Dooly v. Pinson

• Decision Date: 21 December 1905
• Citation: Dooly v. Pinson, 145 Ala. 659, 39 So. 664 (Ala. 1905)
• Parties: DOOLY v. PINSON ET AL.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

39 So. 664

145 Ala. 659

DOOLY v. PINSON ET AL.

Supreme Court of Alabama

December 21, 1905

Appeal from Chancery Court, Sumter County; Thomas H. Smith Chancellor.

"Not officially reported."

Suit by Sallie S. Dooly against John H. Pinson and others. From a decree of dismissal, complainant appeals. Affirmed.

W. K Smith, for appellant.

Charles J. Brockway and James A. Mitchell, for appellees.

DENSON J.

The bill was filed in the chancery court of Sumter county on the 9th day of December, 1902, by Mrs. Sallie S. Dooly against John H. Pinson, his wife, Birdie Pinson, and her sister, Miss Alex Bell Geiger. Pendente lite, Miss Geiger married a Mr Waller, and on the suggestion by the complainant of this fact to the court the prosecution of the suit was continued against her in the name of Alex Bell Waller. The complainant and her half brothers and sister were joint owners of a large tract of land--1,320 acres--in Sumter county, of which their father, Minor Robinson, died seised and possessed. Minor Robinson was married twice, and the complainant was the only child by the second marriage. He left surviving him his widow, the mother of the complainant, the complainant, and four children by the first marriage. The widow and the complainant continued in the joint possession of the lands after the death of the husband and father until the widow died, and the complainant, with her husband, Henry C. Dooly, continued to occupy the lands after the death of the widow. The children by the first marriage, complainant's half brothers and sister, filed a bill in the chancery court of Sumter county, against the complainant, for an accounting by her of the rents and profits received by her during her occupancy of the lands, and for a sale of the lands for distribution amongst them and the complainant as joint owners. The chancery court rendered a decree in the cause on the final hearing, holding the complainant here (respondent there) to account for rents and profits to the amount of $1,500, making the amount a charge on her interest in the lands, and ordering a sale of the lands for distribution as prayed for in the bill. No appeal was prosecuted from the decree, and in accordance with its mandates the register proceeded to advertise and sell the lands. At the first sale the lands were bid in for the complainants in the bill for division, at the sum of $4,000. The terms of the sale were not complied with, and a second sale was advertised for the 17th day of February, 1902. At the second sale John H. Pinson bid off the lands in the name of his wife, Mrs. Birdie Pinson, and Miss Alex Bell Geiger, at the sum of $1,500. The complainants in the bill for division were not satisfied with the result of the sale and contemplated resisting confirmation of the register's report of the sale, whereupon an arrangement was made by which the bid made by Pinson was by mutual consent raised to $2,200. The report of the register was amended to show that the lands sold for $2,200, and as amended was confirmed, and the register was ordered to make the purchasers a deed, conveying the title to them to the lands embraced in the bill sold under the decree. The main purpose of this bill is to have a resulting trust in the lands declared in favor of the complainant, based upon a parol contract, alleged to have been made before the sale of the land at the register's sale, by and between John H. Pinson and the complainant.

Stripping the bill of repetitions and unnecessary averments, the substance of its allegations upon which the complainant rests the equity of the bill may be thus stated: That before the second sale, the sale at which Pinson bid off the lands, it was agreed by and between John H. Pinson and the complainant that he should bid in the lands for the complainant, take the deed in his name to protect him in said purchase, and as soon thereafter as the complainant tendered him all the money back that he might pay out for her in making the purchase, with interest, the said Pinson was to reconvey the lands to her. That Pinson bid in the lands at the sale for $1,500 in the name of his wife, Birdie Pinson, and Alex Bell Geiger, and so announced his bid. That Birdie Pinson and Alex Bell Geiger were sisters, and the only heirs at law of William M. Geiger deceased. That said Geiger, deceased, left a large estate. That after the death of said Geiger John H. Pinson married his daughter Birdie, and since his marriage he has been the general agent and manager of said estate for his wife and her sister, Alex Bell Geiger, and as such manager he has attended to the financial affairs of the estate left by William M. Geiger, lending money and selling goods, etc., for "said females." That as such manager and agent of said estate and the funds thereof, and for his principals, he agreed for himself and them that he would convey said lands back to complainant on payment of the money expended by him. That said John H. Pinson bought in said lands at $1,500; but, the price bid being far less than the real value of the lands, it was agreed and understood by and between complainant and all of the heirs of Minor Robinson that, if said bid of $1,500 was raised by complainant to $2,200, the heirs would make no objection to the confirmation of the sale. That according to said agreement the sale was confirmed at $2,200. At the conclusion of the above-recited allegations is this averment: "Your oratrix got said Pinson to buy in said lands for her; he paying the money and giving her time to pay it back as hereinbefore set out." The bill in its allegations continues: That said Pinson, as the agent and manager of said Birdie Pinson and Alex Bell Geiger, and for himself, bought in said lands with the distinct understanding and agreement that, as soon as complainant should pay him and them back all the money that he had paid out on said lands, he and the said Birdie Pinson and Alex Bell Geiger would make her a proper deed of conveyance. That the husband of complainant, Henry Dooly, was living at the time of the sale of said lands, and said Henry Dooly was acting as the agent of complainant in said business matter, and the said Pinson for himself and as the agent of Birdie Pinson and Alex Bell Geiger promised and agreed by and with the said Henry Dooly as the agent of complainant, and the said Pinson also agreed with complainant in person, that as soon after said sale as complainant paid back the purchase money on said lands he and the other respondents would execute a good deed of conveyance to complainant, provided said money was offered or paid to him within a reasonable time. That said agreement was entered into before the sale of said lands, and no one thereafter bid on said lands for complainant, as she verily believed the lands were being bought in for her. That there were two other men, to wit, John Dudley and Joseph Cramer, both men of money, who offered to buy in the lands for complainant on the same terms and conditions; but, having full confidence in said Pinson, complainant and her husband let the said Pinson buy the lands at said sale. It is also alleged in the bill that 160 acres of the lands belonging to the estate of Minor Robinson, deceased, were not embraced in the bill for division; said 160 acres having been left out of the bill by mistake. On this 160-acre tract the bill shows that Sam Amason held a mortgage. The 160 acres are embraced in the present bill. The bill, with respect of this 160-acre tract, alleges that: Complainant, through her agent and husband, got the said Pinson to pay off and take up said mortgage, which it is alleged he did as the agent of Birdie Pinson and Alex Bell Geiger, and that said Pinson purchased said mortgage for something less than the face value thereof, which was $150. This sum, it is alleged, with the $2,200 bid for the land at the sale, aggregated the sum of $2,350, which last sum, with 10 per cent. interest added, aggregated the sum of $2,585. It is then averred that the complainant got the said Pinson to pay off all the complainants in the bill filed for division with the $2,200, and got him to pay off the mortgage to Amason, with the distinct agreement and understanding that the lands were to be reconveyed to complainant, if within a reasonable time she refunded the money paid out by the respondents on said lands. It is further averred that, as a part of the agreement made with Pinson to bid in the lands, complainant was to pay "respondents" the sum of $200 per annum, if she was unable to pay the whole sum at the end of each year, or at the end of the gathering of the crops, and that when the crops were gathered in 1902 she at once paid John H. Pinson the sum of $200. It is then averred that, besides the $200, complainant before the filing of the bill tendered to the said John H. Pinson, for himself and for his wife and Mrs. Alex Bell Waller, née Geiger, all that was due on account of said land transaction. The bill avers that the complainant has been in possession of the lands since the death of her father, and was in possession at the time the sale was made. The prayer of the bill is that the deed made by the register to Mrs. Pinson and Mrs. Waller, née Geiger, be set aside and declared void; that John H. Pinson, Birdie Pinson, and Alex Bell Geiger be required to specifically perform and carry out the contract and agreement entered into by them with complainant, by and through their agent, John H. Pinson; that they be required to execute to complainant a proper deed to the lands on the payment of the money due them thereon; that a reference be ordered to ascertain the amount due; that, in the event the respondents decline to execute the deed, the register be required to execute to complainant a proper deed to the lands involved in this...