Holland Land & Loan Co. v. Holland

• Decision Date: 13 May 1925
• Docket Number: No. 3760.,3760.
• Citation: 274 S.W. 951
• Parties: HOLLAND LAND LOAN CO. v. HOLLAND.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

274 S.W. 951

HOLLAND LAND LOAN CO. v. HOLLAND.

No. 3760.

Springfield Court of Appeals. Missouri.

May 13, 1925.

Rehearing Denied August 3, 1925.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Greene County; C. H. Skinker, Judge.

Action by the Holland Land & Loan Company against Bertonia A. Holland. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiff appeals. Affirmed, and certified to Supreme Court for final determination.

John T. Sturgis, of Springfield, for appellant.

Mann & Mann and W. D. Tatlow, all of Springfield, for respondent.

COX, P. J.

Action for money had and received. Trial by court, finding and judgment for defendant, and plaintiff appealed. The pleadings are very lengthy, and contain a detailed allegation of all the facts claimed by the parties. We do not deem it necessary to set these out at length, but shall content ourselves with a brief statement of the ultimate issues raised by these pleadings.

Plaintiff is a corporation, and its cause of action is based on the alleged facts: That on the _________ day of February, 1921, it was the legal owner, and for a long time prior thereto had been the equitable owner, of a one-third interest in a lot beginning on the south line of Olive street, 123 feet east of the northwest corner of lot 14, block 7, original plat of Springfield, Mo., at the northeast corner of a lot owned and occupied by McGregor-Noe Hardware Company; thence east 50 feet; thence south 117% feet; thence west 50 feet to the east line of said McGregor-Noe lot; thence north to beginning; otherwise described as an undivided one-third interest in the west 50 feet of the east 65½, feet of lot 14, block 7, original plat of Springfield, Mo. That the title to this land had formerly been in C. B. Holland, but passed from him to the Holland Banking Company by quitclaim deed from him December 13, 1900. That the bank conveyed to plaintiff March 5, 1921. That the deed to the bank was not recorded until March 2, 1921, and by reason of that deed not being of record, the defendant, who had asserted title to the one-third interest in the land owned by plaintiff, sold it to an innocent purchaser, and plaintiff thereby lost the property. This suit is to recover from defendant what she received for that property. There is also a count asking for an accounting as to rents received by defendant.

Defendant denies plaintiff's title, and asserts title in herself up to the time that she sold it, and pleads laches and estoppel as a bar to plaintiff's action. As to the rents received by defendant, she pleads the 5-year statute of limitations as to part of the account. Plaintiff moved to strike out nearly all of the answer, but its motion was overruled, and the cause then proceeded to trial.

At the trial, it was admitted that C. B. Holland was the common source of title to the one-third interest in the property described in plaintiff's petition, and that he acquired title through the foreclosure of a deed of trust executed by A. B. Crawford. It was also conceded that the Townsend heirs owned the other two-thirds interest in the same land. The plaintiff then offered in evidence a quitclaim deed from C. B. Holland to the bank, dated December 13, 1900, recorded March 2, 1921, which conveyed the land in controversy here and several other tracts of land. It next offered a quitclaim deed from the bank to plaintiff for the land in controversy, dated March 5, 1921, and recorded March 7, 1921. It then offered a warranty deed from defendant to George H. Townsend for the same land, dated February 25, 1921, and recorded March 7, 1921. This deed recites that the grantor (defendant herein) is the "residuary legatee of T. B. Holland." It also recites the receipt of $1,200 as the consideration for the transfer. Plaintiff then offered the files and record in a suit tried in the Greene county circuit court at the May term, 1923, by this plaintiff against defendant and George II. Townsend to try title to this land. This record shows that the evidence was heard, the suit was then dismissed as to the defendant in this case, Bertonia A. Holland, and judgment was then rendered against plaintiff in favor of George H. Townsend. The court held in that case that Townsend was an innocent purchaser of the land for value, and without any knowledge of the unrecorded deed from C. B. Holland to the bank, and refused to pass on any other questions in that suit. The plaintiff then rested.

The defendant then offered the will of C. B. Holland, dated June. 21, 1895, and probated March 25, 1901, in which he devised all his property to his son, T. B. Holland, in general terms, without particularly describing any property. Defendant next offered the will of T. B. Holland, dated June 17, 1913, and probated August 9, 1913. This will contains several clauses in which real estate was devised to different persons, and in these clauses each tract of land disposed of was described. He devised: To his widow, this defendant, seven tracts. To Mrs. Charles Holland, a daughter-in-law, one tract. To Charles Holland, a son, two tracts. To Mrs. Jarrett, a daughter, five tracts in Springfield and some land in Taney county. One of these tracts devised to Mrs. Jarrett adjoins the land in controversy here on the east side, and is described as follows: "Beginning at a point 173 feet east of the northwest corner of lot 14 in block 7, original plat of Springfield; thence east 94 feet, south 117½ feet, west 94 feet, north to beginning, being 79 feet of lot 13, and 15 feet of lot 14 in block 7, Springfield, Mo., situated on Olive street, west of Cumberland Presbyterian Church, reserving off of said tract for an alley 20 feet adjoining the Townsend property, and running the full length north and south of the above described tract." To Bertha Simmons, a daughter, three tracts. To Grady Holland Sanford, a grandson, one tract. The eleventh clause in the will gives the rest and residue of his estate of whatever kind and wherever situated to his wife, Bertonia A. Holland, the defendant in this case. The defendant then offered several deeds, executed by T. B. Holland to various parties for land described in the deed from C. B. Holland to the bank, to show that T. B. Holland conveyed these lands as his own after the death of his father, C. B. Holland, but did not convey the 50 feet involved in this suit.

Defendant then offered a warranty deed from T. B. Holland and the Townsend heirs to Arch McGregor dated April 8, 1905, for 94 feet on Olive street adjoining the 50-foot lot in controversy on the east, and also a quitclaim deed from Arch McGregor to T. B. Holland for this same land dated May 24, 1905. The latter deed was excluded on objection of plaintiff, but was later offered by plaintiff and admitted.

Defendant then offered a written contract between T. B. Holland and W. B. Sanford dated August 26, 1911, as follows:

"Whereas, I, T. B. Holland, have this day executed to W. B. Sanford an option to buy from me within 30 days from this date 940 shares of stock of the Capital Stock in Holland Banking Company of Springfield, Mo., for the price and sum of $200 per share, or a total of $188,000 in cash.

"Now, therefore, it is agreed and understood by both parties hereto that in the event said purchase price is paid within time specified, that said sale is to carry with it the good will of said banking business, and is to also include the use of the corporate name, and is to be full purchase price for capital, surplus, undivided profits, and profit and loss account, same to include all assets of every kind and nature belonging to said bank except the real estate. (Italics are ours.)

"All of said real estate is to be sold to said Holland and Sanford jointly by said bank for the sum of $1,738.30, the sum at which it is now carried on said bank books, and one-half of purchase price, to be paid by each of said parties.

"It is also agreed and understood that the said Holland is to remain a director and president of said bank without further remuneration or salary for such time as may be mutually agreed upon. And after said Holland retires he is not to use or allow his name to be used in connection with any other bank in Springfield, Mo. [Signed] T. B. Holland.

                                    "W. B. Sanford
                

"The said T. B. Holland reserves to himself and for his own use the bank's entire interest in the Olive street property known as the Townsend and Crawford property.

"Also the property on Phelps avenue known as the Baxter property, and purchased at the Matilda J. Weaver bankruptcy sale, it being occupied at the present time by Minta Lair and additional house by other parties. Said property as a whole fronts 108 feet more or less on Phelps avenue, and is about 140 or 150 feet on Grant street.

                                    "[Signed] W. B. Sanford."
                

The transfer of stock was made as provided in the contract, and the $1,738.30 paid to the bank, but no deed to any land was made by the bank to Holland and Sanford.

Defendant then offered a quitclaim deed from the bank to the Holland Land & Loan Company dated December 28, 1912. " This deed covered a large amount of property, but only contained two lots that were included in the deed from C. B. Holland to the bank, and did not include the land in controversy here. We find a statement in the record here that the evidence shows that the Holland Land & Loan Company was organized in 1912 for the purpose of taking over the land of Holland and Sanford, each of them owning one-half of the capital stock, and that the land belonging to the bank was then conveyed to it. Defendant then offered a deed from Lemuel L. Higbee to C. B. Holland, dated May 4, 1869, conveying all of lots 13 and 14, block 7, original plat of Springfield, and a deed from Holland to A. B. Crawford, W. M. Townsend, and W. N. Townsend, dated March 15, 1887, conveying 150 feet on the south side of Olive street in Springfield, Mo., which covers the land in controversy and other land adjoining it on the east. Defendant then...