Leinss v. Weiss

• Decision Date: 10 June 1904
• Docket Number: No. 5,054.,5,054.
• Citation: 33 Ind.App. 344,71 N.E. 254
• Parties: LEINSS et al. v. WEISS.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

33 Ind.App. 344

71 N.E. 254

LEINSS et al.

v.WEISS.

No. 5,054.

Appellate Court of Indiana, Division No. 1.

June 10, 1904.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Newton County; C. W. Hanley, Judge.

Action by Charles R. Weiss against Frederick Leinss and others. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendants appeal. Affirmed.Cummings & Danoch, for appellants. E. B. Sellers, for appellee.

HENLEY, J.

Appellee began this action by complaint in two paragraphs, both of which amount to simple actions to quiet title, and differ only in this: that the first paragraph of complaint states the facts covering the whole transaction.

The facts as they appear are, briefly, as follows: Frederick Leinss was on the 20th day of January, 1891, the owner of the fee and in possession of the northeast fractional quarter of section 1, township 27 north, range 8 west, in Newton county, Ind., and on that day he and his wife, the appellant Minnie Leinss, conveyed said land to one Glasgo B. Clymer, and on said date the said Clymer conveyed the same land to the appellant Minnie Leinss. Prior to the date of this conveyance, Frederick Leinss had, by an inquest held by two justices of the peace under the statute, been declared a person of unsound mind and a proper person to be admitted to the insane asylum, and he had been so admitted; but prior to the date of the conveyance he had, by the proper authorities at the asylum, been discharged as cured. Afterward he was again declared of unsound mind by an inquest held by two justices of the peace under the statute, and again confined in an insane asylum. At the December term, 1892, of the Newton circuit court, the appellant Minnie Leinss, as the wife of the appellant Frederick Leinss, filed her petition in said court to sell and convey said real estate, alleging that her husband was insane and confined at that time in the asylum for the insane. The court granted the prayer of the petition, and authorized her to sell and convey said real estate without her husband joining her therein. Afterward, on the 1st day of March, 1893, the appellant Minnie Leinss, under and by virtue of the order of the court made upon her said petition, conveyed said real estate to one Harry S. Bailey. On the 15th day of September, 1893, the said Bailey and wife conveyed the same land to Bethania T. Bailey; and on the 2d day of March, 1896, the said Bethania T. Bailey and her husband conveyed said land to Jacob Ropp; and on the 26th day of February, 1902, said Ropp and wife conveyed the same land to Charles R. Weiss, the appellee herein, who has brought this action to quiet his title thereto.

The appellant Frederick Leinss answered by his guardian, John Weiss. The appellant Minnie Leinss answered for herself. The court appointed a guardian ad litem for August, Lydia, Annie, and Henry Leinss, who were minors, who filed an answer for said minors. All of the answers filed were in two paragraphs, the first of which was a general denial, and the second paragraph averred that Frederick Leinss was a person of unsound mind, and had been so declared by a commission in lunacy prior to the conveyance to his said wife, and that afterward, in the judgment rendered by the Newton circuit court authorizing his said wife to sell the land, he had been found to be a person of unsound mind, and asking that the deed of conveyance from said Frederick Leinss to the said Clymer to vest the title to said land in his wife be declared void. Appellee filed a general denial in reply to the second paragraph of each answer. There was a trial and judgment for the appellee, quieting his title to the land in controversy. Appellants each moved the court for a new trial, assigning as causes that the court erred in giving the jury each of instructions numbered 1 and 2;...