Springer v. Springer

• Decision Date: 17 January 1924
• Citation: 125 A. 162,144 Md. 465
• Parties: SPRINGER ET AL. v. SPRINGER ET AL.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

125 A. 162

144 Md. 465

SPRINGER ET AL. v. SPRINGER ET AL.

Court of Appeals of Maryland

January 17, 1924

Appeal from Circuit Court No. 2 of Baltimore City; Duke Bond, Judge.

Bill by Thomas L. Springer and another against James L. Springer and others. Decree for plaintiffs, and defendants appeal. Affirmed.

Argued before BOYD, C.J., and THOMAS, PATTISON, URNER, STOCKBRIDGE ADKINS, and OFFUTT, JJ.

John T Tucker, of Baltimore (John B. Deming and Keech, Deming, Kemp & Carman, all of Baltimore, on the brief), for appellants.

G Franklin Onion and Richard S. Culbreth, both of Baltimore, for appellees.

OFFUTT J.

The Reverend Thomas L. Springer, a Presbyterian minister, one of the appellees in this case, with his wife and family, in or about September, 1905, moved into a house, known as 601 East Thirty-Fourth street in Baltimore, the leasehold in which had been conveyed by Clarence W. Horner to James L. Springer, a son of the appellees, and one of the appellants, and the appellees have continued to occupy the house since that time. In 1911 the reversion in the property was conveyed to James L. Springer, who borrowed the money to pay for it on a mortgage to the Institute Perpetual Building & Loan Association, so that after that date the feesimple title to the property was vested in James L. Springer, subject to a lien of the building association for $2,080. In 1922 Thomas L. Springer demanded that the property, which then stood in the name of his son, James L. Springer, be conveyed to him and his wife, on the ground that James L. Springer held it in trust for them, and, upon the refusal of James L. Springer to convey it to them, they filed the bill of complaint in this case, in which they asked that the court decree that the defendants, James L. Springer and Celeno Springer, his wife, be decreed to hold the property in trust for the appellees, and that they be required to convey the property to them subject to a lien in favor of the appellants for $2,126.41 for the balance due on a mortgage executed by the appellants on the property which they had paid. The appellants in their answer denied that they held the property in trust, and evidence in connection with that issue was taken in open court in the circuit court No. 2 of Baltimore City. At its conclusion that court passed a decree in which it declared that the appellants did hold the property in trust for the appellees, subject to a lien of $2,634.29, and directing the appellants, upon the receipt of that sum, to convey the property to them, and from that decree this appeal was taken.

The first question raised by the appeal is whether James L. Springer, the appellant, when he acquired the title to the property, held it in trust for the appellees, and, as that is a question of mingled law and fact, a consideration of it requires us to review the evidence relating to it.

Thomas L. Springer, one of the appellees, testified that he was in August, 1922, 73 years of age; that just before the property in question was purchased, he was living with his family just across the street from it, and that he determined to move from that place because the owner of it was continually raising the rent, "and it was getting to be so continuous and it was likely to be exorbitant, and we tried to buy a place and found this"; that at that time his family consisted of his wife and seven children, of whom Gordon was the oldest and James the second in age; that the family was supported by "something of an income" which he had and contributions of those of his children who were of age; that when he had determined to move, his attention was called to the fact that the property involved in this suit was for sale, and upon inquiring of the owner concerning it he was referred to the Institute Building & Loan Association, and accordingly he called upon Mr. Charles J. Bouchet, its representative and attorney; that as a result of his negotiations with Mr. Bouchet, acting for himself and his wife, he agreed to buy the property subject to a $95 ground rent for $1,150; that the purchase money and the incidental expenses amounted to $1,184.80, and that that sum was supplied from the following sources: The building association advanced $780 or $790, secured by a first mortgage; Mrs. Springer supplied $255; James L. Springer, $100; and Thomas L. Springer provided the balance needed to make up the $1,184.80. That when the sale was consummated, instead of having the property conveyed to him, he had the title put in the name of his son, James L. Springer. When asked why he did that, the witness said:

"For strictly prudential reasons, physically based. My eyes had been giving me a great deal of trouble, and I was under the apprehension I was having a cataract and would have to go under an operation or lose an eye, which would incapacitate me for my work very largely and thus prevent any definite settled revenue coming into the home, and for that reason, James being the next oldest, I put it in James' name because he was earning something of an income and that he would be the one standing responsible to meet these things that demanded a man's presence in the building association and negotiations like that that a woman could not take up so readily, and for that reason I had it in his name with the expectation and understanding in the family that in case of the operations coming out successfully, or my health being such that the deed would be put in my name--I mean the deed put in my name."

At that time his oldest son, Gordon, was about to be married, and in fact a week later he was married and went to live in his own home. James lived at home for two or three years after that and until his marriage, when he, too, moved away. That in 1895, he learned that a Mrs. Patterson, who owned the ground rent, desired to dispose of it, and he arranged through Mr. Bouchet to purchase it, and to have the purchase financed by the building and loan association which held a mortgage on the leasehold, and in carrying out that arrangement, the property was conveyed to his son, James L. Springer, who held the leasehold, and he then executed a mortgage on the fee-simple property to the building association, covering the balance due on the mortgage on the leasehold, which was released, the purchase price of the ground rent and the incidental expenses amounting in all to $2,080; and that in 1915 that mortgage was released and a new mortgage to the same association for $2,210 executed to cover the balance due under the mortgage so released and an assessment for street paving. He further testified that from the time he moved into the property in 1905 he paid the water rent, ground rent, taxes, and insurance, and for all needed repairs to the house, and that in the year prior to that in which he testified he had spent $1,200 on repairs and improvements to the house. In addition to these payments, he further testified that he had from time to time made payments on the principal due under the several mortgages on the property as well as the interest accruing on them.

Mrs. Mary G. B. Springer, the mother of James, testified that when the property was bought in 1905, she had contributed $255 to the purchase price, and that her son James had furnished $100. She also testified that no part of that money had ever been returned to her, and she denied that she had loaned it to James. On cross-examination she was shown a paper purporting to be a receipt for interest on that loan signed by her, but she was unable to say after examining it that she had signed it. Cortland B. Springer, a brother of James, testified that he was present at various times at "family gatherings" at which James was also present, when it was decided his father should purchase a home for the family, and that he himself loaned his mother $50 on account of the purchase money.

Mrs. Mary Springer Cross, a sister, gave the following testimony:

"Q. Can you give us any conversation spoken of in reference to the purchase of this property of which Mr. James L. Springer was present? A. You mean I am to tell my story in my own words? * * * I remember distinctly that we as a family knew that there must be some change made in our home relationship and my father had reached the period in life that he was becoming too old to take a regular church. In all probability his eyesight was failing, and he had not reached the period of retirement for our church. We were at a crucial time, a time that meant each one of us had to do our best to keep the home life going, and we had to make some plan by which we could all keep our home and our family life intact, and after a great many conferences, I do not mean conferences where they were called to order by prayer, but I mean as a family, we had family conflabs of what we were going to do in the future, and instead of paying the rent continuously, the wise thing was to buy a home and all contribute to that, and we found, as neighbors will do, that our neighbor across the street was moving and his place was for sale, and my father at once inquired as to the terms of the sale, the price, etc., and we found that we could by all clubbing together and all bearing our share of the burden we could buy this property, which should be done. * * * My father paid for the house, and my mother and my brother James put some into it. We all paid for the house. * * * I was in business myself on a very small salary, but in order to make it possible for Papa to make payment on it and do his share, I took over his share in the upkeep of the house to run the household expenses so his money could go into the payment of the house. * * * Q. Do you know anything about the contributions that were actually made? When I say contributions, I mean contributions that have been

...