Blaise v. Ratliff

672 S.W.2d 683, 1984 Mo. App. LEXIS 3819
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 15, 1984
Docket45094
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 672 S.W.2d 683 (Blaise v. Ratliff) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Blaise v. Ratliff, 672 S.W.2d 683, 1984 Mo. App. LEXIS 3819 (Mo. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

KELLY, Judge.

Community State Bank of Shelbina has appealed from the judgment of the Circuit Court of Shelby County cancelling Deeds of Trust on a farm in Shelby County, Missouri which secured two notes of $18,-000.00 and $16,000.00, respectively, for loans the Bank made to Danny E. Ratliff and Linda J. Ratliff, his wife. We reverse and remand the cause to the trial court with directions.

This appeal has its genesis in an action instituted by Clarence Blaise to rescind a contract for the sale of a farm to Danny E. Ratliff and his wife, Linda J. Ratliff; for the cancellation of a Warranty Deed from Clarence to the Ratliffs, two Deeds of Trust from the Ratliffs to the Bank; and to quiet title in Clarence. The Bank filed no Answer to Clarence’s petition but filed a counterclaim based upon seven (7) promissory notes Clarence had executed to the Bank for loans he had made there aggregating $9,927.37.

After a bench trial, a decree and findings of fact and conclusions of law were filed. The decree adjudged that the contract for sale on the farm was “rescinded, declared null and void and of no force and effect” directed Clarence to refund to the Ratliffs and the Bank the $8,000.00 down payment made by the Ratliffs to Clarence on said contract; and that the abstract of title be returned to Clarence by the defendants.

The decree further ordered that the Warranty Deed made from Clarence to the Ratliffs and the Deeds of Trust securing the Ratliffs’ $18,000.00 and $16,000.00 notes be set aside, cancelled, annulled and rendered wholly void and of no force and effect; that the cloud on the title created by said Warranty Deed and Deeds of Trust be removed, and enjoined the defendants from claiming any lien, title or other interest in said property by virtue of said Warranty Deed and Deeds of Trust and from making any further conveyance or encumbrance of said property.

The decree further declared that Clarence was the sole owner in fee simple absolute of the farm property and enjoined the Ratliffs from farming the property and ordered them to give a strict accounting to Clarence of all income they had received from the land since the contract date, to pay to Clarence the landlord’s share they had received from the real estate since the contract date, less any real estate taxes they might have paid on the property.

The Ratliffs were ordered to remove themselves from the premises forthwith and to deliver immediate possession thereof to Clarence; they were however, given six (6) months from the date of the decree, October 8, 1982, to remove a double wide trailer they placed on the premises.

The Bank was adjudged on its counterclaim to recover from Clarence on the Notes the sum of Seven Thousand Seven Hundred Fifty-two Dollars and Fifty-six Cents ($7,752.56) plus interest from the date of the respective Notes at the rate of interest provided in said Notes, plus One Thousand Thirty One Dollars and Nine Cents ($1,031.09) as attorney fees.

Costs were assessed against the Ratliffs in favor of Clarence on his Petition and for the Bank against Clarence on the counterclaim.

In its Findings of Fact and Conclusion of Law the trial court found that a confidential relationship existed between Clarence and the Ratliffs; that the Ratliffs took advantage of Clarence’s ignorance, mentality and illiteracy to acquire his farm for a consideration of $25,000.00; that this was a grossly inadequate price for the farm; that Clarence was 67 years of age at the time of *686 the sale, and that the method of payment— Clarence to receive $8,000.00 at the time of the sale and the balance of $17,000.00 to be paid by the Ratliffs in 17 annual payments of $1,000.00 each with no interest was unusual and not the ordinary method of making a real estate contract; that the failure of Clarence to obtain a first lien on the farm to secure the deferred payment was also unusual; that the details of the real estate transaction were never revealed to Clarence nor was it revealed to him that his income would be reduced because of the transaction; that he was never told that the true value of his farm was more than three (3) times what was to be paid to him; that the Ratliffs did not protect Clarence’s financial interest, but, rather, secured for themselves the financial advantage in the transaction and were therefore guilty of overreaching and unfairness to Clarence; that the burden of proof of the fairness of the transaction shifted to the Ratliffs to prove the validity of the transactions and they failed to sustain that burden; that the right of rescission of the contract and the cancellation of the Deeds of Trust on the farm is absolute because of the fraud, undue influence, inadequate consideration, unusual provisions, and overreaching of Clarence by the Ratliffs in the transaction; and that Clarence had properly notified the Ratliffs of his election to rescind the contract and to cancel the Deed and Deeds of Trust on Clarence’s one hundred (100) acre farm.

On appeal the Bank contends that the trial court erred in setting aside the two Deeds of Trust from the Ratliffs because: (1) the Bank was a bona fide purchaser for value and therefore took free of all defenses except those defenses of which it had actual or constructive knowledge, and there was nothing on record in Shelby County Courthouse on the date when either Deed of Trust was recorded which would impart to the Bank constructive notice of any wrongdoing or of any breach of a fiduciary relationship by the Ratliffs; (2) the trial court in its Finding of Facts found (a) no privity between the Bank and the Ratliffs, (b) no knowledge by the Bank of the overreaching by the Ratliffs, nor of any fraud, and as between a defrauded grantor and a bank that is an innocent purchaser for value, the loss by reason of a third party’s wrongdoing must fall on the grant- or whose conduct made possible the wrongdoers’ acts.

Review of this bench tried action is governed by the principles of Rule 73.01(c) Y.A.M.R. and Murphy v. Carron, 536 S.W.2d 30, 32 (Mo.banc 1976). The trial court’s judgment should be affirmed unless there was no substantial evidence to support it, unless judgment was against manifest weight of the evidence, or unless the trial court erroneously declared or applied the law. Perkins v. Rantz, 631 S.W.2d 907, 911[1] (Mo.App.1982).

There is, in this appeal, no challenge to that part of the trial court’s judgment rescinding the contract of sale of the farm, the refund to the bank of the $8,000.00 loaned to the Ratliffs for the down payment for the purchase of the farm, nor the setting aside of the Warranty Deed from Clarence to the Ratliffs. We have read the record on appeal and conclude that there is substantial evidence supporting this portion of the judgment and believe it is not necessary that we state in detail that evidence.

The trial court made no finding that there was any fiduciary relationship between Clarence and the Bank with respect to this transaction. Nor did it make any finding of wrongdoing on the part of the Bank. There is no finding whether the Bank had either actual or constructive knowledge of the Ratliffs’ overreaching nor of any fraud perpetrated on Clarence by the Ratliffs.

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Bluebook (online)
672 S.W.2d 683, 1984 Mo. App. LEXIS 3819, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/blaise-v-ratliff-moctapp-1984.