Stewart, 680 So.2d 214, 217-18 (Miss.1996). This Court has held that a party opposing summary judgment must be diligent. Grisham v. John Q. Long V.F.W. Post, 519 So.2d 413, 415 (Miss.1988). The State made no other objection than the one at the hearing until its argument in its brief before this Court. Therefore, we hold that since the State failed to file a Motion to Strike the Affidavits, it has thus waived any objection now.

Hare v. State, 733 So.2d 277, 284-85 (Miss.1999).

¶ 17. The Board’s remarks do cast aspersions on the formal sufficiency of the copies, but the Board did not move to strike them, and given the repeated and express holdings of this Court on this issue, we conclude that the Board did waive any objection to the unauthenticated status of the documents. No “gross miscarriage of justice” will arise from the chancellor’s having considered what certainly appear to be copies of genuine documents, and the Board does not argue that any fraud has been perpetrated by the Poe and Warner’s submission of the copies in question.

B. Probative value of the abstracts

¶ 18. The Board also argues that the abstracts do not suffice to meet the Poe and Warner’s burden of proof that the tracts actually were conveyed by the State during the window period.

¶ 19. In Creekmore v. Neshoba County, 216 Miss. 589, 63 So.2d 45 (1953), this Court held that:

Appellants relied upon 1874 deeds from a tax collector to W.P. Sanders, upon subsequent, apparently unlimited conveyances from other persons to appellants’ predecessors in title, and upon the case of Jones v. Gulf Refining Co., 1948, 202 Miss. 705, 32 So.2d 435, 34 So.2d 735. These deeds are not in the record. We do not know their provisions. The record only shows a skeletonized abstract of them, grantor and grantee, date, and book and page of recording. The Jones ease is of dubious value as a precedent in the light of all of the other decisions of this court interpreting Section 6596 [adverse possession of 16th Section land; current Miss.Code Ann. § 29-3-7], but even under the rules stated in it the chancellor was warranted in finding that appellants had wholly failed to meet their necessary burden of proof.

216 Miss. at 593, 63 So.2d at 46. Poe and Warner do not discuss Creekmore, but they cite the Jones case denigrated in Creekmore:

The authorities abundantly prove that, in favor of long possession, almost every variety of written evidence of title will be presumed. The defective links in the chain of title will be supplied by presumption, and the title declared perfect, where the possession has been continued for a great length of time without interruption. The statute of limitations is but a recognition of the same principle, differently applied. We are not required by the state of the case to apply the doctrine of presumption, arising from lapse of time. All presumptions are in favor of the possessor; none against him.

Jones v. Gulf Ref. Co., 202 Miss. 705, 710-11, 34 So.2d 735, 735-36 (1948) (quoting Grand Gulf R.R. & Banking Co. v. Bryan, 16 Miss. 234, 279 (1847), aff'g on reh’g Jones v. State, 202 Miss. 705, 32 So.2d 435 (1947)).

¶ 20. Such a blanket endorsement of the presumption that possession implies title will not suffice to rebut an authority so directly on point as that of Creekmore, in which just the sort of “skeletonized abstracts” that the case at bar presents were specifically held inadequate. Without the abstracts, there can be no evidence that the property was actually occupied during the period in question. The affidavits of Warner and Winter will not serve to demonstrate that the property was occupied by predecessors in title during the 1870s and 1880s, because on that question the affidavits are not attesting to facts within the personal knowledge of the affiants. See M.R.C.P. 56(e) (“affidavits shall be made on personal knowledge, shall set forth such facts as would be admissible in evidence, and shall show affirmatively that the affi-ant is competent to testify to the matter stated therein”).

¶ 21. The rest of Poe and Warner’s argument on this point addresses the presumption of grant, which is a separate issue from whether they have actually demonstrated that title passed during the period before 1890 when adverse possession against the State was possible.

¶ 22. Another problem for Poe and Warner’s argument is that the 1871 statute authorizing sales of 16th Section lands did not do so unconditionally, but rather by way of authorizing the school directors to conduct an election in any township as to whether that township’s 16th Section lands should be sold, with a majority vote being required to put them up for sale. Miss. Code of 1871 § 2015, repealed by 1878 Miss. Laws Ch. 14, § 64; see Burkley v. Jefferson County, 213 Miss. 836, 847, 58 So.2d 22, 26 (1952). No evidence has been offered that such an election was ever conducted in Township 23, that which in-eludes the disputed lands. The evidence thus leans against Poe and Warner.

¶ 23. They, however, argue that under Miss.Code Ann. § 29-3-7 (Rev.2000), the Board has the burden to affirmatively show that there was no election held:

The showing thus made by appellee [the county] is one negative in its nature, whereas it was distinctly held in Yazoo & M.V.R. Co. v. Bolivar County, 146 Miss. 30, 111 So. 581, that the showing to displace the curative effect of the twenty-five years’ statute must be an affirmative showing that there was no valid sale or lease. The force of the twenty-five years’ statute is such that it will support the presumption that the order appointing appraisers “was in fact made but that by some inadvertence it failed to be recorded.” Hawkins v. City of West Point, [200] Miss. [616], 27 So.2d 549, 550.

Foster v. Jefferson County, 202 Miss. 629, 637, 32 So.2d 126, 129 (1947) (holding that absence of order appointing appraisers in county’s minutes will not overcome § 29-3-7).

¶ 24. However, the Foster holding does not apply to adverse possession statutes in general, but to the particular language of presumption in § 29-3-7. Poe and Warner’s argument hinges on that statute’s having application before 1890, when the new state constitution forbade adverse possession against the State. Hence, the land would have to have been adversely possessed for 25 years before 1890, that is, since 1865. But since the school lands could have been sold in fee simple only from 1871 to 1878, it is not possible that the presumption “that the law authorizing the disposition of the lands has been complied with” could have arisen, since no such law existed before 1871, and 1871 + 25 = 1896, not 1890.

¶ 25. But this reading of the statute in conjunction with our Constitution appears to contradict Foster, in which the facts were thus: school district conveys land in 1875; purchasers remain in possession over 70 years; hence, the 25-year requirement for a presumption of legal grant is met. Foster, 202 Miss. at 635, 32 So.2d at 128. Foster did not even consider the effect of § 104 of the 1890 Constitution on the predecessor statute to § 29-3-7. There is no question today that § 29-3-7 does not apply to permit adverse possession against the State after the enactment of the contrary constitutional provision. Morrow v. Vinson, 666 So.2d 802, 805 (Miss.1995). To the extent that Foster holds otherwise, it is overruled.

¶ 26. There is merit to the Board’s argument that the skeletonized abstracts and the other evidence submitted by Poe and Warner will not support a finding that the State actually conveyed the tracts during the pre-1890 window of opportunity. Adverse possession claims will not be sustained with inadequate evidence, Holliman v. Charles L. Cherry & Assocs., Inc., 569 So.2d 1139, 1146-47 (Miss.1990), and the parties asserting adverse possession have the burden of proof. Gadd v. Stone, 459 So.2d 773, 774 (Miss.1984). The chancellor’s finding of adverse possession on the evidence in the record was reversible error.

II. Whether the presumption of grant acts to quiet title on behalf of Poe and Warner?

¶ 27. If Poe and Warner were unable to demonstrate adverse possession of the disputed tracts, their final resort is to the doctrine of presumed (lost) grant. However, this discussion cannot possibly apply to Tract 3. That land, on the Warners’ own account, was possessed by the State in 1938 when a tax patent was issued to A.V. Warner. That deed, unlike so many others in this case, is reprinted in the record, as is the next conveyance in 1973 to James Sidney Warner, one of the present parties. There is thus no gap in title to be addressed. Flatly, the Tract 3 land in question was illegally conveyed by the State in 1938, in contradiction of section 211 of the 1890 Constitution.

¶ 28. As for Tract 2: Poe and Warner rely heavily on Board of Trustees of Monroe County Board of Education v. Rye, 521 So.2d 900 (Miss.1988), which was specifically relied upon by the chancellor in this case. In Rye, which did not involve 16th Section or lieu land, this Court explained the doctrine of the presumption of grant:

This Court has held that continuous peaceable possession of land, when accompanied by the usual acts of ownership, will raise the presumption that the land has been granted to the possessor by the State, even where the claim is asserted against the State. Payment of taxes on land is considered an act of ownership in this context.
This doctrine of presumption of grant is not precisely synonymous with adverse possession, though the two are “indissolubly linked.” Where adverse possession can be shown, the doctrine of presumption of grant has no application. The purpose of the doctrine is to quiet title after long possession; its applicability depends upon possession “under a claim of right, actual, open, and exclusive, and a chain of conveyances and payment of taxes are important.” The greatest practical difference between adverse possession and the doctrine of presumption of grant is that the latter allows assertions of claims against the sovereign, despite statutes barring adverse possession against the State. It is readily apparent, then, that application of the doctrine of presumption of grant to the facts of the instant case is especially appropriate.
There is no evidence that the school board ever parted with the title it acquired from Sullivan in 1867. But title must have passed from the school board to a private person prior to the 1878 tax sale, else the property would not have been subject to such a sale. The open and continuous possession of the subject property by appellees and their predecessors for the previous 93 years (1892-1985), is enough to raise a presumption that there was at some time a grant from the sovereign sufficient to support the title they now assert.

Id. at 906-07 (citations omitted & emphasis added). This Court, in other words, held that merely possessing land for a very long time is enough to establish a presumption that at some past time, adequate title was acquired. However, this Court in Rye also qualified that holding with the phrase “when accompanied by the usual acts of ownership.”

¶ 29. The Board and the State argue that payment of taxes is no indicator of ownership where 16th Section land is concerned, because such taxes are required to be paid by leaseholders just as by holders in fee simple. The authority for this assertion seems to be Miss.Code Ann. § 29-3-71 (Rev.2000), which provides that 16th Section lands are liable to taxation after they are leased. This Court has interpreted that statute to mean that “school lands are not liable for general taxation as long as they remain unleased, but following their lease, the leasehold is liable for taxation. The lessee, not the county, is liable for general taxation.” Turney v. Marion County Bd. of Educ., 481 So.2d 770, 782 (Miss.1985). Therefore, payment of taxes is not a clear “act of ownership” in the context of 16th Section lands.

¶ 30. The State, along with the Board, both argue further that 16th Section lands are not subject to the doctrine of presumptive grant. They point to the language in Rye that distinguished the facts before the Court from a 16th Section case: “The subject property [in Rye ] was not 16th section land, nor was it lieu land. This sale is distinguished from tax sale of 16th section land and cases discussing such sales.” Rye, 521 So.2d at 904 n. 1. (emphasis added). The State and the Board deny that this Court has ever applied presumption of grant to a 16th Section case. However, this Court has not ruled that presumption of grant is in applicable. In the case which the Board and the State agree should control on the present facts, this Court stated:

The reason that there was no grant, deed or patent to the 80 acres in question (E /£ of SE 1/4 of Section 16, T.8, R. 14 E.) could very well be because a petition against the sale was filed by “a majority of the inhabitants” of the township in which this 80 acres was situated. This reasoning is supported by the fact that other portions of this particular 16th Section surrounding this 80 acres were promptly sold under the special provisions of the Act of 1854. The NE 1/4 of Section 16, Township 8, Range 14 East, was sold at public auction on July 17, 1854, to O.S. Mason, and the deed executed on August 9, 1854, was promptly filed for record on August 23, 1854. In our opinion, there should be no presumption of lost grant under the facts of this case.

Gibson v. State Land Comm’r, 374 So.2d 212, 217 (Miss.1979) (emphasis added). In Gibson this Court did not take an obvious opportunity to state whether the presumption of lost grant was inapplicable to 16th Section lands, which would suggest that no rule against the presumption’s application existed at the time. While the State and Board are correct that Rye did not decide the question in favor of applying the presumption to 16th Section lands, they over-speak in claiming that Gibson decided the question in the other direction. Rye simply reserved the question for another day.

¶ 31. The statute enabling the outright alienation of 16th Section land by the State, as discussed under Issue I above, required that an election be held to approve the sales of such lands, and there is no evidence that such an election was held. Poe and Warner argue that the fact of an election’s being held with an affirmative result is another inference to be made upon the presumption of grant.

¶ 32. We conclude that the facts of this case stretch the doctrine of presumptive grant to the breaking point. It is possible, indeed, that title was passed during the window period in the 1870s, but it is equally possible that no such title passed, but rather only a lease interest. As Gibson found, it “could very well be” the latter as much as the former. Parts 2(b), 3(b), 3(c), 3(d), and 3(e) are not even definitely alleged to have been conveyed during the window period. As for the other conveyances, Poe and Warner supply only “skele-tonized abstracts” and scarcely legible photocopies which are inconclusive as to the exact interest conveyed, fee simple or leasehold, and the authority to do so.

¶ 33. In Rye, this Court apparently had before it in the record actual copies of most of the title deeds; this can be inferred by the fact that, in two places where no deed appeared in the record, the Court noted the fact. Rye, 521 So.2d at 903 (“This deed does not appear in the trial record.”). In the present case, by contrast, Poe and Warner ask the Court to supply not only a few gaps, but virtually the entire basis for title, by presumptions and inferences. The powerful equities in favor of equating continuous and peaceable possession with ownership, cited in Rye, id. at 908, are in the present ease countered by the no less powerful equities in favor of the State’s constitutional and statutory duty to preserve 16th Section land in trust for its schoolchildren. These latter equities, as noted above, were not considerations in Rye, which specifically excluded 16th Section lands from the scope of its holding.

¶ 34. On the facts of this case, we hold that the presumption of lost grant is inapplicable due to the extensive chain of inferences required to so hold (i.e. that the missing deeds existed; that they conveyed fee simple, not leasehold, interests; that the deeds were authorized by an election according to statute). Further, we hold that the holding of Rye should be specifically limited to exclude application of the presumption of lost grant to 16th Section lands. A common law presumption should not be used to defeat a constitutional and statutory interest in, and duty towards, the lands held in trust for the schoolchildren of Mississippi. Thus, the chancellor erred as a matter of law on this issue.

III. Whether the State of Mississippi should have been joined as a necessary party?

¶ 35. The State, echoed by the Board, argues that the chancellor committed reversible error in failing to find that the State should have been joined as a necessary party. The chancellor found that Miss.Code Ann. § 29-3-3 (Rev.2000), which authorizes boards of education “to institute and prosecute ... all necessary suits to establish and confirm the title to each parcel” of 16th Section land, served to make the State “already a party through its agent, the Board.” This position seems to be supported by this Court’s reasoning in interpreting § 29-3-3’s predecessor statute in the 1906 code:

A county is a political subdivision of the state, created for the purpose of acting for the state in local matters, whose powers are exercised by a board of supervisors. The state, in thus dealing with sixteenth section land, acts through one of its own, and most appropriate, governmental agencies. For such purposes, and within the power conferred upon it, the county is the state.

Jefferson Davis County v. James-Sumrall Lumber Co., 94 Miss. 530, 49 So. 611, 612 (1909) (emphasis added) (construing § 4701 of 1906 code). Further, this Court has stated:

The State argues that its power as trustee makes it an indispensable party: The State, as trustee, may not divest itself of its duties. However, the State, by statute, may vest in others the authority to do acts which the trustee cannot practicably be expected to perform. Restatement (Second) of Trusts §§ 171 (1959). The State, as a matter of practical necessity, manages its sixteenth section trust property through local county boards of education. As Miss. Code Ann. §§ 29-3-1 relates, “The board of education ... shall have control and jurisdiction of said school trust lands and of all funds arising from any disposition thereof heretofore or hereafter made.” The charge of the statute is that Boards of Education manage the school trust lands “as trust property” and “assure that adequate compensation is received.” Even though the State has vested in the local boards of education certain management powers and duties, the State at all times holds the fee as trustee and maintains the authority and responsibility to oversee the management of the trust and to assure that the trust is properly executed.

Turney, 481 So.2d at 777 (emphasis added). The State argues that, as fee-holder, it cannot be divested of its title and trust without being made a party.

¶ 36. In so arguing, the State asks this Court to limit or overrule its holding in Board of Supervisors, Adams County v. Giles, 219 Miss. 245, 68 So.2d 483 (1953). In Giles, alluvial lands were in dispute, and this Court stated:

The fourth contention is that the agreements were void because the land commissioner was not a party to them. Now it is true that, under Section 6598, Code of 1942, “The boards of supervisors, under the general supervision of the land commissioner, of the several counties wherein are situated any sixteenth section school lands or lands in lieu thereof, shall have jurisdiction and control of said school lands and of all funds arising from any disposition thereof heretofore or hereafter made; * * But, by Section 6594, Code of 1942, the authority “to ascertain the true condition of the title and to institute and prosecute * * * all necessary suits to establish and confirm the title * * to Sixteenth Section land was delegated to, and the responsibility therefor rests solely on, the board of supervisors. Hence the land commissioner was not a necessary party to these agreements.

Id. at 261, 68 So.2d at 488-89. The State proposes that this holding “is inconsistent with the powers and responsibilities given the State as trustee of 16th Section Lands in Turney.” The State also urges that the 16th Section Land Reform Act of 1978, i.e. §§ 29-3-1 et seq., changed the conception of the Secretary of State’s role regarding 16th Section lands, so that the State’s participation through that office should be required.

¶ 37. Because Poe and Warner do nothing more in their brief than reiterate the chancellor’s invocation of § 29-3-3, the argument before this Court is a bit lopsided. Nevertheless, we agree that the State is correct that it is the ultimate fee-holder of 16th Section lands, and that it is therefore a necessary party to any action that might forever divest it of title in those lands. The language in James-Summll Lumber Co. should be read narrowly, so that “the county is the state” only within the narrow limit of being empowered to file suits, but not so broadly as to make it the sole necessary defender of the State’s fee title wherever that is challenged. In the present action, the Board filed a complaint to quiet and confirm title. When Poe and Warner counterclaimed for clear title on their behalf, the suit became one that endangered the State’s interest in protecting its asserted title to 16th Section lands. (It would be impractical, of course, to say that the State’s interest is endangered only where it actually has title to such lands, since the question of title vel non is the very matter in dispute.) At that point, the issue went beyond merely the Board’s power to file suit, and the State became a necessary and indispensable party.

¶ 38. This Court has held that failure to join interested parties in a real estate dispute under M.R.C.P. 19(a) justifies reversal and remand as a violation of fundamental due process. Aldridge v. Aldridge, 527 So.2d 96, 98 (Miss.1988); see also Magnolia Textiles, Inc. v. Gillis, 206 Miss. 797, 807, 41 So.2d 6, 8 (1949) (“as a general rule all persons who are materially interested in the event or subject matter, without whom no effective judgment or decree can be rendered, should be made parties, in a suit to quiet title”). Although the Board did not raise this issue until after the chancellor entered judgment in the case, failure to join necessary parties may be raised on appeal and even by the appellate court sua sponte. Shaw v. Shaw, 603 So.2d 287, 293-94 (Miss.1992) (following federal precedents applying federal counterpart to our Rule 19).

¶ 39. We conclude that the chancellor committed reversible error by not joining the Secretary of State as a necessary and indispensable party in the action to quiet and confirm title, once Poe and Warner had counterclaimed to quiet and confirm title on their own behalf.

CONCLUSION

¶ 40. The chancellor erred with respect to Poe and Warner’s adverse possession of the subject properties, since there is insufficient evidence that prior to 1890 any ownership interest existed to be adversely possessed, and since 1890, Section 104 of the Mississippi Constitution has forbidden adverse possession against the State. Further, the doctrine of presumptive grant is not applicable or proper in this case, thus title to Tracts 2 and 3 of this 16th Section property continues to be held by the State in trust. Tract 8 could not be saved for Poe and Warner by presumption of grant, since the chain of title from the State to the Warners is entirely post-1890 and thus falls within the period wherein no alienation of 16th Section land was constitutional. Finally, the Secretary of State should have been joined as a necessary party. For all the reasons thus stated, we reverse the chancery court’s judgment, and we remand this case for entry by the chancery court of an appropriate judgment, consistent with this opinion, which (1) quiets and confirms title to Tracts 2 and 8 in fee simple in the State of Mississippi in trust for the use and benefit of its public schools; (2) finally dismisses with prejudice the counterclaim of Poe and Warner; and (3) assesses all costs against Poe and Warner.

¶ 41. REVERSED AND REMANDED.

SMITH, P.J., WALLER, DIAZ, EASLEY, CARLSON AND GRAVES, JJ., CONCUR. PITTMAN, C.J., CONCURS IN RESULT ONLY. McRAE, P.J., DISSENTS WITHOUT SEPARATE WRITTEN OPINION.

      . Weyerhauser Corporation, which originally claimed Tract 1 of the disputed land, was dismissed from the proceedings. The chancellor’s memorandum opinion of December 10, 1999, confirmed title to the Weyerhauser tract in the Board. Thus, the disposition of Tract 1 is not an issue in the present case. The remaining lands, being Tracts 2 and 3, are claimed by members of the Poe and Warner families, respectively.

      . The record is silent on when Judge Michael Malski was appointed, though various inferences support 1996.

      . No tax receipts for either Tract 2 or Tract 3 appear in the record.

      . The Board’s challenge to the admissibility of portions of the affidavits will be discussed infra, where Poe and Warner actually rely upon those portions.

      . In oral arguments, the Board quoted the following language from Brown to support its contention that a motion to strike is not absolutely required: "An affidavit that does not measure up to the standards of Rule 56(e) is subject to a timely motion or other objection, formal defects in the affidavit ordinarily are waived.” However, these words are a quotation from a federal court. See Brown v. Credit Ctr., Inc., 444 So.2d 358, 365 (Miss.1983) (quoting Auto Drive-Away Co. of Hialeah, Inc. v. Interstate Commerce Comm’n, 360 F.2d 446 (5th Cir.1966)). The words of this Court's opinion in Brown are crystal clear: "Where the party against whom a motion for summary judgment is made wishes to attack one or more of the affidavits upon which the motion is based, he must file in the trial court a motion to strike the affidavit.” Id. (emphasis added). While this Court often looks to federal courts' interpretations of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for guidance, this Court's explicit requirement regarding the Mississippi Rules takes precedence over parallel federal practice.

      . That section reads in full: "Adverse possession for a period of twenty-five years, under a claim of right or title, shall be prima facie evidence in such case that the law authorizing the disposition of the lands has been complied with and the lease or sale duly made. If the claim be under a lease, the time at which the lease expires shall be fixed by the court.”

      . Another very great advantage of the presumed grant argument, in view of the questionable written evidence relied upon by Poe and Warner, is that Rye states "the very purpose of the doctrine [of presumptive grant] is to remedy the absence of written evidence of some kind from the State.” Id. at 907 (noting, however, that in Rye “written evidence” did indeed exist). This language, in contrast to the discussion of adverse possession in Creekmore, would appear to indicate that even sketchy written evidence is not to be excluded, since the doctrine could be applied even in the absence of any written evidence.

      . Although not a party to this suit, the State, by and through the Secretary of State and the Attorney General, filed an amicus curiae brief.