Adkins v. Tomlinson

26 S.W. 573, 121 Mo. 487, 1894 Mo. LEXIS 198
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedMay 8, 1894
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 26 S.W. 573 (Adkins v. Tomlinson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Adkins v. Tomlinson, 26 S.W. 573, 121 Mo. 487, 1894 Mo. LEXIS 198 (Mo. 1894).

Opinion

Burgess, J.

This is an action for the breach of the covenant of indefeasible seizin contained in a deed from defendant to plaintiff Mary E. Adkins, wife of her eoplaintiff, James Q-. Adkins, dated February 8, 1882. The land described in the deed is a part of lot number 5, in block number 3, of Price’s addition to the City of Kansas, and described as follows, to wit: “Beginning at the "northwest corner of said lot and running thence east along the south line of Independence avenue, thirty-four feet and six inches; thence south one hundred and twenty-six feet to a private alley; [490]*490thence west to the west line of said lot; thence north to the place of beginning.” The allegation in the petition is that defendant was not seized of an indefeasible estate of the east four and one-half feet of said, lot.

The answer, aside from a general denial, alleges-that defendant did not in fact sell to plaintiff, Mary E. Adkins, the land described in the deed, but that he' really sold her a tract of .land of the same size, but lying-four and one-half feet further west than'the tract described in the deed, of which he claims to be the owner in fee simple, alleging that the error in description was occasioned “by reason of a mistake on the' part of the surveyor,” and coupled with.an offer to re-form the deed aforesaid, and a tender of a new deed, describing the tract of land as alleged to have been intended to be conveyed, with full covenants of general warranty, as of the same date as the original deed. The answer so pleaded that, notwithstanding the-alleged error in description, the respondent, Mary E. Adkins, had a good title to the four and one-half feet, (for the want of seizin in which the action was brought) by the statute of limitations. The reply was a general denial. A jury having been waived, the case was tried by the court.

At the trial respondents read in evidence the deed sued on, containing an express covenant of indefeasible-seizin of the land described in the petition. It was then formally admitted that neither at the date of his deed nor at any time since, had appellant any title whatever to the east four and one-half feet of the land described in the deed; that plaintiffs were never put. in possession of the Same, and never had possession of the same, and that $60 per foot was a reasonable valuation for the property in controversy at the time of appellant’s deed.

[491]*491Defendant testified that he originally owned lot five- and that part of lot six which extended eastwardly to the line of Holmes street; that he sold the ground fronting on Holmes street for a butcher shop, and then sold another part of the land to Captain Cannon— Cannon’s land embracing the east four and one-half feet of the land described in defendant’s deed to Mrs. Adldns, and that he built a fence along his east and Cannon’s west line. He also testified: “I never undertook to give possession of the four and one-half feet on the east side. I knew I did not own that.”

Plaintiffs asked no declaration of law and none was-given.

Defendant asked two declarations - of law, which were refused. They are as follows:

“1. The court declares the law to be that, although defendant did not convey to plaintiff Mary E. Adkins, by his deed to her, read in evidence, the whole of the particular lot or tract of land which was intended to be, and was actually, purchased by her, but on account of an erroneous description in said deed, omitted about four and one-half feet on the west side of said lot- or tract that should have been described in and conveyed by said deed, yet, if, at or about the time said deed was executed and delivered by defendant to said plaintiffs, and in pursuance thereof, defendant put said plaintiffs in peaceable possession of the whole of said lot or tract of land intended to be, and which was actually, purchased by her at the time, and plaintiffs have ever since been, and are now, in the exclusive and undisturbed possession of the whole thereof; and further, that plaintiffs and their grantors have, for ten years or more, prior to the commencement of this suit, been in actual, open, notorious, exclusive and continuous possession of the whole of said lot or tract of land, including the four and one-half feet on the west side thereof, [492]*492erroneously omitted'from said deed, as aforesaid, under claim of title thereto; and further, that defendant, by his answer, has offered, and at the trial offered, to con-ve3^ to said plaintiff the said four and oné-half feet, and tendered in court a deed duly executed, with full covenants of general warranty, conveying to said plaintiff Mary E. Adkins, as of the date when said first deed was made to her by defendant, the said four and one-half feet of land on the west of said lot or tract of land, which was intended to be, and was actually, purchased by her, and of which she was put into full and peaceable possession at the time, and still retains possession, then the finding in this case must be for defendant.
“2. The court declares the law to be, that, if, at or about the date of the deed offered in evidence from defendant to plaintiff Mary E. Adkins, defendant put said plaintiff into peaceable possession of.the whole of the particular tract or lot of land shown to, and intended to be,,and was, purchased by plaintiffs at that time, and that plaintiffs have ever since been, and are now,--in the exclusive and undisturbed possession thereof, and further, that plaintiffs and their grantors have, for ten years, and moré, prior to the commencement of this suit, been in actual, open, notorious, exclusive and continuous possession of said tract or lot of land, and every part thereof, under claim of title thereto, then such possession constitutes good title in said plaintiffs to the whole of said tract or lot of land, and the finding in this case should be for defendant.”

The trial resulted in a judgment of $415 in favor of plaintiff Mary E. Adkins,, being $60 per foot, the original purchase price, and the admitted value of the land at the date of the deed, together with interest thereon at six per cent, per annum from the date of the deed to the date of the trial. Defendant appeals.

Defendant’s first contention is that there was [493]*493a mutual mistake in the description of tlie land intended to be conveyed by the deed from him to the plaintiff, Mary E. Adkins, and that he had the right to correct the mistake by making another deed to conform to the original contract and to convey to plaintiff the thirty-four and one-half feet frontage that they purchased, which he placed them in possession of arid which has been occupied by them ever since.

Where there is a mutual mistake between the parties to a deed, as to the description of the land intended to be conveyed thereby, equity will reform it, but in this case the answer does not aver that there was a mutual mistake between the grantor and grantee, but avers that the mistake in the description was occasioned “by reason of a mistake on the part of the surveyor.”

Defendant admitted on the trial that at the time he executed the deed to Mrs. Adkins, he did not own and has never since had title to the east four and one-half feet described in said deed, while the evidence clearly shows that he never owned the four and one-half feet on the west which he now claims was intended to be conveyed and of which plaintiffs have, ever since the execution of the deed of February 8, 1882, been in the actual possession.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Callier v. Callier (In re Callier)
251 B.R. 850 (Eighth Circuit, 2000)
McGrew v. Elkins
36 S.W.2d 424 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1931)
City of Pacific v. Ryan
28 S.W.2d 652 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1930)
Rainey v. Davidson
26 S.W.2d 841 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1930)
Quick v. Williams
271 S.W. 834 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1925)
Jeffords v. Dreisbach
153 S.W. 274 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1913)
Falk v. Organ
141 S.W. 1 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1911)
City of Maysville v. Truex
139 S.W. 390 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1911)
Moore v. Helvy
138 S.W. 481 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1911)
Foster v. Byrd
96 S.W. 224 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1906)
Turner v. Wabash Railroad
90 S.W. 391 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1905)
Benn v. Pritchett
63 S.W. 1103 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1901)
Wishart v. McKnight
59 N.E. 1028 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1901)
Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific Railway Co. v. LeRosen
52 La. Ann. 192 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1899)
Egan v. Martin
71 Mo. App. 60 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1897)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
26 S.W. 573, 121 Mo. 487, 1894 Mo. LEXIS 198, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/adkins-v-tomlinson-mo-1894.