Reynolds v. Scott

• Decision Date: 09 October 1952
• Docket Number: 8 Div. 607
• Citation: 60 So.2d 690,257 Ala. 670
• Parties: REYNOLDS v. SCOTT et al.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Page 690

60 So.2d 690

257 Ala. 670

REYNOLDS v. SCOTT et al.

8 Div. 607.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

Oct. 9, 1952.

W. L. Chenault, Decatur, for appellant.

Russell W. Lynne, Decatur, for appellees.

SIMPSON, Justice.

Bill in equity by the trustees of the West Side Baptist Church of Decatur, Alabama, an unincorporated religious organization, to reform a real estate conveyance. From a decree granting relief, one of the defendants has appealed.

The defendants are the City of Decatur, which executed the deed; Hurth and Adams, designated in the original deed as two of the trustees of said church; and Berta Caldwell Reynolds, who claimed to be the common-law wife of one John C. Caldwell, another grantee named in the deed; and Berta's five children, whom Berta claims to be the issue of the common-law marriage between herself and Caldwell. Berta alone has appealed.

The City of Decatur had acquired title to the property by a foreclosure sale for delinquent public improvement assessments and later executed the deed in question. The conveyance purported to convey the property to 'W. P. Hubbard, James J. Hurth, Harrison Carter, John C. Carwell [Caldwell], Charlie Adams and Frank L. Davis, Trustees of the West Side Baptist Church of Decatur, Alabama.' The conveyance was duly executed in the name of the City by its mayor and attested by the city clerk.

By reason of the indefinite nature of the grant and the probable construction that the designation of the grantees as trustees would be regarded as merely descriptio personae and that the absolute title was vested in the individuals named, Ferrell v. Ross, 200 Ala. 90, 75 So. 466; Johnston, Nesbitt & Co. v. First National Bank, 145 Ala. 378, 40 So. 78; Buckley v. Wilson, 56 Ala. 393; 76 C.J.S., Religious Societies, § 58, page 824, this suit was instituted on the part of the trustees of the church to have the deed reformed so as to vest the title in them for the use and benefit of the church. Appellant claims Caldwell purchased the property and owned it all and intended to give the church a part of it.

Clearly the bill was well filed and not subject to the demurrer interposed. It alleged the facts above and that it was the purpose and intent of the persons named as grantees in the deed, as well as that of the grantor, that the property be conveyed to the trustees in trust for the use and benefit of the West Side Baptist Church and the membership thereof, but that the complainants are advised that the deed effected to put the title in the named grantees individually. Thus is shown that the conveyance did not express the true intention of the parties by reason of a mutual mistake between them, authorizing equitable interposition to grant relief for a reformation of the conveyance. One of the established grounds of equitable jurisdiction is the power to reform a written instrument so as to make it conform to the intention of the parties when through a mutual mistake their intention is not so expressed. Clipper v. Gordon, 253 Ala. 428, 44 So.2d 576(1), and cases cited.

The...