Brown v. Gwin

• Decision Date: 19 June 1906
• Parties: BROWN v. GWIN et al.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

95 S.W. 208

197 Mo. 499

BROWN v. GWIN et al.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

June 19, 1906.

1. REFORMATION OF INSTRUMENTS—MISTAKE— BONA FIDE PURCHASERS.

Where the grantees of a vendee of certain land had no notice whatever that the original grantor claimed there was a mistake in the description of the land in her deed, such original grantor was not entitled to a decree for the reformation of the deed as against such subsequent grantees.

2. REFORMATION OF INSTRUMENTS — DEEDS — MISTAKE—EVIDENCE.

Parol evidence of a mistake in the description of a deed is insufficient to support a decree for the reformation thereof unless it is clear and convincing and amounts to more than a mere preponderance of evidence.

3. APPEAL—FINDINGS—EVIDENCE.

In a suit to reform the description in a deed, a finding that there was no mistake in such description held not so contrary to the weight of the evidence as to require reversal on appeal.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Pemiscot County; Henry C. Riley, Judge.

Suit by Sarah E. Brown against Frank M. Gwin and others to set aside a deed. From a decree in favor of defendants, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

Hawkins and Brewer & Collins, for appellant. Faris & Oliver, for respondents.

GANTT, J.

This is a suit in equity begun in the circuit court of Pemiscot county, to set aside a deed made by the plaintiff, Sarah E. Brown, sometimes known as Mrs. Louie, to the defendant Mollie Gwin about the 27th day of June, 1898, for a parcel of ground 105 feet north and south by 900 feet east and west on the north side of the right of way of the St. Louis, Kennett & Southern Railroad, now a portion of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad. The land is a part of the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 23, township 19, range 11, in Pemiscot county, Mo. The suit was commenced and made returnable to the November term, 1901. The petition in substance states that on the 27th of June, 1898, the plaintiff bargained and sold to one of the defendants, Frank M. Gwin, certain real estate in the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 23, township 19, range 11, in Pemiscot county, and in or near the town of Pascola in said county, within the following metes and bounds. Commencing 210 feet east on the north boundary line of the right of way of the St. Louis, Kennett and Southern Railroad, where the same enters and runs across the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of said section from the west in Pemiscot county, Mo., and more particularly known as southeast corner of the John L. Swails lot, bought of Sarah E. Brown, running thence 210 feet along the northern boundary of the said St. Louis, Kennett & Southern Railroad Company's right of way, to a stake; thence north 420 feet; thence west 210 feet; thence south 420 feet to the place of beginning; that laboring under a mistake, plaintiff made, executed, signed, and acknowledged as she thought, a deed to the above-described land of the defendant, Frank M. Gwin, for $20; that plaintiff cannot read or write, and was not familiar with the calls of the land; that the defendant Frank M. Gwin induced and caused her to sign a deed without the same being read over to her, and without knowing its contents; that the said deed does not convey the property she bargained and sold to the said Frank M. Gwin, but she is advised that she signed and executed a deed to Mollie Gwin, the wife of said Frank M. Gwin, for an entirely different parcel of land, far more valuable than the one she intended to convey, to wit, the tract of land commencing on the right of way of the St. Louis, Kennett & Southern Railway where said right of way crosses the east boundary line of the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of said section 23 on the east quarter section line of said northeast quarter of the southeast quarter, and running thence west along said north boundary line of said right of way 900 feet; thence north 210 feet; thence east 900 feet to the quarter section line aforesaid; thence along said quarter section line to the place of beginning; that plaintiff did not sell the last above-described land, or any part thereof, to said Frank M. Gwin, Mollie Gwin, his wife, or either of the other defendants herein named, and did not intend to make a deed to either of said parties for the last above-described premises; that said Frank M. Gwin on the 27th of June, 1898, presented her a deed without reading it to her, and under a misapprehension as to the lands, she was conveying or the party to whom she was making a deed she was induced by the said Frank M. Gwin, through fraud and misrepresentation on his part, to make to the said Mollie Gwin a deed to the last above-described property; that the said Mollie Gwin has conveyed parts of said land to A. P. Dorris, A. S. Thomas, and A. A. Russell, defendants herein; that the land she intended to convey was of the value of $20, but that the land included in the description of the deed which she executed by mistake, and a false and fraudulent representation of the defendant, is of the value of $1,000; that she did not know at the time of the execution of said deed that she was making Mollie Gwin a deed to said premises; that Frank M. Gwin took the acknowledgment himself and the said deed had not been as she was advised at the time of filing her petition, filed for record in the office of the recorder of deeds of said county; that said conveyance was either by the mistake of the scrivener, Frank M. Gwin, who drew the same, or purposely, fraudulently, and corruptly so drawn; that it did not express the mutual interest of the parties. Plaintiff states that she is ready and willing to make a good and sufficient deed to the said Frank M. Gwin or his assigns to the property intended to be conveyed; that the said defendant refused to accept and make the aforesaid corrections, wherefore plaintiff prays for a decree directing and compelling the defendants to execute and reform said deed to the plaintiff for the property so conveyed by mistake and fraud, and for a judgment for the yearly rental of said premises for the years 1900 and 1901, and until said premises are delivered to plaintiff, the sum of $1,000, and for such other and further relief that may be by the court deemed just and proper. The defendants, Frank and Mollie Gwin, admit that they are in possession of the land last described in said petition, to wit, the tract 900 feet long by 105 feet wide, but deny all the other allegations in the petition. The other defendants filed a general denial. The cause was submitted to the court on the 7th of March, 1902, and judgment rendered for the defendants. Within due time, the plaintiff filed her motion for new trial, which was heard and overruled to which she saved her...