Hamilton v. Halpin

• Decision Date: 17 November 1890
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
• Parties: PETER HAMILTON ET AL. v. JOHN F. HALPIN ET AL

8 So. 739

68 Miss. 99

PETER HAMILTON ET AL. v. JOHN F. HALPIN ET AL

Supreme Court of Mississippi

November 17, 1890

FROM the chancery court of Issaquena county, HON. W. R. TRIGG Chancellor.

In July, 1878, the appellants, Peter Hamilton and eight others united in the purchase of a large tract of land, then unimproved, and for the purchase-money executed five joint and several promissory notes, due respectively January 1 1880, and annually thereafter. By the deed the land was conveyed to them jointly. Immediately thereafter they went into possession of the land, and each began the clearing and cultivation of a separate portion. In the matter of the purchase and improvement the parties acted under an agreement, the purpose of which was to secure the services and earnings of each in paying for the land. This agreement while well understood by the parties, was not reduced to writing until June, 1882, when it was written and signed by all the parties. After setting out the purchase of the land and the terms of payment, and the execution of notes therefor, the agreement recites, "that when said notes shall all have been paid and satisfied according to their meaning and tenor, then the interests, shares and claims in and to said land of said respective parties shall stand and be in proportion to the several amounts paid respectively by said parties in settling said notes; that is to say, that each man's share in said land shall bear the same proportion in quantity and value to the whole land as it then exists as the sum or sums of money paid by him in settlement of said note bears to the whole sum paid by all of said parties in payment of said notes, and if any of said parties should pay nothing on said notes or should have paid nothing heretofore, he shall have no interest or share in said lands. This agreement being to reduce in writing the verbal understanding and agreement of said parties when said land was conveyed to them as aforesaid." The parties styled themselves the "Bear Camp Colony," and selected one of their number, Peter Hamilton, as their president or representative.

During the year 1879 the appellants traded with Halpin, Bonham &amp Co., merchants in Vicksburg. In May, 1880, the account against the colony, then unpaid, amounted to about $ 1200, and for this sum and the further sum of about $ 400, advanced by Halpin, Bonham & Co., the members of the colony executed their joint promissory note, payable to said firm, and secured it by a trust-deed of that date upon the Bear Camp Plantation and the crops to be grown thereon during that year. The trust-deed was signed "Bear Camp Colony, by Peter Hamilton," and in the officer's acknowledgment of the deed he is termed the president of the colony.

Halpin, Bonham & Co. made further advances during the year 1880, and paid off one of the purchase-notes of the land, so that at the close of the year there appeared to be due on the account of the colony about $ 2100, and in March, 1881, the appellants executed a second trust-deed to Barnett, as trustee for Halpin, Bonham & Co., to secure the said sum of $ 2100 alleged to be already due, and also a further sum not to exceed $ 3000, agreed by said firm to be advanced to pay off the second purchase-money note for the land and for supplies to be furnished during the year 1882. The trust-deed embraced the plantation aforesaid and also all the mules in the possession of the appellants on said plantation, and all the crops to be grown thereon during the year 1881. The trust-deed was in the usual form, and provided that "upon default of payment of said note at maturity, it shall be the duty of the party of the third part herein, at the request of the holder of said note, to take into his possession all the property described herein, and, after advertising the time, place and terms of sale in some daily paper published in the city of Vicksburg for at least ten days before the day of sale, to proceed to sell said personal property and real estate at the east door of the court-house, in Vicksburg, to the highest and best bidder for cash at public outcry, or a sufficiency thereof to pay said note, and the cost of executing this trust. This trust-deed was signed and acknowledged by each of the appellants, and placed upon record.

In the spring of 1882 the indebtedness of the colony to the firm of Halpin, Bonham & Co. having been largely increased during the previous year on account of advances and the payment of another of the purchase-money notes, the appellants executed still another trust-deed to John F. Halpin & Co. (successors to Halpin, Bonham & Co.). This trust-deed recited an indebtedness to said firm of $ 8500, evidenced by a promissory note of date April 26, 1882, and to secure this as well as any other sums of money that might become due and owing by the appellants to said firm, they conveyed the said plantation and all of the mules and farming implements on the same. This trust-deed contained the usual stipulations for a sale by a trustee, but it does not appear from the record that the trustee in selling the land as hereinafter recited acted under this trust-deed.

On July 17, 1882, Barnett, the trustee in the above-mentioned deed of March 11, 1881, conveyed the entire plantation to John F. Halpin & Co., the conveyance being in the usual form of a trustee's deed, and duly acknowledged and recorded. This deed recites that the trustee having been requested by the holder of the note secured in the trust-deed, proceeded to advertise and sell in accordance with the terms of the said deed of trust, and that John F. Halpin & Co. having been the highest bidder for cash at said sale, the land was sold to them for the sum of $ 3500.

Subsequently, in November, 1883, John F. Halpin, George M. Klein and A. K. Bonham, who are shown to have been partners in the firm of John F. Halpin & Co., conveyed the said plantation to Mrs. Regina Meirs, reciting in the deed a cash consideration of $ 8500, and thereafter, and until the filing of this bill, Mrs. Meirs has continued in possession of the land, claiming it as her own, and it appears from the evidence that the appellants interposed no objection to the assertion of title by Halpin & Co. and by Mrs. Meirs until the filing of their bill in this cause, but on the contrary, most of the appellants remained upon the plantation after the purchase by the latter, and paid rent to her annually thereafter.

On the 30th of August, 1887, the appellants, members of the aforesaid colony, filed the bill in this cause against the members of the firm of Halpin, Bonham & Co., Barnett, the trustee in the above-mentioned trust-deed of March 11, 1881, Regina Meirs and Francis Smith, Caldwell & Co., to whom Mrs. Meirs had executed a trust-deed for borrowed money. The bill recites the purchase by appellants of the land, and gives a history of the dealings of the appellants and the "Bear Camp Colony" with the firms of Halpin, Bonham & Co. and John F. Halpin & Co., and sets out the execution of the trust-deed of March 11, 1881, and the deed by the trustee therein to Halpin & Co., and the deed of the latter to Mrs. Meirs. Complainants allege that they did not voluntarily execute the aforesaid trust- deed of March 11, 1881, as it is written. They aver that they were approached by the defendants Halpin, Bonham & Co., who won their confidence and prevailed upon them to execute a trust-deed upon their personal property to pay off the indebtedness mentioned in the trust-deed; that it was not contemplated by them that the plantation should be included in the deed, they having expressly refused to embrace any of their real estate in it; that the firm of Halpin, Bonham & Co. designedly and with a purpose to defraud them included the land in the trust-deed as prepared by them, artfully suppressing the fact at the time it was signed, and that its insertion in the trust-deed was a fraud upon complainants. Complainants further allege that the trustee, joining in the fraudulent scheme, executed a deed in his capacity as trustee to John F. Halpin & Co., reciting a compliance with the terms of the trust-deed, whereas, in fact, the land was not sold at public outcry at the time and place appointed. They allege that on the day before the pretended sale, two of the appellants, learning incidentally that the lands were about to be sold, went immediately to Vicksburg in order to be present, and, if possible, prevent the sale; that they remained during the whole day at the court-house, and that there was no sale so far as they could see or hear, but that afterwards they were informed that their lands had been sold and deeded to Halpin & Co. They allege that the lands were worth more than twice the amount of the indebtedness to Halpin & Co., and that the personal property included in the trust-deed was sufficient to have paid the indebtedness, and they claim that it was the duty of the trustee to have first sold the personal property, even if the land was legally embraced in the trust-deed. They further allege that the account of Halpin & Co. was largely made up of usurious interest and unlawful commissions, and that the goods furnished to them were sold at exorbitant and extortionate prices.

Complainants further allege that all the defendants, except Francis Smith, Caldwell & Co., colluded and conspired in this scheme to defraud them out of their plantation; that Mrs. Meirs was a relative of John F. Halpin, and at the time of her purchase was fully informed of the fraudulent purpose on the part of Halpin & Co., and was a participant in his fraud.

The prayer of the bill is for an account between complainants and defendants, Halpin & Co., and for a decree giving complainants a reasonable time to pay up the balance found due, and in default...