Blase v. Austin

242 S.W.2d 29, 362 Mo. 409, 1951 Mo. LEXIS 666
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJuly 9, 1951
DocketNo. 41715
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 242 S.W.2d 29 (Blase v. Austin) 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
Blase v. Austin, 242 S.W.2d 29, 362 Mo. 409, 1951 Mo. LEXIS 666 (Mo. 1951).

Opinion

LOZIER, C.

Plaintiff Blase sued to determine title to four real estate properties in the City of St. Louis, to set aside deeds under which certain defendants claimed, and to restrain defendant Scott from paying over to defendant Austin certain rentals collected as Austin’s agent. Decree was for plaintiff as to three of the properties, and as to rentals thereon from the dates of her [415]*415deeds, and for defendant Sutton as to the other property. Plaintiff appealed as to Sutton and the other defendants appealed as to plaintiff.

The issues are the sufficiency of the evidence upon which the deeds were held invalid and the effect of a lis pendens notice as to Sutton.

Sutton was interested in one property ’ only. Defendant Scott testified he had withheld the rentals because of the lawsuit and was willing to paj' them to the parties in whom titles were decreed. For convenience, then, where we do not refer to defendants by name, we will use the terms “defendants” or “other defendants” as meaning all of the defendants except Sutton and Scott. The names of these other defendants are italicized in the hereinafter summary of record titles. (At the trial, the action was abated as to Henry W. Austin, defendant Austin’s father, initially a defendant, who died June 10, 1945.) Defendant Aetna Realty Co. was a corporation owned and controlled by Austin. The properties were located at 2406 N. Sarah St., 3949 Page Ave., 3951-53 Page Ave., and 3015 Lambdin Ave., respectively, and are hereinafter referred to as the Sarah, the 3949 Page, the 3951 Page, and the Lambdin properties.

On May 6, 1941, one Alice Austin had a $500 judgment against defendants Austin and Fairfax. Plaintiff was the purchaser of the interests of these two defendants in all four properties at two execution sales. She paid $301 for the Sarah and 3949'Page properties and received a sheriff’s deed dated October 29, 1943. She paid $50 for the other two properties and received a sheriff’s deed dated March 15, 1944. Plaintiff claims under these deeds.

The common record title to the Sarah and 3949 Page properties was: August 26, 1938, warranty deeds to Fairfax; September 7, 1938, Fairfax trust deeds to Henry W. Austin, trustee for Austin; February 24 1942, Fairfax warranty deeds to Charles Perry; March 1, 1942, Charles Perry trust deeds to Henry W.' Austin, trustee for Austin; January 29, 1944, trustees’ deeds, [31] under foreclosure of the last mentioned trust deeds, to Katherine Schultz; and February 1, 1944, Katherine Schultz trust deeds to Eugene L. Paclberg, trustee for Carl M. Dubinsky.

The record title to the Lambdin property was: September 23, 1938, warranty deed to Austin, subject to existing trust deed; November 28, 1941, Austin warranty deed to Henry W. Austin; and June 1, 1944, Henry W. Austin quitclaim deed to Helen Perry.

The record title to the 3951 Page property was: March 18, 1939, warranty deed to' Aetna, and Aetna trust deed to Helen ITearnes, trustee for Austin; February 20, 1942, Aetna warranty deed-to Henry W. Austin; March 1, 1942, Henry W. Austin trust deed to Samuel E. Perry, trustee for Austin; and August 4, 1947, Helen Staneil [416]*416(formerly Helen Hearnes) trustee’s deed, under foreclosure of the March 18, 1939, Aetna deed of trust, to Clement Sutton.

We first consider the relative claims of plaintiff and the other defendants. ■ The court found that plaintiff purchased the properties while the $500 judgment was a lien upon the interests of defendants Fairfax and Austin; that Fairfax, Henry W. Austin, Charles Perry, Katherine. Schultz, Helen Perry,- Aetna, Plelen Hearnes (or Helen Stancil) and Samuel E. Perry were Austin’s straws; that Austin caused the transfers to be made for the purpose of defrauding- his creditors, particularly plaintiff and the judgment creditor, Alice Austin; and that the transfers were void.

The record sustains these findings and plaintiff’s claims to the properties as against Scott and the other defendants. Defendant Charles Perry testified that he paid nothing' for the warranty deeds to the Sarah and 3949 Page properties and received nothing for executing- the trust deeds and notes. The bank, which had made loans to Austin upon three of the properties, with the trust deeds and notes as collateral, dealt only with Austin. One real estate dealer said Austin listed the four properties for sale as the- owner. Another said he represented Austin in the purchase of one. Until the suit was filed Scott managed all four as Austin’s agent and paid the net proceeds to Austin. Austin’s inventory of his father’s estate, of which he was administrator, listed no real property.

Austin’s affidavits in the proceeding in which he was declared a bankrupt were in evidence. In his schedules and testimony, he swore that the notes and trust deeds were executed by the “owners” as accommodation paper to enable him to borrow money from banks; and that he did not give or loan money to Fairfax but borrowed from her. (See Munday v. Austin, 358 Mo. 959, 218 SW 2d 624, wherein Austin and Fairfax were defendants in a similar action and this court ruled the effect of these same judicial admissions.) When Fairfax signed- the appeal bond in the Munday case, she' swore she owned the Sarah’ and 3949 Page properties and that they were “clear.”

None of the other defendants testified. Their only evidence was Austin’s and Dub insky’s answers to interrogatories. Austin’s answers reflect long and conscientious study and practice of deliberate suppression of ability to remember. Dubinsky answered that he did not own- the Schultz notes and trust deeds' and that he had no recollections as to these transactions. Several of the other defendants refused to answer interrogatories.

We agree with the trial judge that: “The evidence preponderates so strongly in favor of plaintiff as to the issues between plaintiff and all defendants excepting Clement Sutton that no memorandum opinion is necessary on the issues of the invalidity of the deeds and deeds of trust mentioned in plaintiff’s petition,” He did not err in [417]*417overruling Scott’s and the other defendants’ motion for a directed verdict.

All of the defendants except Sutton urge that the consideration iilaintiff paid for the sheriffs’ deeds were inadequate. The values of the properties when plaintiff purchased were not shown. However, this point was not raised until these defendants’ briefs were filed here. The question was not raised below by either the pleadings or the evidence. The issue was not mentioned in the trial judge’s excellent memorandum. It was not assigned in these defendants’ motion for a new trial. We do not rule this assignment. Sec. 512.160(1), Mo. RS 1949, See. 847.140(a), Mo. RSA; Supreme Court Rule 3.23; and Oetting v. Green, 350 Mo. 457, 166 SW 2d 548.

We next consider the relative claims of plaintiff and defendant Sutton as to the 3951 Page property. Sutton claims under a trustee’s deed, dated August 4, 1947, executed by “Helen Iiearnes Stancil, formerly Helen Heaxnes, trustee,” in foreclosure of the March 18, 1939, Aetna trust deed and recorded August 5, 1947. The consideration was $6,000.

On July 29, 1947, plaintiff filed a lis pendens notice. The trial judge stated: “We find it to be a fact that Clement Sutton .had no actual notice of any invalidity or infirmity with respect to the deed of trust being foreclosed.

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Bluebook (online)
242 S.W.2d 29, 362 Mo. 409, 1951 Mo. LEXIS 666, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/blase-v-austin-mo-1951.