Seymour v. Evans
Supreme Court of Mississippi
608 So. 2d 1141 (Miss. 1992)
Edna Seymour (defendant) sold three parcels of land to several couples (plaintiffs, including Evans) by warranty deed, all intending residential use, but the buyers later learned they couldn't obtain building permits without first bringing their lots into compliance with subdivision ordinances that arose only because Seymour had subdivided the property — ordinances Seymour herself was unaware of at the time of the sales. The buyers sued, and the trial court set aside the warranty deeds and ordered Seymour to reimburse the buyers for payments and litigation costs, finding a breach of the deed's implied covenants; Seymour appealed.
Whether, when property is conveyed by warranty deed and the conveyance itself causes a violation of ordinances that did not preexist the conveyance, any of the five common-law covenants have been breached.