Feinstein v. McGuire

• Decision Date: 14 January 1957
• Docket Number: No. 1,No. 45347,45347,1
• Citation: 297 S.W.2d 513
• Parties: Bernard D. FEINSTEIN, Respondent, v. Kenneth P. McGUIRE, Appellant
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

Page 513

297 S.W.2d 513

Bernard D. FEINSTEIN, Respondent, v. Kenneth P. McGUIRE, Appellant.

No. 45347.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 1.

Jan. 14, 1957.

Jerome F. Duggan, Edward A. Dubinsky, Dubinsky & Duggan, St. Louis, for appellant.

Robert V. Neidner, Niedner & Niedner, St. Charles, for respondent.

HOLMAN, Commissioner.

Suit to determine title to a tract of land containing 159.58 acres located in St. Charles County, Missouri. A trial before the court resulted in a judgment and decree for plaintiff, Bernard D. Feinstein. Defendant, Kenneth P. McGuire, has duly appealed from said judgment.

The petition alleged that plaintiff was the owner of the land and that defendant claimed an interest therein, the exact nature of which was unknown to plaintiff. The answer alleged that defendant owned an undivided one-half interest in the land and sought an adjudication accordingly. The reply denied that defendant had any interest in said tract and further alleged that any claim defendant may have had had long been barred by the statute of limitations.

Edith R. Munday, a St. Louis real estate operator, purchased this land at a tax sale held on November 6, 1944, for the sum of $1,450 on behalf of herself and Earl Thielecke, a 'joint adventurer.' At some time during the remainder of 1944 these parties went into possession of the tract and remained in possession thereof until the special commissioner (in partition proceedings) deeded it to plaintiff (for a consideration of $6,000) on October 26, 1954. However, on April 12, 1945, Munday and Thielecke obtained a quit-claim deed from Mary E. and Agnes J. McCafferty which conveyed the land to a straw party. The exact interest of these grantors in the land (perhaps an undivided one-half) is not shown, but plaintiff did offer in evidence a warranty deed dated February 28, 1941, wherein one Julia E. Basquill purported to convey the whole title to the said McCafferty sisters. It may be of interest to here note that the county collector paid the entire surplus from the said tax sale of this property ($1,301.72) to the McCafferty sisters.

For some undisclosed reason the purchasers at the tax sale never obtained a collector's deed to this land. On July 16, 1955, after this suit was filed, plaintiff, as the assignee of Edith L. Munday, obtained such a deed. He tacitly concedes, however, that that deed did not operate to convey the title to him, as it was not executed and recorded within the required statutory period of four years. Section 140.410 RSMo 1949, V.A.M.S. He relies upon the chain of title beginning with Julia E. Basquill and upon title by adverse possession.

Neither party offered satisfactory evidence from which we can determine the state of the record title. Plaintiff offered no conveyance preceding the Basquill deed in 1941, although immediately following the description in that deed is the following recital, 'Being the same real estate conveyed to Lewis F. Basquill, et al. by deed of Carrie E. Mische and husband, dated December 14, 1904, and recorded in the Recorder's Office of St. Charles County, Missouri, in Book 89, page 334.' The only deed offered by defendant was one dated August 29, 1921, wherein Sarah A. McGuire (whom he described as his foster mother) purported to convey to him a one-half interest in the land in question. No showing was made as to the title, if any, that said grantor possessed. As indicated, there was no showing of a common source of title. However, we gather from the verbal testimony that perhaps defendant actually had a good record title to an undivided one-half interest in the land. In this situation we will assume that it was necessary for plaintiff to establish a title by adverse possession in order to divest defendant of that interest.

In order to establish title by adverse possession plaintiff had the burden of proving that he and those under whom he claims had possession of the land for the statutory period (10 years), and that such possession was (1) actual, (2) hostile, i. e., under claim of right, (3) open and notorious, (4) exclusive, and (5) continuous. City of Kirksville v. Young, Mo.Sup., 252 S.W.2d 286. 'Adverse possession must be shown to have been continuous and unbroken for the whole prescribed period of limitation.' Allen v. Wiseman, 359 Mo. 1026, 224 S.W.2d 1010, 1013.

Our first task would seem to be to ascertain the starting date of the alleged adverse possession. Since there is no evidence as to possession or acts of dominion by the McCafferty sisters or their predecessors in title, this date could not be prior to the time Munday and Thielecke went into possession. This time is not definitely fixed but each of those parties testified that they were in possession from 1944 until the property was sold. In the absence of proof of an earlier date we think we must adopt December 31, 1944, as the date upon which they went into possession. It therefore appears that Munday and Thielecke were in possession for a period of 9 years, 9 months and 26 days. During that time they regularly paid all taxes that were assessed against this land.

Miss Munday was a witness for the plaintiff. She stated that during the period of occupancy nothing was done with the land itself, but that there was a house thereon which they furnished and she and Thielecke used it as a week-end and holiday house; that they frequently went to the house during the summer months but not so often during the winter; that the neighbors came over to the house and knew they were using it; that the land was fenced but the fences were in need of repairs; that she had never heard of any claim by defendant to an interest in this land until about the time this suit was filed; that no one ever claimed any interest while they were in possession and that she had been holding the ownership and possession of the property to the exclusion of everyone except Mr. Thielecke.

Thielecke testified as a witness for defendant. His testimony as to the use and occupancy of the land was substantially the same as that of Miss Munday. He further stated that he negotiated for and obtained the deed from the McCafferty sisters because he considered the price paid at the tax sale to be much less than the market value. He also related that when he obtained that deed he received the (abstract of) title to the land and from that he learned of the record interest of defendant therein; that he told Miss Munday of that interest; that he made some effort to contact defendant in order to negotiate for a deed but failed to see him until after plaintiff had purchased the land. It also appears that this witness and Miss Munday were associated in the real estate business for ten years and that bad feeling developed between them when Munday filed the partition suit in 1951 which resulted in the sale (at public vendue) of all their jointly owned property. For details of that litigation, see Munday v. Thielecke, Mo.Sup., 290 S.W.2d 88. The defendant was not a party to that suit.

Defendant McGuire testified that during all the time in question he had been a member of the police department of the City of St. Louis; that his foster mother had made the deed (heretofore described) to him and that he had never conveyed his interest in this land; that he paid some taxes for a year or so but had not paid any taxes since 1923; that he assumed the McCafferty sisters had paid the taxes and he had made no inquiry about them; that he had not seen the land since 1918. It does not appear from the testimony of this witness that he manifested any interest in the farm or made any inquiry regarding the use or possession of it after the year 1923.

Defendant contends that the evidence failed to establish the elements which were necessary for plaintiff to acquire title by adverse possession. It is said that the possession would not have been 'hostile' until after November 6, 1948, because prior to that date Munday and Thielecke...