Williams v. Ricou

• Decision Date: 14 June 1940
• Citation: Williams v. Ricou, 143 Fla. 360, 196 So. 667 (Fla. 1940)
• Parties: WILLIAMS v. RICOU et al.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

196 So. 667

143 Fla. 360

WILLIAMS v. RICOU et al.

Florida Supreme Court

June 14, 1940

Rehearing Denied June 28, 1940.

En Banc.

Suit by Aida Williams, by her next friend, Carrie Summerlin, against E. L. Ricou, as administrator of the estate of R. R. Ricou deceased, and others, for partition of realty, an accounting to set aside certain conveyances as void, and other equitable relief. From a decree dismissing plaintiff's bill of complaint, plaintiff appeals.

Decree modified, and affirmed as modified. Appeal from Circuit Court, Martin County; M. B. Smith, Judge.

COUNSEL

Carroll Dunscombe, of Stuart, for appellant.

A. O. Kanner, of Stuart, for appellees.

OPINION

BROWN Justice.

This appeal comes here from the Circuit Court of Martin County, Florida. The original bill of complaint was filed January 27, 1927. After several subsequent amended bills were filed the court entered a final decree dismissing the bill on August 26, 1938. The property in dispute is a one-fifth interest in the estate of R. R. Ricou, who died January 1, 1925, which was inherited by his son, D. L. Ricou. On September 10, 1928, D. L. Ricou and Aida Ricou, his wife, now Aida Williams, appellant, conveyed all the interest in fee simple of D. L. Ricou and wife in the real estate of the estate of R. R. Ricou to Seminole Bank, a corporation, which deed was recorded on September 12, 1928, in the office of the clerk of the circuit court, Martin County, Florida. On September 13, 1928, the said Seminole Bank conveyed the same property and all of it to Taylor Corporation and Neta, Inc., which deed was recorded on February 27, 1929, in the office of the clerk of the circuit court, Martin County, Florida. On January 12, 1931, D. L. Ricou and Aida Ricou, his wife (now Aida Williams, appellant,) conveyed to one Belle Whiddon what purports to be the interest of the said D. L. Ricou in the property of the estate of the said R. R. Ricou, deceased. And on the same day the said Belle Whiddon conveyed said property to the said Aida Ricou. This last conveyance from D. L. Ricou and wife through said Belle Whiddon to appellant is alleged to have been a settlement between D. L. Ricou and wife in the suit in which a divorce from marriage bonds between said parties was decreed and for the support of the two minor children of D. L. Ricou. These last conveyances are the basis for the claim of title by appellant and her claim for partition. After the divorce Aida Ricou became the wife of one Wallace Williams.

We feel that no useful purpose would be subserved in setting out in this opinion the various details of involved facts and conclusions not adequately supported by the facts which appear in the bill and amended bills of complaint. Suffice it to say that the relief prayed for in the original bill of complaint and the several amended bills of complaint briefly stated are (a) partition of the real estate of the R. R. Ricou (who died January 1, 1925) estate; (b) complete accounting of the real and personal estate by the administrators of the R. R. Ricou estate; (c) that the assets of National Surety Company, surety on administrators' bonds, in the hands of its successor after liquidation, the National Surety Corporation, be impressed for any liability on such bonds; (d) that the court set aside as void the conveyance in 1928 by D. L. Ricou and the appellant, his then wife, to the Seminole Bank and from the bank to Neta, Inc. and Taylor Corporation, or the court finding these conveyances valid it then adjudicate and set aside the right and dower of the appellant in her divorced husband's interest in the lands of the R. R. Ricou estate, and that in such case the one-fifth part of the defendant, D. L. Ricou, in the estate of Gertrude L. Ricou (who has died since the death of R. R. Ricou), be 'surcharged', etc.; (e) that if it appears that the debts of the R. R. Ricou estate have not been paid, the court order sufficient real estate belonging to said estate sold to pay such debts; (f) that if it appears that the administrators have failed to account for any proceeds due said estate, that such sums as may be due plaintiff be surcharged against any sums that may be due the administrators for their respective shares of said estate; (g) that if it appears that the conveyance from Seminole Bank to Nata, Inc., and Taylor Corporation was fraudulent, the court adjudicate the liability of said corporations for such part of the costs of this action because of said defendants' refusal to reconvey; (h) that if it appears that Sominole Bank has no claim to said property, then this court authorize the liquidator of said bank to execute a release of said lands, or order said conveyance stricken from the public records. (The record shows that Seminole Bank after receiving the deed from D. L. Ricou and wife (the appellant) conveyed all such lands to Neta, Inc., and Taylor Corporation.)

The appellees, defendants in the court below, filed a motion to dismiss the bill and its various amendments on the ground that the plaintiff failed to amend within the time allowed by the court in the order dismissing the previous bill. In the final decree of dismissal the court stated that it had considered the amendment which the plaintiffs had filed after the time allowed for amendment had expired by previous order of dismissal and was of the opinion that the amendment contained the same defects as the previous amendment bills.

The motions to dismiss the bill were in substance on the following grounds: (a) no equity; (b) no facts alleged to show that the plaintiff is entitled to the relief prayed for; (c) for aught that appears the matters complained of arose prior to the time that plaintiff acquired any alleged interest in the property involved; (d) the bill is multifarious; (e) it appears that the plaintiff is guilty of laches.

The various decrees of the chancellor for the dismissal of the original bill and the amended bills do not state the grounds upon which the motions to dismiss were granted, but if any of the grounds of the motions to dismiss were well founded and fatal to the relief prayed this would be sufficient to support a decree dismissing the bill.

Equity can in a proper case in one suit decree partition of undivided estates, take an accounting, cancel fraudulent conveyances and determine antagonistic claims to the subject matter. Such a proper case is one in which all of these forms of relief are a necessary part to the granting of complete relief in the partition suit. They are all closely related, a part of the same subject matter. However, one cannot join together unrelated causes of action which are separate and distinct in themselves.

Here the appellant is asking for all the forms of relief listed previously from (a) to (h). She has a variety of subjects of litigation involved which are disconnected, and in which the parties have no common interest or connection with each other. To illustrate: The primary purpose of the suit appears to be to partition the real property of the estate of R. R Ricou, deceased. Among those having interests therein appellant names as defendants the heirs at law of R. R. Ricou, deceased, the administrators of his estate and the administrator of a deceased heir, all of whom have a common interest or connection with each other. In addition thereto appellant names National Surety Corporation, which corporation is alleged to have purchased the assets of the National Surety Company, a corporation, surety on the bond of the administrators of the estate of R. R. Ricou. Also there is named as a defendant M. A. Smith, as liquidator of Seminole Bank, by reason of the allegation in the bill that in 1928 D. L. Ricou and his then wife, the appellant, conveyed to the bank all the interest of D. L. Ricou and appellant in the of R. R. Ricou. Further the appellant named Neta, Inc., a dissolved Florida corporation, and the trustees of said corporation, and Taylor Corporation, a Florida corporation, because as alleged in the bill, Seminole Bank upon receiving the deed aforesaid conveyed all the property vested in it thereby to Neta., Inc., and Taylor...