United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co.

• Decision Date: 28 July 1904
• Docket Number: 2,009.
• Citation: 131 F. 668
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. DETROIT TIMBER & LUMBER CO. et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

131 F. 668

UNITED STATES v. DETROIT TIMBER & LUMBER CO. et al.

No. 2,009.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

July 28, 1904

Syllabus by the Court

The title of a bona fide purchaser of lands subsequent to the issue of the patents is superior to the equitable claim of the United States to avoid the patents and the title under them for fraud or error in the issue of the former.

Purchasers in good faith, without notice, for value, of the equitable title evidenced by receivers' final receipts upon which patents subsequently issue, have a complete defense of a bona fide purchase unassailable by a suit of the United States to avoid the patents and the titles under them for fraud perjury, or error in the procurement of the former.

Receivers' final receipts are notice to purchasers of the equitable title they evidence, that they are voidable by the Land Department for fraud or error at any time before the patents issue upon them, but they are not notice that the equitable titles they disclose were procured by fraud, perjury, or irregularity. On the other hand, they are prima facie evidence that the lands they describe were honestly and regularly entered, and that the entrymen who obtained them are entitled to the patents for the land.

The equities of the United States appeal to a court of chancery with the same, but with no greater or less, force than those of an individual in like circumstances.

Where equities are equal, the law prevails. A court of equity will not interfere at the suit of a holder of a prior equitable title or claim to deprive an innocent purchaser for value of a junior equitable estate of a legal estate or advantage which he has subsequently bought or obtained after notice.

Where a vendor presents conveyances to himself prima facie valid, and assures the purchaser that his title under them is perfect no duty to investigate farther is imposed upon the buyer in the absence of other facts and circumstances suggesting investigation.

The concurrence of the essential elements of good faith, absence of notice, payment of value, and legal estate in the purchaser at one time constitutes a complete defense of a bona fide purchase. The order in which these elements were acquired is not material.

This is a suit to avoid 44 patents issued under the stone and timber act of June 3, 1878, c. 151, 20 Stat. 89 (U.S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 1545), and all conveyances of the patented lands or of the timber upon them. The patentees and their immediate and remote grantees are defendants and appellees. The suit was commenced on April 5, 1902. The United States alleged in its amended bill that each of the patentees agreed before entering the land that the entry should be made for the Martin-Alexander Lumber Company, a corporation of Arkansas that, if no such agreement was made, each patentee made his or her entry on speculation; that immediately after the lands were entered each of the entrymen and each of the entrywomen with the exception of three, conveyed the timber growing on his or her land to the Martin Company; that patents were issued to all these lands between February 23, 1900, and May 9, 1901, and that on January 14, 1901, the Martin Company sold and assigned all the contracts for the timber on the lands to the Detroit Timber & Lumber Company, a corporation of Michigan, which had knowledge of the character of the entries and of the frauds which had been perpetrated in making them. The Detroit Company answered that the lands were regularly and lawfully entered and patented; that 41 of the patentees sold the timber on their lands to the Martin Company shortly after they entered them; and that on January 14, 1901, it purchased the timber contracts and all the other property of the Martin Company. It denied that the lands were entered on speculation, and that any agreement had been made that any of them should be entered for the benefit of the Martin Company. It denied that it had any notice or knowledge that any of the lands had been fraudulently entered before it purchased and paid for the timber contracts, or before the lands were patented; and averred that it bought and paid value for them in good faith, without notice of any fraud or defect in the title to them. The answer of the Martin-Alexander Company presents the same issues as that of the Detroit Company. The answers of the other defendants, if there were such, do not appear in the record, because the land without the timber is of no value. The salient facts disclosed by the evidence at the final hearing were these The Martin-Alexander Lumber Company had a sawmill in the vicinity of the lands which are the subject of this controversy, and it was desirous of obtaining timber to manufacture into lumber. E. B. Martin owned 58 1/2 per cent. of the stock of this corporation, and, with the exception of one share, A. V. Alexander controlled all of the remainder, which was owned by himself, his wife, and J. O. Means. Copeland was an employe of the company, and an intelligent and influential man. He obtained a copy of the act of June 3, 1878, consulted with one of the officers of the local land office relative to its proper construction, and told Alexander and Martin that he knew honest men who he thought would enter land of the government under this act if they could borrow the money to pay for it. Martin replied that he would loan such men money for that purpose. The stumpage value of the timber was 50 cents per thousand feet, and the Martin Company was offering and paying that price. At this price the average value of the timber on each 160 acres of this land was about $40 in excess of the government's price for the lands, which was $2.50 per acre, so that an entry was likely to entail no loss, and might yield the entryman some profit. Copeland informed some of his acquaintances of this situation and of the law, and asked them if they would like to enter some of the land. Others applied to him for this information, and he imparted it. The men and women thus informed made the entries upon which the patents in suit are based. They were poor, and unable to pay for the land without borrowing money. Copeland assisted them to select the land and to make their entries. They made two journeys to the local land office, one to make their applications and one to pay for the land and obtain their final receipts. The Martin Company paid their traveling expenses upon these trips and the fees for the publication of the notices required by the statute. Twenty-five of the 44 patentees were employes of the Martin Company and 10 were wives of employes. When the time came to pay for the lands, the company loaned to each one of the patentees the amount required for that purpose, and he or his companion or agent paid for the land, and obtained the final receipt. Within a few days after the final receipt was obtained he made a promissory note for the amount he had paid for the land and interest at 8 per cent. per annum. He then made a written agreement with the Martin Company that in consideration of $1 and of the covenants recited therein he 'has bargained, sold, and conveyed' unto the company all the timber and trees upon the land, and the right to enter and take them; that the company will pay him 50 cents per thousand feet scale measure for the lumber in the trees; that it has paid him the amount which he had borrowed and paid for the land, and that it will pay him the balance beyond that amount and 8 per cent. interest in monthly payments as the timber is cut and removed from the land. Upon the execution of this contract the note was canceled and surrendered. The transaction with all the entrymen but two and with all the entrywomen but one took the form which has been described. Two of the entrymen and one of the entrywomen refused to give notes or make timber contracts, although they borrowed the money and used it to pay for their lands. These three defendants entered their land July 5, 1900, and in April, 1901, they sold and conveyed it to the Detroit Company, through an agent of the latter, for the amount of their debts for the borrowed money and $75 each. The 44 entries were made at various times between August 21, 1899, and September 6, 1900, and the timber contracts were made immediately after the respective entries were completed. Patents were issued for all these lands prior to May 9, 1901. Thirteen of these patents were issued before January 14, 1901, and 40 before May 1, 1901. On January 14, 1901, the Detroit Timber & Lumber Company purchased all the property of the Martin Company for $60,000 and the assumption of its debts. The office and place of business of the Martin Company was in Pike City, Ark.; that of the Detroit Company in St. Louis, Mo., and U. L. Clark, was its president. About December 20, 1900, Alexander went to the St. Louis, and applied to Clark to purchase the property of the Martin Company for the Detroit Company. He requested Clark to purchase Martin's interest and to let him retain his interest. Clark declined, and told him that the Detroit Company would not purchase unless it could buy the entire property. Alexander then asked to be permitted to take stock in the Detroit Company for his interest. Clark replied that the latter company had no stock to sell; that he could not promise any; and that the purchase must be of the entire property of the Martin Company for cash; but that the Detroit Company might increase its stock, and, if it did so, it was possible that Alexander might obtain some. Alexander thereupon agreed that the entire property should be sold and that he would sell his interest for cash at the same rate the Detroit Company should purchase Martin's interest, if the latter company did not increase its stock and pay him in that. Thereupon...