Fuchs v. Reorganized School Dist. No. 2, Gasconade County, 42621
| Decision Date | 08 September 1952 |
| Docket Number | No. 1,No. 42621,42621,1 |
| Citation | 251 S.W.2d 677 |
| Parties | FUCHS et al. v. REORGANIZED SCHOOL DIST. NO. 2, GASCONADE COUNTY |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Joseph T. Tate, Owensville, for appellant.
J. H. Mosby, John P. Peters, Linn, for respondents.
COIL, Commissioner.
In this action to quiet title to an acre of ground in Gasconade County both plaintiffs-respondents and defendant-appellant claimed fee simple title. We shall refer to the parties as plaintiffs and defendant. The trial court adjudged fee simple title in plaintiffs. Defendant has appealed.
Plaintiffs' motion to dismiss defendant's appeal or affirm the judgment of the trial court was taken with the case. Plaintiffs contend that defendant failed to comply with Supreme Court Rule 1.08 in that, it is alleged, defendant failed to make a jurisdictional statement, failed to make a fair and concise statement of the facts, and failed to set forth sufficiently the points relied on with allegations of error and citation of authorities.
We have examined defendant's brief in the light of the claimed deficiencies. We are of the opinion that plaintiffs' motion to dismiss or affirm should be, and it is, overruled. However, we emphasize again that the clear, specific, and simple provisions of Supreme Court Rule 1.08 should be fully complied with in the preparation of briefs.
Plaintiffs, the only heirs of the grantors in the deed later set forth, base their claim of title on the propositions that the deed conveyed to School District 51 (defendant's predecessor in title) a determinable fee with a possibility of reveter; that defendant had abandoned the real estate for school purposes; that the intent of the grantors was to provide for the automatic reversion of the fee simple estate upon abandonment; and that the possibility of reverter has desceded to plaintiffs as the heirs of the grantors.
Defendant contends that the deed conveyed a fee simple title with no limitations or conditions on the grant.
The deed, dated August 30, 1892, was: 'Know All Men By These Presents: That, Anton Fuchs, and Annie Fuchs, of the County of Gasconade, in the State of Missouri, have this day, for and in consideration of the sum of One and no/100 Dollars to the said Anton Fuchs in hand paid by School District No. Fifty-One, Township No. 41, Range Five West, of the County of Gasconade, in the State of Missouri, Granted, Bargained and Sold, and by these presents do Grant, Bargain and Sell, unto the said School District on which to Keep and Maintain a Public School-House, the following described tracts or parcels of land, situated in the County of Gasconade, in the State of Missouri, that is to say:
'One Acre, bounded as follows: Commencing at the Northwest corner of the Southeast Qr. of the Northwest Qr. of Section No. Eleven, in Township No. Forty-One (41), Range No. Five (5) West; thence running South 8 Rods; thence East 20 Rods; thence North 8 Rods and thence West 20 Rods to the place of beginning.
'To Have And To Hold The premises hereby conveyed, with all the rights, privileges and appurtenances thereto belonging or in anywise appertaining, unto the said School District No. 51, Twp. 41, Range 5 West, for the above purpose, forever, I, the said Anton Fuchs hereby covenanting to and with the said School District No. 51, Twp. 41, Range 5 West and its assigns, for himself, his heirs, executors and administrators to Warrant and Defend the title to the premises hereby conveyed, against the claim of every person whatsoever.'
Plaintiffs contend that the language in the granting clause 'on which to Keep and Maintain a Public School-House' and the language 'for the above purpose' in the habendum clause, limited the estate conveyed to a determinable fee.
We are of the opinion that the deed conveyed a fee simple title without limitation or condition. The language relied upon by plaintiffs constitutes nothing more than an expression or declaration of the purpose for which the grantors expected the land to be used. The deed contains no express exception or reservation, no express limitation upon the duration of the estate conveyed, no express condition upon which the estate was conveyed, and no express provision for forfeiture, for re-entry,...
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Harris v. Consolidated School Dist. No. 8 C, Dunklin County
...interest. There are not many cases in Missouri involving the abandonment of school sites. In the case of Fuchs v. Reorganized School Dist. No. 2, Gasconade County, Mo., 251 S.W.2d 677, cited by plaintiff, land was conveyed for the purpose of maintaining a 'public schoolhouse,' but there was......
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Clark v. CSX Transp., Inc.
...a deed. The sufficiency of consideration is not a relevant basis upon which to void a deed."); Fuchs v. Reorganized School Dist. No. 2, Gasconade County, 251 S.W.2d 677, 679-80 (Mo. 1952) (stating that nominal consideration "might, in connection with language lacking in preciseness or in co......
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Duncan v. Academy of Sisters of the Sacred Heart at St. Joseph, Mo.
...estate. See also Holekamp Lumber Co. v. State Highway Commission, Mo., 173 S.W.2d 938, 943 [8, 9], and Fuchs v. Reorganized School Dist. No. 2, Gasconade County, Mo., 251 S.W.2d 677, 678. We hold that the deed in question did not convey a determinable The court en banc, in the Chouteau case......
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Citizens for Preservation v. City of Rolla
...either is the common-law dedication claimed by Appellants, or a fee simple absolute as found in Fuchs v. Reorganized School Dist. No. 2, Gasconade County, 251 S.W.2d 677, 679 (Mo.1952) and Chouteau v. City of St. Louis, 331 Mo. 781, 55 S.W.2d 299, 300-02 (1932). The City essentially concede......