Mehard v. Little
| Decision Date | 08 March 1921 |
| Docket Number | 9910. |
| Citation | 196 P. 536,81 Okla. 1,1921 OK 76 |
| Parties | MEHARD ET AL. v. LITTLE. |
| Court | Oklahoma Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court.
Whenever an instrument by apt words of transfer from grantor to grantee, whether such grantor act under the authority of judicial proceedings or otherwise, in form passes what purports to be the title, it gives color of title; even if invalid, possession under it for the period prescribed by statute bars the right of the true owners as effectively as possession under the most perfect title.
When a transfer of real property is made to one person, and the consideration therefor is paid by or for another, a trust is presumed to result in favor of the person by or for whom such payment is made, but no implied or resulting trust can prejudice the rights of a purchaser or incumbrancer of real property, for value and without notice of the trust.
In a case of purely equitable cognizance, the findings of the trial court will not be disturbed on appeal unless the same are clearly against the weight of the evidence.
Record examined, and held, that the findings and conclusions of the trial court are not clearly against the weight of the evidence, and the judgment is affirmed.
Appeal from District Court, Nowata County; W. J. Campbell, Judge.
Action by A. D. Little against S. S. Mehard and another, as administrators of the estate of T. N. Barnsdall. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendants appeal. Affirmed.
W. A Chase, of Tulsa, A. B. Campbell, of Nowata, and J. I. Howard and A. M. Beets, both of Oklahoma City, for plaintiffs in error.
J. E Bennett, of Oklahoma City, and Schwabe, Raymond & Wedell, of Nowata, for defendant in error.
A. D Little commenced this action in the court below against T. N Barnsdall, as defendant, to quiet title to the S. 1/2 of the S.E. 1/4 of section 34, township 26 north, range 15 east in Nowata county, and as a cause of action, and as a basis for his claim and his right to have the same quieted, the plaintiff alleged that this land was originally allotted to one Judy Melton, and that Judy Melton died when about four years of age, leaving as her sole and surviving heir her mother, Victoria Wilson, and that thereafter, and on or about August 15, 1909, Victoria Wilson conveyed this land to Richard C. Adams, and that thereafter, and on April 28, 1909, Victoria Wilson executed a deed to Charles Heady covering said land, and that thereafter, and on August 17, 1909, Charles Heady conveyed by warranty deed all of his interest in the land to J. B. Heady; that thereafter, on January 7, 1910, the sheriff of Nowata county, on an execution issued out of the office of the district court and sale had thereon and confirmation of said sale in a certain action wherein J. B. Heady was plaintiff and Richard C. Adams was defendant, did convey the said described real estate to J. B. Heady, the purchaser at said sale, of all the right, title, and interest of Richard C. Adams to said land, and that thereafter, and on January 8, 1910, said J. B. Heady and his wife executed a warranty deed to the said A. D. Little, plaintiff.
The plaintiff further alleged that he was the owner of said land, and that he had been in the open, hostile, notorious, and adverse possession under claim of title more than five years. He then alleges that, notwithstanding this adverse possession under claim of title for five years, the said defendant Richard C. Adams did, by quitclaim deed, attempt to convey title and interest in said premises to the defendant in this cause, T. N. Barnsdall, under date of March 23, 1914, and asserts that T. N. Barnsdall is claiming some right, title, and interest in said premises adverse to the plaintiff, and alleges that said deed is void for the reason that said Adams had no title or interest in said premises on said March 23, 1914, and said defendant Barnsdall acquired no title or interest, but that said deed is a cloud on plaintiff's title. He alleges as a further ground that the deed from Adams to Barnsdall was void for the reason that Adams had not been in possession of said property for more than a year and had not taken the rents and profits therefrom, but that the plaintiff had received all the rents and profits and had been in possession of said premises for more than five years.
The plaintiff in the court below further prayed for damages against the defendant by reason of the cloud of his title, but the court below having disallowed the same, and no cross-appeal having been filed, that phase of the case becomes immaterial in this court.
Plaintiff attached to his petition copies of the various instruments, muniments of title as Exhibits A to H, both inclusive.
T. N. Barnsdall being a nonresident of the state, service was had upon him by publication, but thereafter, and on October 9, 1915, he appeared and filed an answer in the case in which he admitted that Judy Melton, the allottee to the lands in controversy, was an enrolled freedman citizen of the Cherokee nation, admits her death, admits her allotment of the land in controversy and that she died when she was four years of age, and her mother, Victoria Wilson, was her sole heir, admits that on August 17, 1905, Victoria Wilson executed a deed to Richard C. Adams which was filed for record August 25, 1905, admits that the execution was issued to the sheriff of Nowata county in the case of J. B. Heady v. Richard C. Adams, but denies the validity of the deed, denies that it transferred any right or interest in the land to the purchaser, J. B. Heady, and denies that any valid judgment was ever rendered, or that any valid execution was issued upon said judgment, or that any execution was levied on the lands or any valid sale made thereof to J. B. Heady or any one else by reason of the execution. The answer further admits the transfer of the property on March 23, 1914, from Richard C. Adams to the defendant Barnsdall by quitclaim deed. The answer further alleges that the land originally bought from Victoria Wilson was bought with the money of T. N. Barnsdall, and was at all times the property of T. N. Barnsdall, and that the record title to said land was in Richard C. Adams, who held it in trust for T. N. Barnsdall, who was at all times after the execution of the deed on August 17, 1905, by Victoria Wilson to Richard C. Adams, the owner of said land, and prays that plaintiff take nothing by said action.
The plaintiff in the court below filed a reply to this answer in the form of a general denial of all new matter set forth, and he alleges further that he purchased such real estate more than five years prior to the filing of the action for value, without notice or knowledge or pretended claim or title of the defendants, and realleges that he has been in the open, adverse, hostile, and notorious possession for more than five years under claim of title as set forth in his petition, and that the muniments of title have been on file with the register of deeds of Nowata county for more than five years prior to the commencement of this action. Further replying, he alleges that the defendant has been guilty of laches in the assertion of any rights or title to said premises in that he has permitted the pretended trustee, Richard C. Adams, to retain his alleged title for more than ten years before asserting the existence of said pretended trusteeship or asserting any right or title to the said lands, and that any right or title which the defendant might have is now unenforceable, and is barred by the neglect and the delay of the defendants, and is barred by the statute of limitations.
Thereafter the defendant T. N. Barnsdall filed a cross-petition in said action wherein he alleged that he was the legal and equitable owner in fee simple of the premises in controversy, and alleged that he derived his title in the manner set up in the petition of the plaintiff and deraigned his title through the various conveyances from Victoria Wilson to Richard C. Adams and from Richard C. Adams to himself. He then alleged that the transfer of said lands from Richard C. Adams was pursuant to an agreement between the cross-petitioner and Adams to the effect that said conveyances should be for the use and benefit of the cross-petitioner, Barnsdall, and that the funds used by Adams in the purchase of said land were the funds of the cross-petitioner, Barnsdall, and thereafter that Adams held said land for the use and benefit of Barnsdall, and that the execution of the deed from Adams to Barnsdall on the 23d of March, 1914, was for the purpose of carrying out the agreement between them by reason of the cross-petitioner, Barnsdall, being the real owner of said land, and Adams simply holding it in trust for his use and benefit. He alleges that the cross-petitioner, Barnsdall, was at all times, the owner of said lands after the 17th day of August, 1905.
The cross-petitioner further alleges that all of the alleged title claimed by the plaintiff, Little, as pleaded in his petition, was based upon Exhibit F, being his sheriff's deed to said property, but alleges that the same did not convey any title for the reason that the execution was on a judgment rendered against Richard C. Adams when no service was had upon him, and that the judgment was void and the sheriff's deed under the execution based on the judgment was absolutely void and did not convey title from Richard C. Adams to J. B. Heady, and that the said plaintiff has no right, title, or interest in said property by reason thereof.
The cross-petitioner, Barnsdall, further alleges that the claim of the plaintiff, Little, is a cloud on his title, and that the deeds and purported conveyances under which he asserts title should be canceled and held for naught. As a further and second...
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