Brown v. Hunter

• Citation: 121 Ala. 210,25 So. 924
• Parties: BROWN v. HUNTER.
• Decision Date: 06 April 1899
• Court: Supreme Court of Alabama

25 So. 924

121 Ala. 210

BROWN v. HUNTER.

Supreme Court of Alabama

April 6, 1899

Appeal from chancery court, Mobile county; W. H. Tayloe, Chancellor.

Bill by Louisa Hunter against Bettie Turner Brown and others. From a decree for complainant, Bettie Turner Brown appeals. Affirmed.

The bill in this case was filed on January 16, 1897, and averred the following facts: On October 29, 1881, F. Laffre conveyed to Charles Jackson and Eli Brown a certain described lot in the city of Mobile. On November 1, 1881, Charles Jackson and Eli Brown conveyed said lot to Lucinda Brown, Mollie Brown and Louisa Wilson. Lucinda Brown was the wife of Eli Brown and died intestate November 20, 1894, leaving, surviving her her husband, Eli Brown, and, as her only heirs at law, her three children, the complainant, John Wilson, and Louvinia Moore. There was no administration on the estate of Lucinda Brown, and no necessity for any, as there were no debts against the estate. On October 11, 1894, the complainant married John Hunter, and lived with him continuously ever since as his wife. Previous to her marriage to John Hunter she was named Louisa Wilson. After the death of Lucinda Brown, Eli Brown married one Bettie Turner, on May 28, 1895. All of these facts averred in the bill were proved by the evidence introduced. The bill then averred that on July 29 1895, Bettie Turner Brown went into possession of the lot above referred to, and has been in possession over since claiming the same as her own, under a deed purporting to be signed by Eli Brown and the complainant, Louisa Hunter, and purporting to convey to Bettie Turner Brown said lot of land; that at the time the complainant signed said deed she was a married woman, and was living with her husband, John Hunter, and that her husband did not give his consent, in writing or otherwise, to her signing said deed, and did not join with her in the execution thereof, and that the said Bettie Turner Brown fraudulently procured the complainant to sign said deed by inducing her, with false representations, to believe that it was a bill of sale for some furniture, and not allowing the complainant to read the same before signing it; and that, as a matter of fact, the complainant received no consideration whatever for signing said deed. It was then further averred in the bill that Mollie Brown, Bettie Turner Brown, John Wilson, and Louvinia Moore all owned said lot as tenants in common, but that the interest of Bettie Turner Brown is a life interest only to an undivided one-third interest, which was owned by Lucinda Brown, and which life interest accrued to Eli Brown, and which he conveyed to Bettie Turner Brown by the deed above referred to. It was then averred that said lot was too small in area to equitably divide or partition it among the tenants in common, and it was therefore necessary to sell the whole lot in order to effect an equitable division among the said owners. Bettie Turner Brown, Mollie Brown, John Wilson, and Louvinia Moore were made parties defendant, as was also one J. M. Yockers, who claimed an interest in the life interest of Bettie Turner Brown in said lands, under a mortgage made to him by said Bettie. The prayer of the bill was that the deed purporting to be signed by the complainant be declared null and void in so far as it purported to convey any of complainant's interest, and, further, that a sale of said lands be ordered for the purpose of dividing and distributing the proceeds thereof among the several owners. The respondent Bettie Turner Brown filed her answer, which she asked to be taken as a cross bill, in which she averred that, in the purchase of the lot in controversy by Charles Jackson and Eli Brown from F. Laffre, Eli Brown paid the whole of the purchase money for said lot out of a fund which had been placed in his hands by the father of Bettie Turner Brown, to be held by said Eli Brown in trust for her and her brother; that her brother had died, leaving no children, and that the respondent was his only heir at law; and that her father had also died. It was then further averred that after the execution of said deed from Charles Jackson and Eli Brown to Lucinda Brown, Mollie Brown, and Louisa Wilson, the said Eli Brown also used a part of the trust fund to build a dwelling house on said lot; that this respondent, Bettie Turner Brown, first learned of the use of the trust fund in the purchase of the lot and the building of the house some time after May, 1895; and that, after consultation with a lawyer, the deed from Eli Brown and Louisa Hunter to her was executed with the intention to convey said lot to this respondent, in consideration of the facts as above stated. Louisa Hunter, John Wilson, Louvinia Moore, and Mollie Brown were made parties defendant to the cross bill; and its prayer was that a trust be declared in said lot in favor of the cross complainant, and that it be declared that Louisa Hunter, John Wilson, Louvinia Moore, and Mollie Brown held the legal title to said lot in trust for Bettie Turner Brown, and they be required to execute deeds conveying said lot to her. The defendants to the cross bill demurred to it upon the following grounds: "(1) Because said cross bill sets up matter which has no connection with the subject-matter of the original bill, and which is an independent and distinct subject of litigation. (2) Because said cross bill shows that whatever rights to a resulting trust Bettie Turner Brown may have had are barred by the statute of limitations. (3) Because said cross bill shows on its face that Bettie Turner Brown is barred by her laches in failing to assert her claim sooner. (4) Because said cross bill fails to excuse the laches of said Bettle Turner Brown in not asserting her claim sooner. (5) Because said cross bill shows that the deed of conveyance by Eli Brown and Charles Jackson to Lucinda Brown, Mollie Brown, and Louisa Wilson recites a valuable consideration; that this deed is dated November 1, 1881, and said cross bill shows that any right Bettie Turner Brown may have had to impeach said deed is now barred by the statute of limitations. (6) Because said cross bill does not set forth the facts on which the alleged trust is created." This demurrer was sustained, and thereupon the complainants in the cross bill amended it by adding thereto the following averments: "That said Brown remained in possession of said lot up to the time of the execution of the conveyance by said Brown and Louisa Hunter to this cross complainant; that the names of Mollie Brown and Louisa Wilson were inserted in the deed executed by said Brown and Jackson at the direction of said Brown, and they did not for a long while know of the fact of such deed being made to them, and that neither of them have ever been in the possession of said lot; that said grantors knew all the facts at the time said deed was executed, and said deed was intended by them to convey said lot to this cross complainant because of the use of the money belonging to her, and as a recognition of her equitable rights to said property." To the cross bill, as amended, the grounds of demurrer originally interposed to it were refiled, but there was no ruling made upon these demurrers. Louisa Hunter filed her answer to the cross bill, in which she denied that she had, at the time she signed the deed, on July 29, 1895, any knowledge of the facts set forth in the cross bill, or that the deed was intended by her to convey said lot the cross complainant, because of the alleged use of the cross complainant's money by Eli Brown, or that said conveyance was intended as a recognition by her of any equitable rights of cross complainant to said property. In her said answer to the cross bill, she further shows that said lot was conveyed to her, Mollie Brown, and Lucinda Brown on November 2, 1881, by Eli Brown and Charles Jackson, and said deed was recorded January 8, 1884, in Deed Book 49 of the record books of Mobile county, and she and her mother, Lucinda Brown, lived on said land with Eli Brown, claiming the land as their own, under said deed, until the death of said Lucinda Brown, on November 20, 1894; that, after the death of said Lucinda Brown, complainant was in possession until the premises were taken possession of by said cross complainant in July, 1895; that during said time she never heard of said Bettie Turner Brown, or of her equitable claim, nor had she heard of said claim until after the filing of the cross bill in this cause; that, if cross complainant had any such claim, she never asserted it to complainant during the time she was in possession of said lot; and that the same is now barred by the laches of said cross complainant. The other defendants to the cross bill filed answers setting up the facts substantially as stated in the original bill. The evidence introduced for the complainant proved the facts as averred in her bill and in the answer to the cross bill. It was also shown by the evidence for the complainant that, after the purchase of said lot of land by Eli Brown and Charles Jackson from F. Laffre, they executed a deed to...