State Nat'l Bank of St. Joseph v. Robidoux

• Citation: 57 Mo. 446
• Parties: THE STATE NATIONAL BANK OF ST. JOSEPH, Respondent, v. ELIZABETH ROBIDOUX and J. C. ROBIDOUX, Appellants.
• Decision Date: 31 August 1874
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Missouri

57 Mo. 446

THE STATE NATIONAL BANK OF ST. JOSEPH, Respondent,

v.ELIZABETH ROBIDOUX and J. C. ROBIDOUX, Appellants.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

August Term, 1874.

Appeal from Buchanan Circuit Court.

B. R. Vineyard, Bennett Pike and J. W. Strong, for Appellants: cited in argument, Murray vs. Fox, 11 Mo., 555; 13 Pet., p. 107-118.

A. H. Vories, for Respondent.

NAPTON, Judge, delivered the opinion of the court.

This is a petition to enforce a claim against the wife's separate estate in certain lots in the city of St. Joseph.

The petition states, in substance, that prior to 1865, Mrs. Robidoux, one of the defendants, wife of Julius C. Robidoux, the other defendant, had a separate estate for life in a part of lot 1 and in lots 4 and 5 in block 51, in the city of St. Joseph, and before that, had also owned the same interest in lot No. 6, the latter, at the date of the petition, belonging to the plaintiff by conveyance from Robidoux and wife in 1860; that previous to 1865, certain special taxes for grading and macadamizing the street in front of all said lots had become due, and amounted altogether to $1328.59; that the collector had obtained a judgment against said lots, and against J. C. Robidoux and Elizabeth Robidoux, owners of the same, for the taxes aforesaid, and had sold the same for these taxes; that at the special instance of the defendants, the Bank of the State of Missouri had become the purchaser of said lots at the said sum of $1328.59, the evidence of which was filed; that said money so bid was paid by the bank to the collector; that $462.73 was paid the bank afterwards by said defendant, J. C. Robidoux; that said J. C. Robidoux is insolvent, and has been for ten years past; that the Bank of the State of Missouri, when said bank so paid this money for the use and benefit of said Elizabeth, looked to and relied on the separate property of said Elizabeth to reimburse to the bank the money so advanced.

It is therefore asked, that the claim be enforced by a sale of the wife's interest in said lots 4 and 5 now owned by her, or by an appropriation of the rents of the same sufficient to extinguish the claim.

To this petition there was filed a demurrer, on the ground that there was no cause of action stated. This demurrer was at first sustained; but subsequently overruled.

An answer was afterward filed, denying every averment in the petition, and setting up the statute of limitations. To this new matter of the bar of the statute, a replication was filed.

At the trial objections were made to the introduction of any evidence on the ground of the insufficiency of the petition, thus bringing forward the same question raised by the demurrer. This objection was again overruled. Specific objections were also made to the introduction of every distinct piece of evidence offered, and on various grounds stated in the bill of exceptions; but as the merits of this case obviously depend upon a single question, it is thought unnecessary to notice the subordinate points.

The facts that appeared on the trial, so far as they are undisputed, are these; In 1860 Mrs. Robidoux had a life estate in all the lots named in the petition, 4, 5 and 6, and a part of lot 1; and in that year, by virtue of an act of the legislature which authorized her husband to convey the interest of their minor children, J. C. Robidoux and wife sold and conveyed lot 6 to the Bank of Missouri for about $7,000. This conveyance contained the usual covenants implied by the words, “grant, bargain and sell.

Previous to this date (1860) there were special taxes due for macadamizing the streets in front of these lots, altogether amounting to $1328.59. The certificate of the city collector shows the following distribution of this sum upon the several lots. The tax upon lot 1 was $222.57; upon lot 4, $191.71 upon lot 5, $191.71; upon lot 6, $723.60; total $1328.59.

In 1865 these taxes were still unpaid, and, after a judgment had been obtained before the recorder of the city against the lots and owners thereof, the Bank of Missouri, at the request of Mr. J. C. Robidoux, bought in the lots and paid the taxes, with the understanding that the bank should be repaid by Robidoux from the rents accruing to his wife from time to time. An attempt is also made to establish this as a loan; and to show that Mrs. Robidoux consented to this arrangement, and knew all about it. The evidence o this last point is conflicting and by no means satisfactory.

The judgment of the court was as follows: “This cause coming on for hearing and being submitted, etc., etc., the court finds that on the 20th day of Feb. 1865, the assignor of plaintiff, the Bank of the State of Missouri, at the request of the defendant, Elizabeth Robidoux, and for her sole and separate use and benefit advanced the sum of $1328.59, to pay off macadamizing claims of the ...