Winn v. Williams
| Decision Date | 27 October 1925 |
| Docket Number | No. 36618.,36618. |
| Citation | 200 Iowa 905,205 N.W. 541 |
| Parties | WINN v. WILLIAMS ET AL. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from District Court, Adair County; W. S. Cooper, Judge.
Action in equity for an accounting. Decree as prayed. The defendant Sylvester Handley alone appeals. Affirmed.Johnston & Boone, of Creston, for appellant Handley.
L. J. Camp, of Creston, for defendant Williams.
Musmaker & Williamson, of Greenfield, for remaining defendants.
Frank B. Wilson, of Greenfield, for appellee.
This is an action in equity for an accounting, and grows out of the following series of transactions, to wit: On June 21, 1919, the defendant George H. Williams, who was the owner of the S. 1/2 of the N. E. 1/4 and the S. 1/2 of the N. W. 1/4, all in section 29, township 74 north, range 31 west of the Fifth P. M., Adair county, Iowa, entered into a contract in writing with Sylvester Handley, appellant herein, agreeing to convey the said land to him for a consideration of $36,000, $1,000 of which was to be paid on the execution of the contract, and a further payment of $3,000 on March 1, 1920. On July 2 following appellant entered into a contract in writing with Jacob and Anna Eigenheer, agreeing to convey the above described premises to them for a consideration of $37,600, $1,000 to be paid in cash, $1,600 March 1, 1920, for which a note was given, and a further cash payment on that date of $3,000.
On August 16 following Jacob Eigenheer, without his wife, Anna, joining therein, entered into a contract in writing with Nellie Hennessy, single, agreeing to convey the said premises to her for a consideration of $39,200, $1,000 to be paid in cash, $1,600 March 1, 1920, for which a note was executed, and also a cash payment on said date of $4,600.
On February 9, 1920, Nellie Hennessy entered into a contract in writing with Fred G. Winn, appellee herein, agreeing to convey the said premises to him for a consideration of $40,400, $3,800 to be paid on the execution of the contract, and $4,600 March 1. Appellee, in fact, paid Hennessy $1,000 when the contract was executed, and gave her a note for $2,800 due March 1.
On March 3d, appellee gave a check drawn on the defendant First State Bank of Adair county for $7,400 to be applied on the Hennessy contract. On March 2, 1921, he paid to the Orient Savings Bank $5,560 to be applied on the purchase price of the land. Appellee entered into possession of the premises on or about March 1, 1920, without receiving a deed from his grantor, the title to the land not then having been settled.
On October 4, 1921, appellee filed a petition in the office of the clerk of the district court of Adair county, in which he named as the sole defendant Mary M. Strong, administratrix of the estate of Nellie Hennessy, who was then deceased, asking rescission and cancellation of the contract dated February 9, 1920, upon the principal ground that the administratrix could not convey a good title to the land. The particular defects in the title are not material. Before final trial of that action, all of the parties named above filed separate petitions in intervention offering to perfect the title. Williams also asked specific performance of the original contract with Handley. Appellee also asked that he be allowed as a claim against the estate of Nellie Hennessy the aggregate of the several payments above enumerated, together with interest thereon. Upon final hearing, the court dismissed all of the petitions in intervention, canceled the Hennessy contract, and established a claim against her estate in favor of plaintiff for $3,800, with interest thereon at 6 per cent. The reason assigned by the court, in a written opinion filed shortly before the decree was signed, for refusing to allow the claim in full, was that $3,800 was all that the deceased ever received. The administratrix and George H. Williams appealed from the judgment entered therein, which was affirmed. Winn v. Strong, 196 Iowa, 498, 194 N. W. 50. The $5,560 payment to the Orient Bank was paid by it to Williams. The proceeds of the $7,400 check, which was charged to appellee's account with the bank, was disbursed as follows: To Nellie Hennessy $1,200; to Williams by draft $3,000; to Jacob Eigenheer a certificate of deposit for $1,600; to appellant Handley a certificate of deposit for $1,600. None of the contracts have ever been carried out, so that Eigenheer was not in position to demand payment of the $1,600 note executed to him. The same was true of the $1,600 note held by appellant. The court below required Williams to account for the amount received by him from the Orient Savings Bank and the First State Bank of Adair County, and entered judgment against him therefor with certain offsets not now material, and also required appellant to account for the $1,600 received by him, with interest, for which judgment was entered against him. Handley alone appeals.
Two propositions are advanced by appellant as follows: That the item in controversy was adjudicated in the prior...
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