Ackerman v. Hawkins

88 N.E. 616, 45 Ind. App. 483, 1909 Ind. App. LEXIS 291
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 3, 1909
DocketNo. 6,942
StatusPublished

This text of 88 N.E. 616 (Ackerman v. Hawkins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ackerman v. Hawkins, 88 N.E. 616, 45 Ind. App. 483, 1909 Ind. App. LEXIS 291 (Ind. Ct. App. 1909).

Opinion

Watson, J.

This suit was brought by appellant to set aside two deeds made and executed by appellant and her husband to William H. and Etta E. Hawkins, to set aside a mortgage executed on the real estate by said Hawkins and wife to the Anderson Trust Company, to have the title to said real estate quieted in appellant, and to recover a reasonable rental value of the land during the time appellee Hawkins has been in possession thereof. Judgment on the findings and conclusions of law in favor of appellees.

Appellant has assigned a number of errors, but in the determination of this case it is only necessary to consider the errors assigned in overruling appellant’s motion for new trial, viz.: The decision of the court (1) is not sustained by sufficient evidence, and (2) is contrary to law. These assignments call in question the court’s rulings upon the two controlling issues in this case: (1) Fraud, and (2) consideration.

The court, among other facts, found the following: “ (1) That on October 13, .1902, Daisy Ackerman, plaintiff herein, was a feme covert, under the ag’e of twenty-one years; that her husband, John Ackerman, was at the time over the age of twenty-one years.” (5) That on the date mentioned in finding No. 1, herein, plaintiff was the mother of two' children. She was above the average height for a woman, and weighed about 200 pounds, and in all respects looked to be over twenty-one years of age, and had had such appearance for two years prior thereto. (6) That prior to October 13, 1902, the plaintiff had secured a conveyance to herself of certain real estate in Madison county, Indiana, which is not [485]*485involved in this controversy, which she afterwards conveyed, her husband, John Ackerman, joining her in such conveyance ; that she did not purchase said real estate herself, or negotiate for such purchase, but that her father-in-law, Valentine Ackerman, purchased the land and had it conveyed to her, and the court finds that she never had any pecuniary interest in the real estate so purchased by Valentine Ackerman and conveyed to her, and which she afterwards conveyed to a third person; that said two conveyances were duly recorded in the recorder’s office of Madison county. (7) That prior to October 13, 1902, plaintiff had borrowed money, secured the payment thereof by a mortgage on her real estate, and afterwards paid off said mortgage; that before said date she had entered into contracts, receipted for money, and received it from the administrator of her mother’s estate, and had dealt, in a general way, with different persons as if she were over the age of twenty-one years; that, so far as the evidence shows, prior to said date she had not claimed to anyone that she was under the age of twenty-one years; that she knew herself that she had not yet attained her majority, and she knew that those with whom she had been dealing believed her to be over the age of twenty-one years.” (12) That, pursuant to said negotiations and said written agreement, as before set out in finding No. 9, said William H. Hawkins, Valentine Ackerman- and J. B. Kinney met in the town of Frankton, on October 13, 1902, for the purpose of exchanging deeds to said real estate; that on said day William IT. Hawkins, for the first time, was informed that the forty-eight acres of land in controversy, and which was mentioned in said contract, was owned by plaintiff, and that thereupon he demanded that she and her husband join in a deed to said real estate; that said J ohm Ackerman went to his home from Frankton, where said parties had met to exchange said deeds, brought his wife to town, and she and her said husband then and there executed and delivered to William H. Hawkins and Etta E. [486]*486Hawkins, his wife, a deed of general warranty, conveying to them the land in controversy, which is as follows.” “ (14) At the same time said William IT. Hawkins executed and delivered to Valentine Ackerman and his son, in accordance with the terms of said written agreement aforesaid, a deed of general warranty, conveying to said Valentine Ackerman and his son the several tracts of land in. Mississippi, which are specifically described in the contract between said Ackerman and son and William II. Hawkins, as appears in finding No. 9.” “(16) That after the execution and exchange of said deeds, and after the recordation of the deed from plaintiff and her husband to Hawkins and Hawkins, said William IT. ITawkins obtained information that there was some question as to whether the plaintiff, at the time she executed said deed, was twenty-one years of age; that he immediately made an investigation as to her age, and sent to the town of Prank-ton and informed Valentine Ackerman that he had heard that some people were claiming that plaintiff was not of age at the time she executed said deed, and stated to Valentine Ackerman that he wanted a good deed; that they had his property and he had theirs, and that if he could not get a good deed he wanted to return the property and have his returned to him. He was informed by said Valentine Ackerman that the plaintiff was of age at the time of the execution of said deed,' but if there was any doubt about it she would be of age on December 28, 1902; that, relying upon said representations, defendant Hawkins had another deed prepared and forwarded to J. M. Parlow, a notary public at the town of Prankton, Indiana, for the purpose of having said plaintiff and her husband execute an additional deed after December 28, 1902, which said deed is in the words and figures following. ” “(21) The court further finds that plaintiff knew that the grantees named by William H. Hawkins in the deed to the Mississippi land were Valentine Ackerman and son; that Valentine Ackerman was plaintiff’s father-in-law, and that the word ‘son,’ representing [487]*487one of the grantees in said, deed, meant plaintiff’s husband, John Ackerman.” “(24) The court further finds that on October 13, 1902, when William H. Hawkins deeded to Valentine Ackerman and son the Mississippi land, and when plaintiff and her husband conveyed to William H. Hawkins the land in controversy, both of said deeds, before they were executed, were read over in the presence and hearing of plaintiff, and that she knew that the Mississippi land was conveyed to Valentine Ackerman and her husband, and she did not at the time make any complaint thereof, but, on the contrary, assented thereto. (25) The court further finds that when said deed for the Mississippi land was executed to Valentine Ackerman and son there was an agreement and understanding between Valentine Ackerman, Daisy Ackerman, and her husband, John Ackerman, that, when they went to Mississippi to take possession of the land, a sufficient number of acres of said Mississippi land should be conveyed to plaintiff, which should equal in value the real estate she had conveyed to Hawkins and Hawkins, and that she should have said land conveyed to her as a consideration for the real estate which she had conveyed to Hawkins and Hawkins in exchange for the Mississippi land; that by such agreement and understanding the plaintiff was to have conveyed to her 400 acres of the Mississippi land upon which there was situate a white dwelling-house. (25-|) The court further finds that the 400 acres of land in Mississippi, which it was agreed should be conveyed to plaintiff on the arrival of the two families there, was equal, or approximately equal, to the land wdúeh plaintiff conveyed to Hawkins and Hawkins. (26) The court further finds that, within a few days after the execution of the third deed by plaintiff and her husband to William IT.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
88 N.E. 616, 45 Ind. App. 483, 1909 Ind. App. LEXIS 291, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ackerman-v-hawkins-indctapp-1909.