Lasater v. Wade

• Decision Date: 27 June 1910
• Citation: 129 S.W. 786,95 Ark. 493
• Parties: LASATER v. WADE
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

129 S.W. 786

95 Ark. 493

LASATER v. WADE

Supreme Court of Arkansas

June 27, 1910

Appeal from Crawford Chancery Court; J. V. Bourland, Chancellor reversed.

Decree reversed and cause remanded.

J. E London and C. A. Starbird, for appellant.

The contract was within the statute of frauds. Kirby's Dig § 3665; 50 Ark. 71. Appellee is estopped to assert his contract. 33 Ark. 465. Possession, to take a contract out of the statute, must be delivered and obtained solely under the contract. 30 Ark. 262.

Sam R Chew, for appellee.

The purchase of the property by appellant, and putting his mother in possession of it that she might live on it the remainder of her life was in effect a gift. 74 Ark. 104., 1 Ark. 83.

OPINION

BATTLE, J.

Macey Lasater brought an action against Henry Wade and Eliza Howell to recover possession of certain lands, claiming to have purchased the same from Isaac Lasater on the 11th day of January, 1908.

The defendants answered as follows: "Defendants, further answering, say that on the day of , 189 defendant Henry Wade and Henry Howell purchased the above land from Sarah A. Smith, and executed to said Sarah A. Smith a mortgage on same for $ 450, the balance of the purchase money, said mortgage debt being due and payable on the day of , 190 The defendant Henry Wade and Henry Howell were unable to pay off said mortgage, and Sarah A. Smith became the purchaser thereof and took title in herself.

The defendant Wade procured one Isaac Lasater to redeem said land and take deed to same in his own name, with the understanding, and by express agreement, that his mother, the mother-in-law of Wade, and the grandmother of plaintiff, Macey Lasater, should have and use said land as a home, so long as she should five, and that defendant Wade should have the right, and be allowed, at any time before the death of the said defendant Eliza Howell, to pay to said Isaac Lasater the amount expended in redemption of said land, and upon said payment said Isaac Lasater agreed to and was to deed said land to said Wade. In furtherance of said agreement said Isaac Lasater redeemed said land, or purchased the same, from Sarah A. Smith, and took the deed in his own name.

"Defendants further say that they deposited in the Citizens' Bank of Van Buren, to the credit of Isaac Lasater, the yearly interest on the money expended by him on said lands, and have now on hand and now tender in payment the whole amount due said Isaac Lasater, and have frequently notified him, Lasater, of said fact.

"Defendants, further answering, say that on the day of , 190 , with full knowledge of said agreement before mentioned and in utter disregard of the same, permitted said land to be returned as delinquent for taxes for the year 190 , and allowed the same to be sold for said taxes and afterwards redeemed the same from Lewis Bryan, taking title in his own name. That afterwards on the day of , 1907, said Isaac Lasater, with intent to defraud these defendants, sold and conveyed by warranty deed said land in controversy to this plaintiff, Macey Lasater, he, Macey Lasater, having full knowledge of the agreement entered into between his uncles, Isaac Lasater, Henry Wade and his grandmother, Eliza Howell, and being fully apprised of the right by which said Isaac Lasater held said land."

They asked to be allowed to pay into court "the amount due said Isaac Lasater upon said land; that the deed of Isaac Lasater to Macey Lasater for said land be cancelled, and that Isaac Lasater be required upon the payment of amount due him to convey the land to the defendant Henry Wade, and for other relief."

Upon motion of the defendants the action was transferred to the Crawford...