Ulman v. Iaeger's Adm'r

• Decision Date: 15 August 1907
• Citation: 155 F. 1011
• Parties: ULMAN v. IAEGER'S ADM'R et al. ROSS v. ULMAN et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

155 F. 1011

ULMAN v. IAEGER'S ADM'R et al.

ROSS v. ULMAN et al.

United States Circuit Court, S.D. West Virginia.

August 15, 1907

At August rules, 1889, in the circuit court of McDowell county W. Va., Alfred J. Ulman filed his bill against William R Iaeger, William G. W. Iaeger, Lindon Kent, S. C. Neal, Enoch Totten, Henry S. Parmalee, trustee, Charles Benjamin Wilkenson, Charles P. Jenney, trustee, and Charles C Harrison, and at September rules following he filed an amended bill against the same parties and one Elias Adler, in which he alleges, substantially, that on the 24th day of December, 1872, the defendant William R. Iaeger was the owner of a tract of 150,000 acres of land, known as the 'Robert Pollard survey,' chiefly situate, lying, and being in the county of McDowell, W. Va.; that the said William R. Iaeger on that day sold and conveyed to him, as tenant in common one undivided fourth thereof by a deed of record in said McDowell county; that the land was entered upon the assessor's books in the name of himself and the said W R. Iaeger in the year 1873, and returned delinquent in their names for the nonpayment of taxes for that year, and, not having been redeemed, was sold and purchased by the state; that at the April term, 1881, of the circuit court of McDowell county, H. C. Auvil, commissioner of school lands for said county, filed his petition against said 150,000 acres, asking a sale thereof for the benefit of the school fund of the state; that prior to this time he, the said plaintiff, had conveyed by deed to Lindon Kent, S. C. Neal, and Enoch Totten one-fifth undivided of his one-fourth undivided interest in said land, and to said proceeding instituted he, the plaintiff, William R. Iaeger, Kent, Totten, and Neal were made parties, and such proceedings were had therein that something over 7,000 acres of said land were sold by said commissioner of school lands and these sales were confirmed; that pending said proceeding the said plaintiff and William R. Iaeger filed their joint petition in said proceeding, asking to redeem said land, and also their joint petition to remove the cause to the federal Circuit Court, and further took and obtained an appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeals from the orders entered; that the federal court remanded said matter to the state court, and the Supreme Court dismissed said cause; that on the 8th day of February, 1883, the said W. R. Iaeger conveyed the equity of redemption in his three-fourths undivided interest in said tract of 150,000 acres of land to the defendant William G. W. Iaeger, his father, and, after various other proceedings had, the school commissioner, H. C. Auvil, sold said 150,000 acre tract of land for the taxes due thereon, which sale at the May term, 1887, was confirmed, and subsequently said commissioner Auvil conveyed said land to W. G. W. Iaeger alone; that such sale and conveyance to Iaeger alone was made without the knowledge or consent of plaintiff, and had only been discovered by him, plaintiff, a short while before bringing this suit; that on the 23d day of April, 1888, the said defendant, W. G. W. Iaeger, by a deed, conveyed the whole of said tract of land to Henry S. Parmalee, in trust to secure Charles Benjamin Wilkenson $16,000, and on March 26, 1889, he made another conveyance of the whole of said tract to the defendant Charles P. Jenney, trustee, to secure Charles C. Harrison $60,000; that he, the plaintiff, purchased his one-fourth interest from the said William R. Iaeger originally through Elias Adler; that said William R. Iaeger on April 3, 1874, conveyed said one-fourth undivided interest to said Adler, who was simply a trustee for plaintiff, he, the plaintiff, having paid the purchase money, and that said Adler on July 30, 1881, conveyed to him said undivided fourth, and that by this purchase and this conveyance the said W. R. Iaeger was first, and the said W. G. W. Iaeger subsequently became, tenant in common with him in said tract of land, and that all proceedings had in the redemption of said land were conducted by the said Iaeger on behalf of themselves and as co-tenant and agents of plaintiff and by his authority; that the said W. G. W. Iaeger repeatedly importuned plaintiff to buy his said interest, and plaintiff had no knowledge of his purpose to take from the commissioner of school lands a conveyance of the whole title thereto.

The plaintiff then charges that the purchase of said land by W. G. W. Iaeger from Commissioner Auvil inured to the benefit of himself and the said Iaeger, and had the effect to restore and reinstate the title to the 150,000 acres in them; that the deed of trust executed thereon by W. G. W. Iaeger to secure Wilkenson the sum of $16,000 had been paid off, and that the deed of trust executed by him to secure Harrison $60,000 was a sham, fraud and device; that said Harrison never loaned to said Iaeger said sum of $60,000, but only a small part thereof, and that both of said trusts were taken in fraud of plaintiff's rights, with full knowledge of such rights and interest; that the same constitute clouds upon his title and interest in the said tract of land.

And the prayer of the bills are, substantially, that these clouds be removed; that the purchase from Auvil, commissioner, by W. G. W. Iaeger, be held to have been made for the benefit of himself and the plaintiff; that partition of the land be made, and that an accounting be had between said W. G. W. Iaeger and plaintiff on account of taxes and expenses incurred in perfecting the title.

To this cause the defendant William G. W. Iaeger in 1889 appeared and filed his petition, alleging, among other things, that the suit was wholly between citizens of different states; that each adverse party was a citizen of a different state; that the plaintiff Alfred J. Ulman was a citizen of the state of Maryland; that he, W. G. W. Iaeger, was a citizen of the state of New York; that the defendants Charles P. Jenney and S. C. Neal were citizens of the state of Virginia, Elias Adler of Maryland, Parmalee, Wilkenson, and Harrison of Pennsylvania, Lindon, Kent, and Totten of the District of Columbia, but neither had any interest in the suit and were improperly made defendants therein; that W. R. Iaeger was a citizen of the state of West Virginia, but had not any interest in the suit and was improperly made a party thereto, or, at least, could be considered only a formal party, and upon this petition, against the protest of plaintiff, the cause was removed to this federal court. During the course of the proceeding-- whether in the state court before removal or after is not very clear, for portions of the records in both courts have become lost or mislaid-- W. G. W. Iaeger filed his answer and also a cross-bill. By this answer and cross-bill, it was made apparent that new and additional parties were required because of various interests held by them, and plaintiff was required by order of court to file an amended bill, making, among others, Samuel Ross a party defendant because it appeared that while Ulman, the plaintiff, pending a suit, had conveyed to Totten, Kent, and Neal one undivided fifth of his undivided fourth interest, and that Totten and Kent, by subsequent deed, had conveyed back to Iaeger, that, on the other hand, Neal had conveyed his interest amounting to one-eightieth share to said Ross on November 14, 1889. This amended bill was filed on June 10, 1900, and to it Ross filed his answer, setting up his title to said one-eightieth interest, and asking that in any partition which might be made his said interest should be fully recognized and protected.

On the 3d day of July, 1906, this defendant, Samuel Ross, filed his cross-bill, in which he alleges himself to be a citizen of the District of Columbia, against the said Alfred J. Ulman, a citizen of Maryland, the Kanawha Banking & Trust Company administrator d.b.n.c.t.a. of W. G. W. Iaeger, deceased, a West Virginia corporation, W. R. Iaeger, Martha G. Iaeger, citizens of West Virginia, Edwin Meyers and Anna I. Meyers, citizens of Pennsylvania, Samuel A. Crozer, John P. Crozer, and Mary Crozer Page, trustees of the Crozer Land Association, citizens of Pennsylvania, the Crozer Land Association, a Pennsylvania corporation, the Bouvier-Iaeger Coal & Land Company, a West Virginia corporation, the Ulman-Iaeger Coal & Land Company, a West Virginia corporation, and the Pocahontas Coal & Coke Company, a West Virginia corporation. In this cross-bill Ross sets forth the purpose and objects of the original bill substantially as above set forth, and that by subsequent proceedings and (f)mpromises had in the original cause all questions had been substantially settled and all relief obtained, save and except the partition between Ulman and his alienees and Iaeger and his alienees; that Ulman pending the suit had granted to Totten, Kent, and Neal one-fourth of his (Ulman's) undivided fourth interest; that Totten and Kent had conveyed their interest by later deeds back to Iaeger, while Neal conveyed his interest of one-eightieth to him (Ross) on November 14, 1889; that Ulman admitted his (Ross') interest; that a controversy over the boundary lines had arisen between the parties to the suit and the trustees of the Flat Top Coal & Land Association, which had resulted in an ejectment suit and a compromise thereof, by reason of which suit partition could not be proceeded with, and that, for this reason, complainant had waited until the determination and compromise thereof to file his cross-bill; that Ulman in 1894 conveyed to John P. Crozer his interest in parts of the land, as shown by his deed exhibited; that W. G. W. Iaeger and Ulman in October, 1901, had conveyed to the Pocahontas Coal & Coke Company all the lands lying south of...