Gould v. Gunn
| Citation | 140 N.W. 380,161 Iowa 155 |
| Parties | HENRIETTA G. GOULD, et al., Appellants, v. J. A. GUNN, Executor of the Estate of W. F. GOULD, Deceased, Appellee |
| Decision Date | 22 March 1913 |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Iowa |
Appeal from Polk District Court.--HON. LAWRENCE DE GRAFF, Judge.
SUIT in equity to enforce a contract or claim against the estate of W. F. Gould, deceased. The nature of the claim was stated in an amended and substituted petition, which recited the facts at length, and to this, as amended, the executor of the estate demurred. This demurrer was sustained, and plaintiffs thereupon elected to dismiss a part of the third division of their petition as amended, and to stand upon the first two divisions thereof, and, having so elected, the court ordered that the first two divisions be dismissed at plaintiffs' cost, and they appeal.
Affirmed.
Bannister & Cox, for appellants.
Henry & Henry, for appellee.
The action, so far as the first two divisions of the petition are concerned, is based upon a contract or contracts hereinafter to be referred to, and upon a decree of court rendered thereon. From the allegations of these pleadings, we gather the following facts: W. F. Gould and Anna, his wife, were married in November of the year 1873, and, as a result thereof, three children were born, who are the plaintiffs herein. W. F. Gould and his wife lived together until about May 11, 1900, and on or about June 2, 1900, a decree of divorce was granted the wife, Anna. In May of the same year they made and entered into a contract for the division of their property, which contract contained the following, among other, provisions:
In case a suit for divorce shall be brought by either party and a divorce is decreed by the court, it is stipulated between said parties that the decree shall award all the property real and personal, now belonging to and held by the said parties, jointly or separately, to Mrs. Anna Gould and to Henrietta Gould, Selina Gould, and Kittie Gould, jointly each with right of survivorship in case of the death of either one without a child being born to them hereafter; that is, in case of the death of either one without a child being born as aforesaid, her right will pass to the survivors in equal proportions, share and share alike. . . .
Provision was then made for the payment, by W. F. Gould, of certain amounts toward the support of children, plaintiffs herein, graduated by the amount of salary received by him, and this was followed by these agreements:
It is further stipulated that, upon the marriage of either of said daughters, all monthly payments to her will cease. It is further stipulated that the above arrangement as to property and support or alimony and the payment thereof shall be in full discharge of all and every liability of every kind on the part of W. F. Gould towards the maintenance and support of either Anna Gould, or either of said children, to wit, Henrietta Gould, Selina Gould, and Kittie Gould; and that neither of them shall have the right hereafter to pledge the credit of W. F. Gould for anything whatever. It is further stipulated on the part of said W. F. Gould that, in case he should derive any revenues from inventions or patents which he has claimed to have invented, and which claims are issued and pending, that he will make, out of any net proceeds therefrom, a fair and equitable apportionment to each of their daughters, and will pay the same to them. Said W. F. Gould also further agrees that, in case his said daughters shall want to travel on the Rock Island road or any other, that he will, so far as shall be practicable for him to do so, obtain passes for such travel.
This agreement was signed by Anna and W. F. Gould, and, in the decree of divorce granted to Anna, the stipulations of this agreement were confirmed, and the decree confirmed, and the decree contains the following recitations and orders:
The court further finds by the introduction in evidence of the original agreement made between the parties, in respect to the disposition of the property between them, a copy of which agreement is annexed to and made a part of plaintiff's petition herein, that the parties were owners of the property in said agreement and petition described, and the title thereto should be vested by the decree herein as in such agreement specified. . . . It is further ordered, considered, and adjudged by the court that all the property, real and personal, now and heretofore belonging to and held by the said Anna Gould and said W. F. Gould, or either of them, be, and the same is hereby, awarded to the plaintiff Anna Gould and to their daughters Henrietta Gould, Selina Gould, and Kittie Gould, jointly, each with the right of survivorship in case of the death of either one without a child being born to them hereafter; that is, in case of the death of either one without a child being born as aforesaid, her right will pass to the survivors in equal proportion, share and share alike. The real property herein and hereby so decreed, and the title to which is hereby vested in the said parties, free and clear from any claim of dower or other right in the said W. F. Gould, to wit: [Here follows the description of certain real estate]--together with all the personal property, including household and kitchen furniture, horse, buggy, and other personal property of every kind whatsoever. The complete legal and equitable title in all said property, real and personal, being hereby vested completely and entirely in the plaintiff Anna Gould and the three daughters of plaintiff and defendant as aforesaid, and in the manner and with the rights of succession and otherwise, as hereinbefore specified, free and clear from any and all claims of any and every kind on the part of said defendant, W. F. Gould.
This was followed by provision as to the support of the children, copying the terms of the agreement between the parties with respect thereto. And the decree concluded as follows:
It is further ordered, considered, and adjudged that, in case the said W. F. Gould shall hereafter derive any material revenues from inventions or patents which he claims to have invented, he will make out of any net proceeds therefrom a fair and equitable apportionment to each of said daughters, and will also, when practicable, provide passes for them to travel on the Rock Island road or any other where he may be able to obtain passes for such travel.
In May of the year 1900, and prior thereto, W. F. Gould had invented and claimed patents upon certain slide or balance valves, railway tie plates, and railway rail chairs, or improvements thereon, amounting to seven in number. The petition then recites that:
Said W. F. Gould did during his lifetime derive revenues and profits from the inventions and patents which he claimed to have invented, and the claims for which were issued and pending at the time of making the said agreement Exhibit A, and which are specifically described in the foregoing paragraph. That said W. F. Gould during his lifetime did especially derive revenues and profits from patents No. 545,478 and No. 594,868, being patents for balancing side valves, for which said patents the said W. F. Gould did receive during his lifetime five hundred shares of the capital stock of the Gould Balance Valve Company of Kellogg, Iowa a corporation, and said stock is now in the hands of the executor of this estate. That said W. F. Gould received during his lifetime, and his estate since his death has received, large sums of money as dividends on the said stock of the Gould Balance Value Company, and have received other profits arising out of said company and out of said inventions. That, by reason of the matters and things hereinbefore alleged, the said shares of the capital stock of the Gould Balance Valve Company and the proceeds of the said patents and claims for patents which were issued and pending at the time of the execution of the said contract, Exhibit A, were and are charged and incumbered with an equitable lien in favor of the plaintiffs, Henrietta G. Gould, Selina G. Gould, and Kittie M. Old. . . . That, by reason of the matters and things hereinbefore alleged, Anna Gould, Henrietta Gould, Selina Gould, and Kittie M. Old became the owners of the entire beneficial interest in and to the patent rights and claims for patents hereinabove described, and merely the legal title to said patents was retained by said W. F. Gould for the purpose of developing the same and realizing thereon, and any revenues which he received from said patents by way of sale or from dividends on stock procured for said patents or otherwise were and are the property of the plaintiffs herein, in equal proportions, and said stock and said revenues are now held in trust by the defendant herein for the plaintiffs.
The petition also recites that Anna Gould, the wife, died single and intestate before the bringing of this suit, and that Kittie Gould married John Old, and that her name is now Kittie M. Old. The prayer is for an accounting from the executor of W. F. Gould's estate for the income derived from the patents, the establishment of plaintiffs' title in and to all of said patents, and the proceeds thereof, in whatever form, or for a decree ordering the executor to execute and issue to plaintiffs proper assignments of all of the patents.
The first count or division of the petition is based upon the contract alone, and the second upon the decree rendered in the divorce proceeding. The demurrer is the general equitable one, and challenges the right of the plaintiffs to the relief demanded or to any other relief. We have already stated the ruling on this demurrer; but, as it was general in character the exact points made thereby must be ascertained from...
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