Potter v. Ranlett
| Decision Date | 29 March 1898 |
| Citation | 116 Mich. 454,74 N.W. 661 |
| Court | Michigan Supreme Court |
| Parties | POTTER v. RANLETT ET AL. |
Appeal from circuit court, Cass county, in chancery; Orville W Coolidge, Judge.
Bill by Willard M. Potter against David D. Ranlett and others. From a decree for complainant, defendants appeal. Affirmed.
Lemuel Clute (Hiram A. Huse, of counsel), for appellants.
Howell & Carr, for appellee.
There is little or no controversy over the facts in this case. It appears that James R. Langdon, of Berlin, county of Washington, in the state of Vermont, died September 20, 1895 testate, at the age of 82 years, leaving an estate valued at $2,320,757.20. He owned real estate in Vermont, New York Illinois, and Michigan; that in Michigan being valued at $39,600. The land in controversy in this suit consists of 2,040 acres of woodland, valued at $30,000, situated in Crystal township, Montcalm county, Mich. It is all contiguous. Langdon's will was probated in the probate court at Montpelier, Vt., October 24, 1895. It was also probated in Michigan on January 10, 1896, in the probate court of the county of Ionia. The two defendants David D Ranlett and Albert Tuttle are the executors and trustees named in the will, and both reside in Vermont. The other defendant, Oliver C. Townsend, is a banker at Hubbardston, Mich., and was agent of the deceased in his lifetime, and was continued as agent by the executors after his death. The complainant, Willard M. Potter, then a resident of Petoskey, on February 25, 1896, after negotiations with the agent by letter and otherwise, purchased from defendant Townsend, as agent of the executors, the aforesaid 2,040 acres in Montcalm county, for the sum of $30,000, and made his first payment of $10,000 in cash, and took a receipt therefor. This receipt is the only writing in relation to the contract, except certain letters. By the terms of the agreement, the remaining $20,000 was to be paid in two equal annual payments, with interest at 6 per cent., and a deed was to be executed by the executors in a few days after the first payment. By the understanding, complainant was given the right of immediate possession of the land, and the right to place his mills thereon, and operate them in cutting and removing the timber. In keeping with this understanding and agreement, the complainant did, on or about March 1, 1896, commence cutting and hauling timber, he having in the meantime moved his sawmill from Petoskey to the land, and his family to the city of Grand Rapids. Shortly after the cutting of the timber commenced, defendant Townsend informed complainant that the executors were withholding the deed until the $20,000 was properly secured. Thereupon complainant, on or about March 18, 1896, secured the payment of the $20,000 by personal security (two notes), and by a mortgage signed by himself and wife, covering 238 acres of land in Cass county, together with the land in question, and delivered the same to Townsend, who received it as agent, with the express understanding that Townsend was to hold the same in trust for complainant, and was not to deliver to the executors, and was not to have the mortgage recorded until the deed was executed by the executors, and delivered to and accepted by him. In violation of this understanding, Townsend caused the mortgage to be recorded in the register's office of Cass county, Mich., on the 28th day of March following. Townsend had informed complainant, and complainant believed, that the executors had the power to deed under the will; and complainant did not learn that the power of the executors to execute a deed was questioned until about May 27, 1896, and he did not know until May 29, 1896, that the mortgage was recorded. He at once visited the probate court of Ionia county, and for the first time read the will of the said Langdon, and the paragraph in the will bearing upon the executors' power, as follows: "All the residue and remainder of my estate, of every kind and description, including the real estate not herein otherwise disposed of, I give and grant to the said David D. Ranlett and Albert Tuttle, upon trust, for the following uses and purposes, that is to say: Upon trust that the said Ranlett and Tuttle and their successors in said trust, duly appointed, shall and do pay the income and interest arising from all of said property and estate so placed in trust, and each year, to my said daughters, Lucy R. and Lizzie W., for their sole use and benefit, and upon their separate receipts, in equal proportions and shares, for and during the period of their and each of their natural lives; and, upon the decease of either of them, the survivor to have the said income and interest; and, upon the decease of both said daughters, said trust funds, property, and estate is to be paid over by said trustees to the children of my said daughters, in equal shares and proportions, and so to their respective heirs." Complainant immediately took counsel as to the power of the executors to make a deed under the above paragraph, and was advised that they had no such power. He also advised with Townsend, the agent, on the question, and notified him that he would not stand longer by the contract; and upon June 15, 1896, complainant quit cutting timber on the land, and on June 22d caused his mills to shut down, having then cut all that was hauled in, and moved his mills away, and gave notice to the defendants of his intention to revoke the contract, and demanded of defendant Townsend the repayment of the $10,000, less the stumpage value of the timber cut, his notes and the mortgage, and also that the mortgage be discharged; whereupon the defendants offered to indemnify him if he would stand by the bargain, and accept a deed when they could procure one. But he refused to accept the indemnity and to stand longer by the contract, and filed his bill in this case, in the Cass county circuit court, in chancery, on the 30th day of June, 1896. When it was fully learned that the executors, as trustees, had no power to deed under the will, they, on June 24, 1896, commenced proceedings in the circuit court for the county of Ionia, in chancery, making the devisees and legatees in the will parties defendant, two of whom were minors and one insane, and praying for a construction of the will, and asking that a decree be granted empowering the executors to sell the lands of the estate in Michigan, at public or private sale. The complainant was not made a party to this bill.
The bill in the present case was filed for the purpose of obtaining the cancellation and discharge of the mortgage above referred to, covering the 238 acres of land in Cass county, and also for the purpose of relieving the complainant from the obligation...
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