Costell v. First Nat. Bank of Mobile

• Decision Date: 28 February 1963
• Docket Number: 1 Div. 59
• Citation: 150 So.2d 683,274 Ala. 606
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court
• Parties: Neva COSTELL et al., Executrices, v. FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF MOBILE et al., Administrators.

Page 683

150 So.2d 683

274 Ala. 606

Neva COSTELL et al., Executrices, v. FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF MOBILE et al., Administrators.

1 Div. 59.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

Feb. 28, 1963.

Caffey, Gallalee & Caffey, Mobile, for appellants.

McCorvey, Turner, Johnstone, Adams & May, Mobile, for appellees.

MERRILL, Justice.

This appeal is from a final decree granting relief to complainants, who sought to have a constructive trust declared on two parcels of land.

Appellants assign as error that the court erred in overruling the demurrer to the bill of complaint. The only ground of the demurrer was that there was no equity in the bill. Even though complainants prayed for the establishment of a resulting trust instead of a constructive trust, sufficient facts are alleged to show a constructive trust and the general prayer for relief was sufficient to justify the overruling of the general demurrer. White v. Lehman, 210 Ala. 542, 98 So. 780; Shamblee v. Wilson, 233 Ala. 164, 170 So. 769; Hutto v. Copeland, 265 Ala. 482, 92 So.2d 30.

The theory of the bill is that Margaret Cox, a miserly old lady who distrusted banks, had hidden in her home at the time of her death a large amount of currency, some or all of which was stolen by Irene Hurley, a stenographer for the attorney representing the special administrator, while the attorney, the special administrator and the heirs of the decedent were searching Mrs. Cox's home in the hope of finding any such currency. It is then charged that Irene Hurley passed some of the Cox currency to her uncle, W. C. Lantron, who lived in Texas, and that he used this Cox money in buying two parcels of land in Mobile in April, 1953, some seven months after the death of Mrs. Cox.

The First National Bank and The Merchants National Bank of Mobile filed the bill as administrators of the estate of Margaret Cox against Irene Hurley and W. C. Lantron. The bill was filed in January, 1936.

All of the evidence that Irene Hurley stole the money was circumstantial, but it was nevertheless cogent. Some of the evidence follows.

Margaret Cox was known by her relatives to have gold, bonds and currency in large denominations hidden somewhere. She had rental property which furnished a good income and she paid all her bills in cash. She had operated a store in her earlier days.

Mrs. Cox died at her home at 4:30 A. M. on September 8, 1934, and the only person with her was Mrs. Roberta Steele, the widow of a nephew of Mrs. Cox. Mrs. Steele had handled the checks and bond coupons for Mrs. Cox for about ten years, cashing them at the bank and giving the cash to Mrs. Cox. She usually got large bills, $100, $50 and $20. Mrs. Cox had $95,000 in bonds, but in April, 1934, some Liberty Bonds were called and Mrs. Steele cashed those and gave her nine $1000 bills. Mrs. Cox kept her currency in a black bag or pocket book. She had several rolls of bills with a string tied around them.

On the morning Mrs. Cox died, Mrs. Steele took the $86,000 in bonds from a hidden drawer and put them in her own bank. That same day, Frank Norden, a nephew of Mrs. Cox, consulted an attorney, told him that money was probably hidden in the house, and the attorney prepared papers to have Norden appointed special administrator. He was so appointed on Saturday and he posted night and day guards outside the house until Monday. On Monday morning he, his three sisters, his attorney and the attorney's secretary, Irene Hurley, entered the house to make a search for hidden money. They found $11,800 in gold coins in the bottom of a wood box by the fireplace. When they took out the wood and turned the box upside down, the gold rolled all over the floor. The coins were piled up in the middle of the bed. They did not find the bonds (Mrs. Steele had them) and they did not find the black bag.

During the search, Irene Hurley said her husband was outside and had never seen that much gold and requested that he be permitted to come in and see it. She was told that he could come to the door of the room and look in. He did so, and Irene handed him a rolled up apron that she had been wearing that day. He took the apron and left. She also brought and carried away a briefcase with her employer's name on it. At this time, Irene Hurley was making $18 per week, was known to be poor, wore inexpensive clothes and her house was in great need of repair.

Shortly after the death of Mrs. Cox, Irene Hurley, her husband and her mother seemed to be much more prosperous. They moved into the house on one of the parcels of land described in the bill, Irene began to flash diamond rings, wear expensive clothes and they had three automobiles. In 1938, Irene and her husband were divorced without any recorded property settlement, but she continued to live well.

In October, 1935, the administrators hired D. N. Harrelson, a private detective, to try to locate the missing currency. He found that Irene Hurley had been spending a considerable amount of money in the seven months following Mrs. Cox's death, that she had moved into a nice home which had been bought by a supposedly rich uncle, W. C. Lantron, from Texas, who claimed to be a millionaire.

Harrelson went to Texas, found that W. C. Lantron looked like a tramp, was living in a two-room shanty in an oil field, was working occasionally for fifty or seventy-five cents a day and his wife 'had been on relief.' He got Lantron to go with him to the office of the District Attorney in Breckenridge, Texas, and with a deputy sheriff, questioned Lantron. At first, Lantron denied any knowledge of anything concerning Mobile, but he stated orally and in writing that he went to Mobile and purchased a house and lot from the Cotlins for $4500, paying $3000 in cash and promising to pay the balance in a few months without an interest charge. He also purchased a lot for $676 cash. All the money was furnished to him by Irene Hurley. Later, Irene came to Breckenridge, where Lantron lived, and they drove to Graham and he went into the First National Bank at Graham and got a certified check for $1500, payable to the Cotlins in Mobile (the balance due on the house and lot). He paid for this certified check with a $1000 bill and the rest in hundreds and fifties. He said he insisted on going to Graham because he did not want people in Breckenridge to get suspicious over his having that much money. The banker at Graham, the District Attorney and the deputy sheriff testified by deposition in the case.

The District Attorney also testified that sometime prior to the conference with Lantron at his office, Frank Lantron, a nephew of W. C. Lantron, had been arrested because he had bought an automobile for cash, and since he was a young boy without a job, they questioned him. He told the District Attorney that he had stolen it from his aunt in Mobile (Irene Hurley's mother) 'and that she had a lot more money where this came from and that she would never miss it.'

Leter, Lantron answered interrogatories saying that Irene did not furnish the money and that the money was his own. However, he refused to answer over eighty interrogatories on the grounds that the answer would tend to incriminate him, or subject him to criminal prosecution.

Irene Hurley also refused to answer over one hundred interrogatories because 'the same calls for testimony that may tend to subject the respondent to criminal prosecution.' Her statement, like Lantron's, was in answer to interrogatories and was made under oath.

No resulting trust arises when the title to land is taken in another without the consent of the one who furnishes the purchase money and who is claiming the benefit of a trust. Bostic v. Bryan, 263 Ala....