Knowles v. Canant

• Decision Date: 22 March 1951
• Docket Number: 6 Div. 925
• Citation: Knowles v. Canant, 255 Ala. 331, 51 So.2d 355 (Ala. 1951)
• Parties: KNOWLES v. CANANT.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Page 355

51 So.2d 355

255 Ala. 331

KNOWLES v. CANANT.

6 Div. 925.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

March 22, 1951.

S. P. Keith, Jr., of Birmingham, for appellant.

Harris Burns, of Birmingham, for appellee.

LIVINGSTON, Chief Justice.

The original bill in this cause was filed by Clyde S. Knowles, as guardian for Laura Jean Knowles, a minor, against Mary M. Canant. In essence it was a bill to sell lands for a division of the proceeds of sale among alleged joint owners. The bill alleges that Laura Jean Knowles and Mary M. Canant each own an undivided one-half interest in the following described lands: 'Lot 9 in Block 55 according to the survey of Birmingham-Ensley as recorded in Map Book 1, page 245, in the office of the Judge of Probate of Jefferson County, Alabama, situated in the City of Birmingham, Alabama, said property being otherwise described as house and premises located at 2801 29th Place, West, in the City of Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama.'

No question is presented on this appeal as to the sufficiency of the original bill.

The respondent, Mary M. Canant, answered the bill and made her answer a cross-bill. The sufficiency of the cross-bill and certain aspects of it as tested by demurrer; the final decree of the court below, and the overruling of appellant's motion for a rehearing are the only questions presented for review.

The answer and cross-bill of Mary M. Canant alleges, in substance, the following facts. That she, Mary M. Canant, is now about eighty-five years of age and in failing health; that Laura Jean Knowles is her grandchild and is about fifteen years of age: that Laura Jean Knowles is the daughter of J. L. Knowles and the sister of Clyde S. Knowles, her guardian: that about August 1940, she, Mary M. Canant, offered to buy the property here involved from the Home Owners Loan Corporation for the sum of $2500.00: that she was unfamiliar with real estate transactions of the kind involved, and that J. L. Knowles, her son-in-law and Clyde S. Knowles, her grandson, offered to handle the transaction for her and to attend to the details of closing the trade: that she gave to them the sum of $250.00 to make the down payment to the Home Owners Loan Corporation for the property to be deeded to her, and that instead of having the deed made to her, the said J. L. Knowles and Clyde S. Knowles, with the intent to defraud her, took the deed in their own names, and executed to the Home Owners Loan Corporation a purchase money mortgage for $2250.00: that several weeks later when the deed from the Home Owners Loan Corporation had been recorded it was sent to her and she discovered that the property had not been deeded to her, but, instead had been deeded to J. L. Knowles and Clyde S. Knowles: that she immediately told J. L Knowles and Clyde S. Knowles that the property must be deeded to her: that on February 14, 1941, J. L. Knowles and Clyde S. Knowles executed and recorded a deed conveying the property involved to her, Mary M. Canant, and Laura Jean Knowles jointly: that Laura Jean Knowles was named in the deed without her knowledge or consent, and that Laura Jean Knowles paid no consideration whatever for any interest in said property, but that she was named grantee in said deed through the fraud and deception of J. L. Knowles and Clyde S. Knowles: that she, Mary M. Canant, has made all payments made on the mortgage executed by J. L. Knowles and Clyde S. Knowles to the Home Owners Loan Corporation, and that the balance now due on said mortgage is about $1200.00.

In so far as the questions presented on this appeal are concerned the cross-bill prays that the court will decree that the lands involved are impressed with a constructive trust in favor of cross-complainant, Mary M. Canant: that Laura Jean Knowles has no right, title or interest therein: that cross-complainant, Mary M. Canant, is the owner of said land in its entirety: and that the court will, if necessary, order the Register of the court to execute a deed conveying to cross-complainant all the right, title or interest in said real estate which may have been conveyed to Laura Jean Knowles.

Appellant's assignments of error from 1 to 4, inclusive, are based on the theory that the allegations of the cross-bill are not sufficient to show the existence of a constructive trust, and that as a consequence, the trial court erred in its decree overruling appellant's demurrer thereto.

A constructive trust, or, as it frequently is called, a trust ex maleficio or ex delicto, arises, as Mr. Pomeroy says, 'Whenever the legal title to property, real or personal, has been obtained through actual fraud, misrepresentation, concealments, or through undue influence, duress, taking advantage of one's weakness or necessities, or through any other similar means or under any other similar circumstances which render it unconscientious for the holder of the legal title to retain and enjoy the beneficial interest, equity impresses a constructive trust on the property thus acquired in favor of the one who is truly and equitably entitled to the same, although he may never perhaps have had any legal estate therein; and a court of equity has jurisdiction to reach the property in the hands of the original wrong-doer or in the hands of a subsequent holder, until a purchaser of it in good faith and without notice acquires a higher right, and takes the property relieved of the trust.' 2 Pom.Eq. §§ 1053, 1055; 1 Story eq. Juris. § 187; Manning v. Pippen, 86 Ala. 357, 5 So. 572; Moore v. Crawford, 130 U.S. 122, 9 S.Ct. 447, 32 L.Ed. 878.

The foregoing was again quoted approvingly in Edmondson v. Jones, 204 Ala. 133, 85 So. 799, and again in Bevels v. Hall, 246 Ala. 430, 21 So.2d 325, see also, Sanford v. Hamner, 115 Ala. 406, 22 So. 117; Butler v. Watrous, 185 Ala. 130, 64 So. 346.

It is clear enough that the...