Bell v. Protheroe

1948 OK 7, 188 P.2d 868, 199 Okla. 562, 1 A.L.R. 2d 315, 1948 Okla. LEXIS 279
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJanuary 13, 1948
DocketNo. 32854
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 1948 OK 7 (Bell v. Protheroe) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bell v. Protheroe, 1948 OK 7, 188 P.2d 868, 199 Okla. 562, 1 A.L.R. 2d 315, 1948 Okla. LEXIS 279 (Okla. 1948).

Opinion

LUTTRELL, J.

This is an action to quiet title and cancel deeds brought by plaintiff, Margaret E. Protheroe, against defendant Ora Ethel Bell. The case was tried to the court as one of equitable cognizance, judgment was rendered for plaintiff, and defendant appeals.

From the record it appears that the following facts were established by the evidence: Plaintiff was the stepdaughter of Lewis J. Bell, who, in his lifetime, acquired title to two lots in Oklahoma City, upon which was a duplex dwelling house. Bell made his home with his stepdaughter and her husband, and she and her husband rented the property and looked after it for Bell. On July 1, 1944, plaintiff and Bell entered into a written contract whereby Bell agreed, in consideration of her past assistance to him in looking after the property, and in other ways, to deed her the property with the understanding that he should be entitled to the rents and profits therefrom during his lifetime. The contract further provides that a warranty deed to plaintiff should be delivered to the Liberty National Bank, to be held by it with instructions to deliver it to plaintiff in the event of the death of Bell, Bell expressly waiving and relinquishing any right to withdraw the deed from the bank. Pursuant to the contract and on the same date Bell executed and acknowledged a general warranty deed with no reservations or exceptions, other than “Subject to mortgages of record” to plain-tiff, as grantee. This escrow was accepted by the bank and the deed and a copy of the contract held by it were delivered to plaintiff after Bell’s death in 1945.

Defendant was a sister-in-law of Bell living in Bentonville, Ark. In 1944 Bell spent a part of his time in Arkansas, and for at least a portion of that time, while ill, made, his home with defendant and her husband and was nursed and cared for by them. Defendant testified that he came to her home around the 1st of April, 1944, and stayed there about six weeks, and that four or five times thereafter he was bedfast in her home for as much as a week or ten days. On August 22, 1944, Bell made a warranty deed to defendant purporting to convey the property herein involved, but in which the property was defectively described. This deed was not placed of record. On November 14, 1944, Bell executed and placed of record a deed conveying the property to defendant, in which, due to a mistake, it was described as’ the homestead of Bell. On March 28, 1945, Bell executed and placed of record a correction deed in which the property was correctly described and which recited that it was not his homestead. On November 14, 1944, he made and delivered to defendant a bill of sale of the furniture and equipment in the duplex on the property involved. He died on May 6, 1945.

Plaintiff testified that on July 1, 1944, after the deed and contract between her and Bell had been placed in the bank, she notified the tenants in possession that she had purchased the property and assumed full possession and control thereof; that she had' no knowledge of the defendant’s deed until sometime in March, 1945, and that from and after July 1, 1944, she continued to send Bell the rents from the duplex in accordance with their contract, deducting therefrom certain necessary expenses in connection with the upkeep and repair of the property; that in this respect her handling of the property was the same as it had always been, and that where repairs were made on the property which could be made by her husband she did not charge Bell [564]*564anything therefor. One of her tenants testified that on or shortly after July 1, 1944, plaintiff informed him that she had purchased the property, and that from that time he dealt with her as the owner; also that he informed a party who interviewed him and who contemplated purchasing the property from defendant, that he had been paying his rent to plaintiff and that such party should see plaintiff before making any deal. The prospective purchaser testified to the same effect, and stated that upon finding that plaintiff also claimed the property, she withdrew her offer of purchase which she had theretofore made defendant.

Defendant testified that she had no knowledge of any contract between plaintiff and Bell with reference to the property until March, 1945, although she had an “inkling” that Bell had made some sort of deal with plaintiff, in reference to the property about the 1st of December, 1944. She testified that she knew Bell was receiving the rents which were forwarded to him by plaintiff. So far as the record shows defendant did not inquire of Bell as to who was in possession of the property, nor did she inquire of the tenants as to their ground, source, or right of possession.

The trial court found that the evidence in the case established a good and sufficient consideration moving to Bell from the plaintiff for the contract and deed placed in escrow, and also established a good and sufficient consideration moving from the defendant to Bell for the deeds made by Bell to her. It found the issues generally in favor of plaintiff; found that the contract and warranty deed constituted a good and valid conveyance of the property to plaintiff and that defendant acquired no rights in the property under the deeds made by Bell to her; canceled her deeds; found that plaintiff was the owner of the property and had been in possession thereof since July 1, 1944, subject only to the obligation to account to Bell for the rents and profits therefrom during his lifetime, and quieted the title in plaintiff.

The decisive question presented is whether defendant was an innocent purchaser for value without notice. The trial court found that she paid a sufficient consideration for her deed, but found from the evidence that she was charged with notice of the prior right and equity of plaintiff. Defendant further contends that when Bell placed in escrow in the bank the deed and contract made with plaintiff, that if title passed to plaintiff it passed subject to a life estate retained by Bell, citing in support of this assertion Maynard v. Hustead, 185 Okla. 20, 90 P. 2d 30, and other cases so holding.

In the instant case, however, the contract between Bell and plaintiff was also placed in escrow along with the deed, was a part and parcel of the same transaction, and in arriving at the intent of the parties, the contract and deed must be construed together. Pauly v. Pauly, 198 Okla. 156, 176 P. 2d, 491. The deed on its face is an absolute and unqualified conveyance, and the only provision in the contract with reference to any rights remaining in Bell is the following: “ . . . with the understanding, however, that the party of the first part (Bell) shall be entitled to the rents and profits from said property during his lifetime.”

Unquestionably the rule announced in Maynard v. Hustead, supra, and other cases, that the delivery of a deed to a third party to be delivered to the grantee upon the death of the grantor operates as a valid conveyance, but that the right to possession is postponed until the grantor’s death, contemplates a case in which the grantor either reserves a life estate in his deed, as in Snodgrass v. Snodgrass, 107 Okla. 140, 231 P. 237, 52 A.L.R. 1213, or a case in which there is no other or further agreement between the parties as to possession or right to possession after the placing of the deed in escrow. In the instant case it is worthy of note [565]*565that in the contract between Bell and plaintiff there was no reservation of possession or right of possession in Bell. Plaintiff had theretofore been looking after the property for Bell.

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

Related

Manchester v. Neundorf
W.D. Oklahoma, 2022
Mashburn v. Arzate
W.D. Oklahoma, 2020
Soulé v. Gragg (In re Harrison)
503 B.R. 835 (N.D. Oklahoma, 2013)
Simon v. Foster
1962 OK 132 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1962)
Standard Parts Company v. D & J Investment Company
1955 OK 244 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1955)
Dillard v. Ceaser
1952 OK 92 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1952)
Morgan v. Griffith Realty Co.
192 F.2d 597 (Tenth Circuit, 1951)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1948 OK 7, 188 P.2d 868, 199 Okla. 562, 1 A.L.R. 2d 315, 1948 Okla. LEXIS 279, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bell-v-protheroe-okla-1948.