McLain v. Buliner
| Decision Date | 04 June 1887 |
| Citation | 4 S.W. 768 |
| Parties | McLAIN, Adm'r, and another <I>v.</I> BULINER and others. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Scott & Jones and John B. Jones, for appellants. L. A. Byrne, for appellees.
BUTLER, Special Judge, (BATTLE, J., being disqualified.)
The following statement is deemed sufficient to a correct understanding of this case: On the thirty-first day of January, 1878, James Ritchie, since deceased, obtained from the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Company a deed to lot No. 5, in block No. 73, in the town of Texarkana, Arkansas. Sarah L. Buliner, appellee, prior to the date of Ritchie's deed, had erected upon the lot a two-story frame building, under the claim that, in the year 1876, James Ritchie had relinquished to her his right to purchase the lot, as also his claim for improvements made thereon, and had promised that he would not purchase it himself from the owners, the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Company. She further claimed that, after securing Ritchie's interest in the lot, she contracted with the local agent of the railway company at Texarkana to purchase it, and immediately thereafter began to build upon it. About January, 1877, the building was completed, and she took possession of the lot and the improvements, without protest or objection on the part of James Ritchie.
On the twenty-fourth of October, 1878, Ritchie brought an action of ejectment, in the Miller circuit court against Bero Buliner and Sarah L. Buliner, his wife, and others in possession of the property. Bero and Sarah L. filed an answer and cross-complaint and a counter-claim, making the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Company a party defendant to the counter-claim. The cause was transferred to the equity docket. Ritchie demurred to the counter-claim. Pending the suit, Ritchie died, and the cause was revived and proceeded in the names of Lucy Ritchie, the widow, and H. N. McLain, the administrator of the deceased. The cross-bill was dismissed as to the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Company. At the July term, 1885, the court overruled the demurrer to the counter-claim, and decreed that Ritchie, in his life-time, had a preference right to purchase the lot in controversy from the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Company, the owner of the lot, and that he held a claim for improvements placed thereon; that Ritchie sold to Sarah L. Buliner, for a valuable consideration, his claim on the lot, and relinquished to her his right to purchase it from the railway company; that the heirs and assignees of James Ritchie are estopped from setting up the title which he acquired to the lot from the railway company, as against Sarah L. Buliner; that Lucy Ritchie holds the title to the lot, acquired by purchase from her husband, in trust for the said Sarah L.; and that the said Lucy Ritchie make and execute a deed conveying to Sarah L. Buliner the title to the lot. It was further decreed that Sarah L. Buliner recover from the said Lucy Ritchie the sum of $1,000 for the rental value of the property during the time she held possession.
Counsel concede that the issues involved in this case are narrowed down to a single question,—that of an equitable estoppel. It is insisted for the appellees that the title of Lucy Ritchie to the lot in controversy cannot be set up against Sarah L. Buliner, because of certain promises made by Ritchie, and because he had transferred to her all claim and right to the lot for improvements, and had relinquished his right to purchase from the railway company. It therefore becomes necessary to ascertain whether or not the doctrine of equitable estoppel, wide and varied in application as it is, applies in this case. There was no written contract or agreement between Ritchie and appellees. The case must be determined upon the promises and representations and the alleged parol relinquishment of Ritchie.
Waiving the question of the validity of certain depositions, to which one or the other parties, respectively, took exceptions, we think the evidence establishes that the title to the lot in controversy, at the time Ritchie relinquished his claim to Sarah L. Buliner, was in the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Company; that Ritchie represented he had a claim for improvements made on the lot, which claim he transferred to Sarah L. Buliner for the consideration of $12; that Ritchie advised Sarah L. Buliner to purchase the lot and to build upon it,—representing that it would be a good investment; that he could not buy it himself, as he had not paid for the lot adjoining, which he occupied. He assured her that he would not purchase the lot himself, and this promise he frequently reiterated to Bero Buliner, the husband of said Sarah L., as also to other persons. After Ritchie had relinquished his claim to the lot, Sarah L. Buliner, in September, 1876, applied to the local agent of the railway company at Texarkana to...
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