Lindsley v. Caldwell

• Decision Date: 23 May 1911
• Citation: 137 S.W. 985,234 Mo. 507
• Parties: LINDSLEY v. CALDWELL et al.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

137 S.W. 985

234 Mo. 507

LINDSLEY v. CALDWELL et al.

Supreme Court of Missouri. Division No. 2.

May 23, 1911.

1. PLEADING (§ 364)—STRIKING MATTER FROM PLEADING—EVIDENTIAL FACTS.

It is not error to strike out the evidential facts from an answer, where such facts, so far as they are material, are admissible under the answer remaining.

2. ATTORNEY AND CLIENT (§ 123)—CONVEYANCE TO ATTORNEY.

An attorney who advised his client to convey land to him, cannot, because of the confidential relations between them, refuse to reconvey it on the ground that the conveyance was to delay and hinder the client's creditors.

Appeal from St. Louis Circuit Court; Daniel G. Taylor, Judge.

Action by Laura D. Lindsley against Clinton L. Caldwell and another. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant Caldwell appeals. Affirmed.

Plaintiff filed a bill in equity in the circuit court of the city of St. Louis against Clinton L. Caldwell and Otta C. Steele, defendants below, to recover certain parcels of land located in the city of St. Louis, described in the petition. The bill alleges that one Stevenson, agent for plaintiff, agreed with defendant Caldwell that the latter should take the title to said real estate in his own name and sign and execute a deed, with the name of the grantee in blank, and deliver same to said Stevenson, agent for plaintiff; that under said agreement said Stevenson was to fill in plaintiff's name in said deed, or the name of a corporation in which she owned a great majority of stock; that the property so transferred was secured with the money furnished by plaintiff, and was deeded to Caldwell in pursuance of said trust agreement, without any consideration being paid therefor by Caldwell; that said Caldwell violated said trust agreement and fraudulently executed a deed to said property in blank to a real estate trust company in the city of St. Louis without the knowledge of plaintiff or her said agent, Stevenson. The bill further states that defendant Caldwell, with fraudulent intent to convert said property to his own use, conveyed the same to one Mrs. Otta C. Steele, a sister of said Caldwell, without any consideration being paid therefor by said Steele, the said Caldwell well knowing that plaintiff was the equitable owner of said property and that her money had paid for same; that the defendant, Otta C. Steele, was acting under the influence and control of defendant Caldwell, and conniving with him in this matter. The bill prayed the court to decree the defendants Caldwell and Steele as trustees of plaintiff, and to order defendants to convey said property to plaintiff. To this bill Mrs. Otta C. Steele, defendant, filed a separate answer in which she stated that no delivery of said deed from Caldwell was ever made to her; that she was ready to release and quitclaim said premises the same as if said deed had not been filed, and was ready to tender her said release and quitclaim; that she had no desire to hold said property for any purpose.

An amended answer was filed by defendant Caldwell, in which he alleged that the plaintiff had no title, right, or interest in the subject-matter of the suit, and that she was unlawfully confederating with one William H. Stevenson and putting herself forward in the place and stead of said Stevenson, who was the real party in interest, and that all of the transactions, matters, and things alleged in the said answer are connected with the false and fraudulent exploiting of the plaintiff as the pretended owner of the subject-matter of the suit. The answer then proceeds to set out at great length sundry facts tending to show that said Stevenson was insolvent; that he had been engaged in a great many financial and real estate transactions, the details of which are set out at length in the answer, and that the result of said transactions was that the properties involved in this case were transferred without consideration to one Charles Whitehead, who was procured by defendant Caldwell, by direction of Stevenson, to serve as a straw man, and who executed certain mortgages on said property, and then conveyed, without consideration, the title to defendant Caldwell, by and with the authority of said Stevenson, and with intent to constitute said defendant a trustee of said property for the use and benefit of Stevenson, and to conceal the same from levy, seizure, and sale by Stevenson's creditors, and to hinder, delay, and defraud his creditors; that the claim of ownership of said property by the plaintiff was made in pursuance of the aforesaid policy of Stevenson to cover up and conceal the real ownership thereof in order to hinder, delay, and defraud his creditors; that by collusion with plaintiff said Stevenson falsely pretended ownership in her of said property; that she, plaintiff, became a party to Stevenson's scheme to hinder, delay, and defraud his creditors, and participated in and conspired with Stevenson for perpetrating such frauds; that the defendant...