Felch v. Travis

• Decision Date: 02 March 1899
• Citation: 92 F. 210
• Parties: FELCH et al. v. TRAVIS et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

92 F. 210

FELCH et al. v. TRAVIS et al.

United States Circuit Court, E.D. North Carolina.

March 2, 1899

The court finds the following facts from the pleadings depositions, and admissions of parties.

That the plaintiffs are residents and citizens of Massachusetts and defendants are residents and citizens of North Carolina. That the matter in dispute in this action, exclusive of interest and costs, exceeds the sum of $2,000. That on the 13th day of March, 1889, one W. B. Martin, as trustee conveyed by deed duly executed and delivered to one J. W Old, a citizen of Norfolk, Va., in fee, in consideration of $6,000, the land in Brinkleyville township, Halifax county N.C., described in the bill, which deed was duly proved and recorded in 1889. Said Old entered into possession of said land on the execution of the deed aforesaid. On the 11th day of May, 1892,said J. W. Old and wife, to secure a debt of $5,000 due Felch Bros., executed a deed of trust to William N. Portlock, of Norfolk, Va., for the land in controversy, with a waiver of the homestead exemptions and a power of sale. That plaintiffs became the owners in fee of said land on May 9, 1895,by virtue of a sale under the deed of trust aforesaid, the payment of $2,500 cash, and a deed executed to them by the trustee, which was duly proved and recorded October 22, 1895, and complainants took possession of said land on May 9, 1895, by their tenants, and have held such possession since. That in 1894 the said land was listed in Halifax county, N.C., for state and county purposes, by a list taker duly appointed by the board of commissioners of said county in the name of said J. W. Old at a tax valuation of $2,500, and taxes imposed on it were $15.83, of which $10.33 was for state purposes and $5.50 was for county purposes; and was exposed for sale on 6th day of May, 1895, by W. W. Rosser, then tax collector for said township, and was purchased by the county commissioners, for the use of said county, at the price of $16.53, the same being the amount of said tax and expense of sale. On the 26th day of April, 1897, a deed purporting to convey said land to Jennie G. Travis, defendant, signed by W. W. Rosser, 'former tax collector,' and J. A. Norman, 'collector,' setting forth the listing, as aforesaid, in 1894, by J. W. Old, nonpayment of the taxes, failure to redeem, sale, and that the holder of the certificate of purchase of said real estate had complied with the laws of North Carolina necessary to entitle him (her) to a deed for the said real estate. Said deed was executed in the prescribed form, proved, and recorded April 30, 1897. At the November session, 1893, of the board of commissioners of Halifax county, W. W. Rosser was appointed tax collector for Brinkleyville township for a term of one year, and at October session, 1894, of said board, said Rosser was reappointed for a like term. At October session, 1895 (October 7th), of said board, said Rosser was appointed and acted as tax collector as aforesaid for a term of one year, but at the expiration of the last term J. H. Norman was appointed such tax collector (October 6, 1896). No notice of the tax sale was given to complainants, J. W. Old, or W. N. Portlock prior to such sale or after such sale, except that about six months after the sale E. L. Travis, as attorney for the board of commissioners, wrote a letter to J. W. Old, stating that the land had been sold for taxes, and purchased by the county, the amount of tax due, when the time for redemption would expire, and mailed the same directed to Old at Norfolk, Va. Said Travis did not know that Portlock or the complainants had any interest in said land, but thought said Old was the sole owner thereof, he having never examined the record as to the title. He also believed Norfolk, Va., to be the place of residence of said Old. Said letter was never received by said Old. On May 8, 1895, when W. N. Portlock sold said land to complainants. O. H. Felch, in company with another, went to the office of the register of deeds and clerk of the superior court of Halifax county, and inquired of those officers if there was any defect in the title to said land, and was told there was none. Complainants had no knowledge of the alleged tax sale until July or August, 1897. In June, 1895, and June, 1896,-- the time fixed by law for listing property for taxes,-- the said land was entered on the tax lists in the name of complainants by the list takers duly appointed, and the taxes for each of those years were paid by them; those for 1895 to W. W. Rosser, tax collector, on the 6th of January, 1806, and those for 1896 to J. H. Norman, tax collector, on June 5, 1896. The taxes for every year prior to 1894 were duly paid, and on August 11, 1897, complainants tendered defendant Jennie G. Travis the taxes, costs, interest, and penalty, which she was entitled to demand under the statute, which tender was refused. E. L. Travis is the husband of the defendant Jennie G. Travis, and has acted as her agent and attorney in all transactions in connection with said land. The land was listed for taxes in 1894, and the taxes for the year 1...