Richardson v. Champion

• Decision Date: 01 April 1898
• Citation: 143 Mo. 538,45 S.W. 280
• Parties: RICHARDSON v. CHAMPION et al.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

45 S.W. 280

143 Mo. 538

RICHARDSON v. CHAMPION et al.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 1.

April 1, 1898.

MORTGAGES — STATUTE OF FRAUDS — FRAUDULENT CONVEYANCES — EVIDENCE.

1. The agreement of a purchaser at a trustee's sale, made before the sale, to convey to the mortgagor as soon as he reimbursed him for the price advanced, is not within the statute of frauds after such reimbursement has been accepted.

2. When there were judgments against an insolvent mortgagor, a purchaser at the trustee's sale of the mortgaged land agreed to convey to the mortgagor when reimbursed for the price, which was the full value of the land. The surplus above the mortgage was applied on the judgments. Held, that the agreement to convey to the mortgagor was not made to defraud his creditors.

Appeal from St. Louis circuit court; D. D. Fisher, Judge.

Ejectment by W. C. Richardson, administrator of the estate of Jeptha H. Simpson, deceased, against Celia Champion and another. Judgment for defendants, and plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

R. M. Nichols, for appellant. Alex Young, M. C. Brown, and J. E. Merryman, for respondents.

BRACE, P. J.

On the 1st day of March, 1890, Stafford Dubois, one of the defendants, being the owner and in possession of lot No. 11 in block No. 2 of the First division of the Rankin estate in city block 2,225, fronting on Leonard avenue in the city of St. Louis, executed a deed of trust of that date, by which he conveyed said lot to Leo Block in trust to secure the payment of a promissory note for $700, therein described. On the 18th of June, 1892, the said trustee, in pursuance of the provisions of, and by virtue of the power in him vested by, said deed of trust, offered said property at public sale, and Jeptha H. Simpson became the purchaser thereof, for the sum of $1,175, and received the trustee's deed therefor of the same date. Afterwards, in February, 1893, the said Simpson died, and the appellant, W. C. Richardson, became the administrator of his estate. On the 22d of April, 1893, the said administrator, by an order duly entered of record, was by the probate court ordered to take charge and possession of the real estate of said deceased, and to rent the same for a period not exceeding two years, and to collect the rents thereof, for the purpose of paying off the debts of said deceased, to the payment of which the court found the personal property inadequate. Afterwards, on the 11th day of August, 1893, the administrator instituted this suit in the St. Louis circuit court. The petition, after first reciting the said order of the probate court, was in the common form of a petition in an action in ejectment. The defendant Champion was a tenant of the said Dubois. Dubois defended the suit, and in his answer, after denying all the allegations of the petition, except that plaintiff was in charge of the estate of said Simpson as administrator, recited the title aforesaid of the said deceased, averred that plaintiff claimed under said title, and as a defense thereto charged "that said Simpson bid at said sale and accepted said conveyance as and for the benefit of defendant Dubois, and as his trustee, under and in accordance with an agreement made prior to said sale between said Simpson and defendant Dubois, whereby the said Simpson agreed with the said Dubois to purchase the premises at said sale for said Dubois, and to take a conveyance therefor from said trustee to himself, and thereafter to hold said premises for the sole use and benefit, and as the trustee, of said defendant Dubois; that thereupon the said Dubois paid the said Simpson the amount of said purchase money, which money was thereupon paid by the said Simpson to the said trustee, who thereupon executed said conveyance to said Simpson as aforesaid," — and prayed the court to adjudge and decree that said Dubois is the owner of said property and entitled to the possession thereof, and for such other orders and judgments as may be just and lawful. The plaintiff's reply to this answer was a general denial, a plea of the statute of frauds, and a further plea that, if said real estate was in fact conveyed to the said Simpson to be held in trust for the said Dubois, it was so conveyed for the purpose of hindering, delaying, and defrauding the creditors of Dubois. On the evidence the court, in substance, found that the property was bought in by Simpson and paid for with his own money, but that it was so bought and paid for on account of defendant, and that the amount so paid therefor was afterwards refunded to Simpson in his lifetime by Dubois, and rendered judgment in favor of the defendant, from which the plaintiff appeals.

The defense set up and tried in this case was an equitable one, addressed to the conscience of the chancellor; consequently, the evidence is subject to review by this court on appeal. As both parties claim under the title acquired by Simpson at the trustee's sale, it was not necessary to go back of that title. It appears, from the evidence, that the sale was made, the money paid by Simpson, and the trustee's deed executed, conveying the premises to him, on the 18th of June, 1892. The evidence tended to prove that in that month, or some time prior to the 13th of July, 1892, the sum of $600 so paid by Simpson on account of this lot was repaid to him by Dubois, and that at the latter date the remainder was settled between them by some payment in cash. After a careful consideration of all the evidence, it seems to us that the only fair...