Price v. Horton

• Decision Date: 26 January 1920
• Citation: 79 Fla. 97,83 So. 670
• Parties: PRICE et al. v. HORTON.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

83 So. 670

79 Fla. 97

PRICE et al. v. HORTON.

Florida Supreme Court

January 26, 1920

Appeal from Circuit Court, Duval County; George Couper Gibbs, Judge.

Bill in equity to quiet title by Byron Horton against Edulia Smith Price and her husband and Elizabeth F. Fanning. Decree pro confesso against defendant Fanning and decree for complainant against the other defendants, and they appeal. Reversed, with directions.

See also, 80 So. 305.

Syllabus by the Court

SYLLABUS

Where a party seeks to establish in a court of equity a title in him to real estate, as to which defendants and their predecessors in interest have, in good faith, expended considerable money in obtaining a supposedly good title and in paying taxes etc., the complainant should, in appropriate circumstances be required to do equity to get the equitable relief sought.

COUNSEL Giles J. Patterson and Milam & Milam, all of Jacksonville, for appellants.

C. C Howell and O. O. McCollum, both of Jacksonville, for appellee.

OPINION

WHITFIELD J.

Horton brought a bill in equity against appellants to quiet title to described real estate, alleging, in effect, that he 'is the owner and seized in fee simple and is in actual possession' of the land; that defendant Edulia Smith Price claims an estate or interest hostile and adverse to complainant's title through stated mesne conveyances under a deed of conveyance in 1854 from John H. Gumby; that Elizabeth F. Fanning claims a mortgage upon the land executed by Price and wife; that Gumby had no title, and that the defendants have no title; that the claims of the defendants are a cloud upon complainant's title. The prayer is that claims of the defendants be decreed invalid and canceled, and that appropriate injunctions issue, etc.

A decree pro confesso was entered against Elizabeth F. Fanning. By answer Edulia Smith Price and her husband, in effect, denied the invalidity of the title of Edulia Smith Price; admitted the execution of the mortgage to Elizabeth F. Fanning; denied its invalidity and denied 'that the same remains uncalled of record'; denied that John H. Gumby, the source of defendant's title, was without title, and avers that the land had been granted to Gumby by Solomon F. Halliday, under whom complainant claims title; averred that Edulia Smith Price is the owner of the land, that she and her predecessors have been paying taxes on the land and exercised dominion and ownership over the premises.

The evidence shows that a patent from the United States government covering the land was issued in 1844 to Solomon Halliday and that he died in 1888, leaving a will by which he devised to his nephew, the complainant, Byron Horton, 'all of my estate both real and personal'; that the devisee, who lives in another state, settled up the testator's estate, but knew nothing of the testator's ownership of the land covered by the United States patent until December, 1912.

This suit was instituted in 1916, preparatory to which complainant caused a two-strand wire fence to be put around the property, which was unoccupied and 'thickly growed with pine trees.' The patent issued in 1844 to complainant's testator covered 52 acres. The land was subdivided perhaps 30 years subsequent to the date of the conveyance of it in 1854 made by Gumby, through whom defendants claim title, and a portion of the tract, not including that part in controversy here, was apparently before the subdivision occupied for some years as a cattle pen, butcher shop, etc., by a person not connected with defendant's chain of title. The state, county, and city taxes on this property were for many years prior to this suit paid by defendants or their predecessors in claim of right. The defendants have a chain of title from Gumby and gave a mortgage on the property as stated.

Defendants appealed from a decree for ...