Beasley v. Phillips

50 N.E. 488, 20 Ind. App. 182, 1898 Ind. App. LEXIS 536
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 18, 1898
DocketNo. 2,492
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 50 N.E. 488 (Beasley v. Phillips) 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
Beasley v. Phillips, 50 N.E. 488, 20 Ind. App. 182, 1898 Ind. App. LEXIS 536 (Ind. Ct. App. 1898).

Opinion

Wiley, J.

Appellee was plaintiff below, and sued appellant for an alleged breach of warranty of title. The complaint ivas in two paragraphs, which were held good on demurrer. Appellant answered in six paragraphs, to the second, third, and fifth of which a demurrer was overruled, and sustained as to the fourth and sixth. Appellee replied by general denial, and upon the issues thus joined, trial was had by jury, and a special verdict returned. Appellant’s motion for judgment on the special verdict was overruled, and a like motion of appellee was sustained. Appellant has assigned all these adverse rulings as error. No [184]*184objection is urged as to the first paragraph of complaint.

The second paragraph of complaint avers that in consideration of $275.00 paid appellant by appellee, the former conveyed, by deed with covenants of warranty, certain real estate to the wife of appellee. That after said conveyance, for the purpose of vesting the legal title of said real estate in appellee, his said wife, with him joining, conveyed the same to one Chapman, who on the same day conveyed it to appellee; that there has been a breach of the warranty in said conveyance of appellant to appellee’s wife, in that at the time said conveyance was made, the heirs of one Lydia Robinson, deceased (naming them), held and owned a paramount title in fee simple in and to the undivided one-third of said real estate, and that appellee suffered an eviction by said heirs, who demanded possession thereof and threatened to sue appellee for possession and partition thereof; that appellee notified appellant of said demand and threats, and demanded of her that she make good her covenants of warranty, which was refused, and to avoid a partition of said premises and an eviction thereof by legal process, appellant purchased of said heirs the outstanding paramount title held by them, and was compelled to and did pay them therefor $65.00, etc.

The objections urged against this paragraph of complaint are: (1) That it shows upon its face that appellee was a mere volunteer, and that he did not pay anything for the conveyance whereby the title passed from his wife to him; and (2) being a remote grantee, he cannot recover any greater sum than the price which he himself paid to his immediate grantor. We do not think this contention can be maintained, and appellant has not cited us to any authority which even [185]*185tends to support it. We think the questions are put at rest by the statute and repeated decisions under it.

Section 3346, Burns’ R. S. 1894 (2927, Horner’s R. S. 1897), prescribes the form of a warranty deed, and when such deed has been dated, duly signed, sealed and acknowledged by the grantor, it is declared by the statute that it “shall be deemed and held to be a conveyance in fee simple to the grantee, his heirs and assigns, with covenant from the grantor for himself and his heirs and personal representatives that he is lawfully seized of the premises, has good right to convey the same, and guarantees the quiet possession thereof; that the same are free from all encumbrances, and that he will warrant and defend the title to the same against all lawful claims.”

A deed in the form prescribed by statute for warranty deed has frequently been held to covenant that the grantor is seized of the premises, has a good right to convey, and guarantees the quiet possession thereof; that the lands are free from encumbrances and that the grantor will warrant and defend the title against all lawful claims. Carver v. Louthain, 38 Ind. 530; Coleman v. Lyman, 42 Ind. 289; Kent v. Cantrall, 44 Ind. 452; Keiper v. Klein, 51 Ind. 316; Jackson v. Green, 112 Ind. 341. Covenants in a deed run with the land, and a grantee may sue a remote grantor for a breach of such covenants. Dehority v. Wright, 101 Ind. 382; McClure v. McClure, 65 Ind. 482; Sage v. Jones, 47 Ind. 122. In McClure v. McClure, supra, it is expressly held that a grantee in a warranty deed' may sue his immediate or remote grantor for a breach of the covenants. It seems plain from the statute and these authorities, that appellant’s objections to the second paragraph of the complaint are not well taken. Appellee’s measure of damages here, is what he was compelled to pay to pro[186]*186tect Ms title, and the covenants of warranty in appellant’s deed, though he was a remote grantor, must be held to inure to the benefit of appellee. By the conveyance to appellee, he became possessed of the title which his wife had, and succeeded to her rights as a remote grantee. The demurrer, therefore, to the second paragraph of complaint was properly overruled.

Appellant’s answer was as follows: Par. 1. General denial. Par. 2. Plea of payment. Par. 3. That when demand was made upon appellee by the heirs of Lydia Robinson, as averred in the complaint, and when payment was made to them as charged, appellee and those through and under whom he claimed title had been in the continuous and adverse possession of said real estate for over twenty years, claiming ownership, and by reason thereof were the exclusive owners, etc. Par. 4. That on February 2, 1894, appellant was in exclusive possession of said real estate, under and by virtue of a deed from one George Arnold; that said appellee was the husband of one Mary E. Phillips; that both appellee and appellant well knew the title of appellant was in dispute by the heirs of said Lydia Robinson, and was possibly defective as described in the complaint; that with a full knowledge of said fact, appellee and appellant agreed that said real estate should be conveyed to appellee’s wife, by warranty deed, by appellant and- husband, in consideration that appellee would pay appellant $275.00, and in the event said heirs should assert a valid claim to the undivided one-third of said real estate, appellee was, for the purpose of securing to his said wife, a full and effective title to said lot, to pay to appellant such further sum as should be found to be necessary to purchase said outstanding title of said heirs; that, in pursuance to said agreement, appellant and her husband made said conveyance; that when said heirs asserted [187]*187their title, in pursuance of said agreement, appellee went to them and procured from them deeds of conveyance for their interest in said lots and paid therefor the amount named in the complaint; that no part of the consideration for appellant’s said deed was paid by the wife of appellee, but it was all paid by appellee pursuant to said agreement, and there was no consideration by any one for the other deeds mentioned in the complaint. Par. 5. That the contract of warranty made by appellant was without any consideration whatever. Par. 6. That the only demand made by the heirs of Lydia Robinson was for partition of the real estate described, and that when said demand and payment were made, appellee, and those through whom he held and claimed title, had been in adverse, exclusive and hostile possession for more than fifteen years, claiming the sole and exclusive ownership thereof, and that said heirs had no cause of action for the partition of said lot or to quiet title thereto, etc.

We will first dispose of appellant’s contention that the court erred in sustaining the demurrer to the fourth and sixth paragraphs of answer. The theory of the fourth paragraph of answer is that when appellant made the conveyance to appellee’s wife, it was agreed and understood between appellant and appellee that the heirs of Lydia E.

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Bluebook (online)
50 N.E. 488, 20 Ind. App. 182, 1898 Ind. App. LEXIS 536, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beasley-v-phillips-indctapp-1898.