Robert Piatt, Appellant v. Charles Vattier and Others, and the Bank of the United States

• Decision Date: 01 January 1835
• Citation: 9 L.Ed. 173,9 Pet. 405,34 U.S. 405
• Parties: ROBERT PIATT, APPELLANT v. CHARLES VATTIER AND OTHERS, AND THE BANK OF THE UNITED STATES
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

34 U.S. 405

9 Pet. 405

9 L.Ed. 173

ROBERT PIATT, APPELLANT v. CHARLES VATTIER AND OTHERS, AND THE BANK OF THE

UNITED STATES.

January Term, 1835

APPEAL from the circuit court of the United States for the district of Ohio.

On the 6th of December 1827, the appellant, a citizen and resident of the state of Kentucky, filed a bill in the circuit court of the United States for the district of Ohio, setting forth, that in the year 1789, when the city of Cincinnati was first laid out, the country being then a wilderness, and the town plat a forest of timber, certain lots in the said city were allotted as donations to those who should make certain improvements within given periods of time; and the evidence of ownership, consisting of the certificate of the proprietors, was transferred from one person to another by delivery as evidence of title. That the lot No. 1, on the said plat, now occupied as the Cincinnati Hotel, was allotted to one Samuel Blackburn, who, before the conditions of the donation were fulfilled, transferred his right to one James Campbell, who soon thereafter transferred it to one John Bartle, who, in the summer of the year 1790, took possession of the same, and completed the improvements required by the terms of the donation. That said Bartle continued to occupy said lot, and the building thereon erected by himself first, and subsequently by his tenants Elliot and Williams, and by his tenant Abijah Hunt, for several years; having the certificate of the proprietors of the town as his evidence of title; and the said Bartle having become embarrassed in his circumstances, mortgaged the said lot to one Robert Barr, of Lexington, Kentucky, of whom, and his heirs, if deceased, nothing was known, for the sum of about 700 dollars, to the payment of which the rents reserved to said Bartle, from the tenants in possession, were to be, and a large amount was in fact appropriated and paid. That the said Bartle having been upset in crossing the Ohio river, and thrown into the same, lost his certificate for said lot, and this fact coming to the knowledge of one Charles Vattier, a citizen and resident of the state of Ohio, who, it is prayed, may be made defendant to the bill, and the said Bartle being then in very reduced circumstances, the said Vattier contriving and intending to defraud the said Bartle of the said lot, then become considerably valuable, went to Lexington and purchased of said Barr the mortgage given on said lot by said Bartle, which he took up; and having obtained from Abijah Hunt, then the tenant of said Bartle, the possession of the said lot in the absence of said Bartle from the country, the said Vattier obtained from John Cleves Symmes, in whom the legal title was, a conveyance for said lot. That said Vattier having thus fraudulently obtained the possession of and title to said lot, afterwards sold the same to one John Smith, who had full notice and knowledge of the original and continued claim of said Bartle to the same, which said Smith is since deceased, and his heirs, if any are alive, are unknown to the complainant; and the said Smith, after occupying the same for a time, sold the same to one John H. Piatt, who had full notice and knowledge of Bartle's claim thereto; said John H. Piatt is since deceased, leaving Benjamin M. Piatt and Philip Grandon and Hannah C. his wife, citizens and residents of the state of Ohio, his heirs at law, with others not citizens of this state, and who cannot therefore be made defendants. And the said John H. Piatt, in his lifetime, mortgaged the same to the President, Directors and Company of the Bank of the United States, under which mortgage the said President, Directors and Company of the Bank of the United States have obtained possession and complete title, with full notice and knowledge of the claim of said Bartle. And the said President, Directors and Company of the Bank of the United States have sold the same to one John Watson, a citizen and resident of this state, who, it is prayed, may be made defendants to this bill, the said Watson being in the actual possession of said premises, but has not paid the purchase money or obtained a deed therefor. The bill further shows that the said Bartle asserted to the said Vattier, to the said Smith, and to the said Piatt, his right to said premises at various and different times, but from proverty was unable to attempt enforcing the same in a court of equity or elsewhere; and the complainant has recently purchased from said Bartle his right to said lot, and obtained a conveyance from him for the same. The bill prays, that the said President, Directors and Company of the Bank of the United States may be decreed to deliver possession of said premises to the complainant, and account for and pay the rents and profits thereof to him, and execute a quiet claim deed therefor to him; or in case the said President, Directors and Company of the Bank of the United States be protected in the possession thereof, that Charles Vattier be decreed to account for and pay to the complainant the value thereof upon such principles as shall be deemed just and equitable, and for other and further relief, &c.

The Bank of the United States filed an answer, denying any knowledge of the facts alleged in the bill, as to the title of Bartle to the property in question, and asserting a regular legal title to the same in those under whom they hold the same. They assert a possession of the property in Charles Vattier, from 1797 up to July 1806, when the property was purchased by John Smith, and was afterwards, in 1811, sold by the sheriff by virtue of a fieri facias, as the property of John Smith, and bought by John H. Piatt; under whom, and whose heirs, the property is held by conveyances, commencing in 1820, by mortgage, by deed in fee simple from the heirs of John H. Piatt in 1823, and by a release of the dower of the widow of John H. Piatt at the same time, for which release the bank paid to the said widow 11,000 dollars.

Upon this lot of ground John H. Piatt made extensive and costly improvements, and in particular erected the Cincinnati Hotel.

The answer states that the bank, at the time of the purchase, knew nothing of the claim of the complainant, or of Bartle, and that they claim a complete title to the lot under John C. Symmes, Charles Vattier, John Smith, and John H. Piatt, and his heirs and representatives, and widow, as above stated, and they allege that said Vattier took possession of said lot about the year 1799, and that said Vattier and those claiming under him have continued in the uninterrupted possession of said premises ever since, being a period of more than twenty-eight years.

The answer of Charles Vattier denies all the allegations in the bill which assert his knowledge of the title, said to have been held by Bartle to the property; and asserts a purchase of the property claimed by Robert Piatt, from Robert Barr of Lexington, Kentucky, and that a complete legal title to the same had been made to him by John Cleves Symmes, holding the said legal title. That he came fairly into the possession of this property, and at that time had not the least notice or knowledge of the supposed equitable claim of the said Bartle to the lot. He further states that, while he lived on said lot, he frequently saw Bartle, who was often in the house on the lot; that said Bartle never made known to him, or intimated to him, that he had any claim or title to the lot; that while he was the owner of the lot, he made improvements on the same, of which Bartle had knowledge. He does not believe, or admit, that said Smith had any notice of the several matters and things set forth in the bill at the time he received a conveyance for said lot from this defendant, as before stated, or that he knew or had heard any thing of the supposed right or claim of said Bartle to said lot. He further states that, ever since he took possession of said lot, in the year 1797, there has been a continued possession of the same, under his title thus acquired from said Symmes, by the successive owners, as set forth in the bill. He knows nothing of the inability of said Bartle, on account of his poverty, to assert his title to said lot, if he had one; nor does he know that the said Robert Piatt has purchased from the said Bartle his right to said lot, and obtained a conveyance from him for the same, and therefore he requires full proof of the same.

The complainant filed a general replication.

The depositions of a number of witnesses were taken and filed in the case; and on the 19th of December 1831, the circuit court made a decree dismissing the bill, and stating that the equity of the case was with the defendants, and that the complainant was not entitled to the relief sought.

The complainant appealed to this court.

The case was argued by Mr Ewing and Mr. Bibb, for the appellant; and by Mr Sergeant and Mr Webster, for the appellees.

The decision of the court having been given on the bar which was interposed by time, to the right of the appellant to recover, the arguments of counsel on the other points in the case are omitted.

Upon the effect of the statutes of limitations of Ohio on the claim of the appellant, and of time on the same, the counsel for the appellant contended, that the length of time is no bar, according to the facts and circumstances of this case.

The question is, whether the claim set up in the bill is barred by the statute of limitations of Ohio.

In Aggas v. Pickerell, 3 Atk. 222, (26th of June 1745) upon a bill for redemption of mortgaged premises, of which the defendant had possession more than twenty years, the defendant demurred. The chancellor expressed his opinion unfavourably to the demurrer. He said, 'how is it possible to give greater allowance to length of time than the statute of limitation does?' 'The plaintiff may, by way of reply or amending his bill, make it appear he is within the saving of the statute;' 'or upon a...