Bagley v. Bagley

89 So. 739, 206 Ala. 232, 1921 Ala. LEXIS 148
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedMay 19, 1921
Docket6 Div. 281.
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 89 So. 739 (Bagley v. Bagley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bagley v. Bagley, 89 So. 739, 206 Ala. 232, 1921 Ala. LEXIS 148 (Ala. 1921).

Opinion

THOMAS, J.

The purpose and prayer of the bill by W. A. Bagley were for redemption against respondent John W. Bagley.

[1] Respondent’s answer was made a cross-bill, disclosed his joint interest in the lands with N. E. Bagley, prayed that Isham D. Hobbs, as trustee of the bankrupt estate of W. A. Bagley, Jonas Schwab, as vendee, and N. E. Bagley, as vendee of Schwab, be made parties respondent, sought correction of said conveyances, and for accounting for occupation and for waste. There was no error in making as parties respondent to the cross-bill all parties at interest in the land, in making the correction of mutual mistake of the conveyances thereof, and in its redemption, that a binding decree may be rendered. Cornelius v. Bishop, 88 South. 592, 205 Ala. 503; Wootten v. Vaughn, 202 Ala. 684, 81 South. 660.

Complainant W. A. Bagley, a bankrupt, having failed to schedule the lands in question or his interest therein, had theretoford conveyed the same to his relatives, who were thereafter made respondents to a bill in equity by the trustee in bankruptcy of this complainant. Such conveyances were set aside as fraudulent under the statutes provided for such cases. Thereafter said trustee in the due administration of his trust sold and conveyed the lands to one Schwab, who conveyed to John W. Bagley and N. E. Bagley for the valuable consideration indicated.

If complainant W. a. Bagley sustain his bill, it is upon an alleged agreement to redeem or sell within the time indicated, which writing was executed by John W. Bagley alone. Said respondent in the original bill and complainant in cross-bill filed pleas A and B, averring that W. A.. Bagley had no right of “redemption,” and that the written agreement on which complainant predicated his right of redemption was without consideration. With the pleas were averments of fact showing that complainant could not recover under his bill for redemption, and setting up a mutual mistake in the description in the several conveyances of the land, from the trustee in bankruptcy to Schwab, and that to John W. and N. E. Bagley, which gave the right of reformation to the end that the conveyances speak the true intention of the parties thereto. On final submission the decree was pursuant to the averments and prayer of the cross-bill, and was supported by the evidence*.

[2, 3] When W. A. Bagley was adjudicated a bankrupt, no part of his property or interest in these lands was set apart to him as exempt. His title thereto and interest therein vested in the trustee in bankruptcy, who sold them to Schwab, and from which sale there was no right of redemption. Duncan v. Watson, 198 Ala. 180, 188, 73 South. 448. Nor had he any right of action growing out of his bankruptcy or lands administered therein that may be assigned or enforced in a court of equity. Neuberger v. Felis, 203 Ala. 142, 82 South. 172. That is to say, after his bankruptcy, W. A. Bagley had no property right or interest or right of action in the lands; was without interest in-its sale or disposition by his creditors or the trustee holding the legal title for his creditors. The administration of the bankrupt estate had been closed, the lands sold and the proceeds administered, and thereafter W. A. Bagley had no property right or right of action on which to found a right of redemption of the land from the purchasers at trustee’s sale or his vendee. In the disposition of the bankrupt’s real properties, or interest therein, and in making conveyances thereof, a mutual mistake crept into said conveyances. This misdescription is shown by the pleading and evidence, and the convejmnces are sought to be reformed. Such power rests in the inherent jurisdiction of a court of equity.

[4-6] By operation of law, the title to all of the property or interest in the lands of original complainant had vested in his trustee immediately upon his adjudication as a bankrupt, subject to the right of exemption provided by statute. After its sale by the trustee the creditors were not interested in the lands at the time of the filing of the original and the cross bill, since the trustee had made a complete settlement of his trust, including distribution of the purchase price of the land. The trustee, however, was a proper party, for the prayer of the cross-bill was for a correction in the description of his conveyance to Schwab. The interest of W. A. Bagley’s vendees (the several Bagleys by reason of the deeds executed by the bankrupt before his adjudication) was concluded by the proceedings under the statute hi the name of the trustee in bankruptcy against them, and the decree set aside their respective conveyances as fraudulent and void, and divested the interest or title of AAr. A. Bagley and his vendees in and to all of said lands, and declared the same to be vested in said trustee in bankruptcy. Hence, said vendees were not necessary parties to the cross-bill.

[7] If W. A. Bagley had properly listed said lands in his schedules upon or after filing his petition in bankruptcy, and had the trustee omitted or overlooked the sale of certain of them so scheduled, the title to the property unadministered may have reverted *235 to Rim, upon the closing of the bankrupt proceedings without its disposition by the trustee. Duncan v. Watson, supra; Watson v. Motley, 201 Ala. 25, 75 South. 147. However, such was or is not the case. The bankrupt Bagley did not list said real property or interest therein, having theretofore made fraudulent disposition' of it (under the statute) to third parties. He could not thereafter have any interest in this real property founded on antecedent title or interest, nor could subsequent equities in his favor be rested on such title or interest.

[8, 9] The property of the complainant being vested in the trustee immediately upon his adjudication as a bankrupt and the appointment of a trustee, irrespective of the deed made to such trustee by the register in chancery (Duncan v. Watson, supra) the decree of the chancery court but cleared the title of the fraudulent conveyances, and confirmed such superior right and title in the trustee. The fact that a mutual mistake in the description of the property was contained in the several conveyances exhibited could not affect the real title of the trustee Hobbs and his vendees. This .mutual mistake in the description of the two conveyances is averred in the cross-bill and shown by the evidence — the same being made in the deed from Hobbs as trustee to Jonas Schwab, in conveyance of the property of the bankrupt estate, and in the deed from Schwab to John W. and N. E. Bagley.

“Where the same mutual mistake has been repeated in each one of a chain of conveyances, under such circumstances as to entitle any one of the vendees to a reformation as against his immediate vendor, the equity will work back through all, and entitle the last vendee to a reformation against the original grantor.” 6 Pom. Eq. Jur. § 678; Tillis v. Smith, 108 Ala. 264, 19 South. 374; Cross v. Woods, 92 South. —; 1 Jackson v. Lucas, 157 Ala. 551, 47 South. 224, 131 Am. St. Rep. 17; Greer v. Watson, 170 Ala. 334, 54 South. 487; Goulding Fert. Co. v. Blanchard, 178 Ala. 298, 59 South. 485; Woodlawn Realty & Dev. Co. v. Hawkins, 186 Ala. 234, 65 South. 183.

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Bluebook (online)
89 So. 739, 206 Ala. 232, 1921 Ala. LEXIS 148, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bagley-v-bagley-ala-1921.