Jones v. Jones

• Decision Date: 01 November 1955
• Docket Number: No. 35322,35322
• Citation: 290 P.2d 757
• Parties: Ben H. JONES, Jennie Elois Gwartney & Oleta Silvers, Plaintiffs in Error, v. Perry W. JONES, Defendant in Error.
• Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court

Page 757

290 P.2d 757

1955 OK 310

Ben H. JONES, Jennie Elois Gwartney & Oleta Silvers Plaintiffs in Error, v. Perry W. JONES, Defendant in Error.

No. 35322.

Supreme Court of Oklahoma.

Nov. 1, 1955.

Rehearing Denied Dec. 6, 1955.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. Where plaintiff, in a suit to quiet title, alleges ownership of the equitable title, although he had conveyed the naked legal title to another, and the heirs of the grantee, as defendants, rely upon their assertion that the grantor is not in a position to maintain the suit in equity because he had executed the deed to hinder and defraud creditors, the burden of proving the fraudulent intent of the grantor is upon them.

2. Where, in a suit to quiet alleged equitable title as against holders of legal title, defendants, to defeat plaintiff's right to equitable relief, rely upon 'clean hands' doctrine by assertion that deed from plaintiff to defendants' predecessor was in fraud of creditors, it must be shown that the grantor was insolvent when the conveyance was made.

3. In an action of equitable cognizance, judgment of trial court will not be disturbed on appeal unless it is against clear weight of evidence.

Appeal from the District Court of Garvin County; Ben T. Williams, Trial Judge.

Perry W. Jones, plaintiff, brought action, as owner of entire equitable title in realty, to quiet the same against the defendants, Ben H. Jones, Oleta Silver and Jennie E. Gwartney, heirs of alleged bare legal title grantee or trustee. Judgment for plaintiff, determining that plaintiff did not convey in fraud of creditors and quieting his title. Defendants have appealed. Affirmed.

Brown & Verity, Geo. L. Verity, Oklahoma City, Garvin & Shumate, Pauls Valley, for plaintiffs in error.

S. H. King, Pauls Valley, Holmes Colbert, Sulphur, for defendant in error.

DAVISON, Justice.

This is a suit to quiet title to an eighty acre tract of land in Garvin County, Oklahoma, brought by the plaintiff, Perry W. Jones, against the defendants, Ben H. Jones, Oleta Silver and Jennie E. Gwartney. The parties will be referred to as they appeared in the trial court.

A statement of the facts can be more clearly made after an identification of the individuals involved. Perry W. Jones, the plaintiff, was an elderly man, some 84 years of age, the father of several grown children, one of whom being F. M. Jones, a son, who died in 1934. The said decedent left, as his heirs, his wife, Forrest Jones, and four children, F. M. Jones Jr., Ben H. Jones, Oleta Silver and Jennie E. Gwartney, the last three named being the defendants herein. In addition to the said F. M. Jones, deceased, the plaintiff had three other children, all living, who are not parties hereto.

The chain of events, leading up to this litigation, began in February 1929 when the plaintiff, while the owner of the eighty acres in question conveyed the same by warranty deed to the above mentioned son, F. M. Jones. F. M. Jones, as above stated, died five years later. Two years after his death, his widow and children executed an oil and gas lease covering the property. Shortly thereafter, the plaintiff executed a quitclaim deed to said heirs, of the said F. M. Jones, deceased. In 1947, some eleven years later, the said heirs of F. M. Jones, deceased, again leased the land for oil and gas purposes to another and different lessee. In June 1949, two of the said heirs of F. M. Jones, deceased, being his widow and his son F. M. Jones, Jr., executed a warranty deed to the plaintiff. The facts, this far stated are either undisputed or are matters of record. In addition, it was also a matter of record that the plaintiff, both prior and subsequent to the execution of the warranty deed in 1929, was a member of the mercantile partnership of A. D. Nowlin & Co. which said partnership was adjudged a bankrupt in March, 1930, upon the petition of creditors.

On August 15, 1949, some two months after the execution of the above warranty deed to plaintiff by the widow and one son of F. M. Jones, deceased, plaintiff filed this suit alleging that he was the owner and in the actual possession of the property. Default judgment was rendered for plaintiff which was later vacated and defendants permitted to plead. They answered by way of general denial with admissions of the original ownership of the land by plaintiff; the execution of the deeds by plaintiff in 1929 and 1936; the death of F. M. Jones in 1934 and the identity of his heirs. No cross petition was filed. Upon those pleadings the case was tried.

Plaintiff's contentions were two-fold and there is substantial competent evidence in the record to amply support them. He testified that he executed the deed in 1929 in order that his son, F. M. Jones, who had land nearby, could more easily manage and operate the 80 acres in question for and on behalf of the plaintiff; that all income therefrom was turned over to plaintiff who never parted with the actual ownership of, or equitable title to, said lands; that the said F. M. Jones never had more than the bare legal title. As to the deed executed in 1936, plaintiff testified that, due to his interest in the property, the oil and gas lessee would not complete the transaction unless such a deed was executed; that the lease was made for his benefit and he received the bonus and rentals paid thereunder; that after the death of F. M. Jones, another of his sons, Ben F. Jones managed the farm for him; that regardless of the person to whom the various tax receipts were made, the taxes were paid from the income from the farm and then the net remaining was paid over to him.

He also testified that the latter oil and gas lease, executed in 1947 was executed with his consent and at his direction and that he was to be paid all the bonus and rental money received therefor; that Forrest Jones and F. M. Jones, Jr., the wife and son of the decedent paid their parts of the bonus money over to him and, upon demand, executed a deed to their interest to him; that the other three heirs, the defendants herein, refused to pay the bonus money over to him or to reconvey the property to him. He thereupon brought this suit, founding his right to relief upon the theory that he had never parted with the equitable title and further that, if his acts did amount to an actual conveyance of the entire title, then he had been in actual adverse and open possession of the premises for a sufficient length of time that his claim of ownership had ripened into a prescriptive title, good as against every one including the defendants. On practically all points, the testimony of plaintiff was corroborated.

The defendants, as a foundation for their contentions, asserted that plaintiff was barred from any relief in a court of equity for the reason that he did not come in with 'clean hands'; that in 1929 when he executed the first deed to F. M. Jones, he did so for the purpose of defrauding his creditors and putting the property beyond their reach; that the partnership of A. D. Nowlin & Co. was in financial difficulties which culminated in the adjudication of bankruptcy in March, 1930; that the property was not scheduled in the bankruptcy proceedings as an asset nor did he disclose his claim of ownership of it. The contentions were supported by evidence of numerous statements allegedly made by plaintiff and his own admission that he had...