Bradley v. Talarico

153 N.E.2d 505, 129 Ind. App. 544, 1958 Ind. App. LEXIS 179
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 27, 1958
DocketNo. 18,949
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 153 N.E.2d 505 (Bradley v. Talarico) 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
Bradley v. Talarico, 153 N.E.2d 505, 129 Ind. App. 544, 1958 Ind. App. LEXIS 179 (Ind. Ct. App. 1958).

Opinion

Cooper, J.

By complaint in two paragraphs, appellant brought action against appellee for possession of certain real estate and damages for wrongful possession thereof. In addition to appropriate answers to the complaint, appellee filed a counter-claim, alleging, in substance:

That he had purchased said real estate on May 1, 1941, for Four Thousand, Five Hundred ($4,500.00) Dollars, making a down payment thereon of One Hundred ($100.00) Dollars; that at said time, appellee and one Samuel Rubinstein (deceased October 10, 1945, and from whose heirs appellant alleges title) made an oral agreement whereby said Rubinstein was to pay the balance of said purchase price as a loan to appellee; that said loan was to be repaid at the rate of Forty ($40.00) Dollars per month and the title to the real estate was to be held by Rubinstein in trust for appellee and as security for said loan; [547]*547that from August, 1941, to October 10, 1945, the date of Rubinstein’s death, appellee paid the latter Forty ($40.00) Dollars per month, and from October 10, 1945, to October, 1954, he paid said monthly payments to said decedent’s widow or to the Bremen State Bank; that pursuant to said agreement, appellee has paid the total sum of Six Thousand, One Hundred and Sixty ($6,160.00) Dollars. Wherefore, appellee demands an accounting and a deed from appellant or a court-appointed successor trustee, costs, and all further proper relief.

The issues were submitted to the court, without a jury. Finding and judgment against appellant on his complaint and for appellee on his counter-claim, except the prayer for an accounting, was duly entered by the court. Appellant attacks the decision of the court on the specified grounds that it is not sustained by sufficient evidence and is contrary to law.

A resulting trust under the Statute may arise from any one of three conditions, namely (1) Where a conveyance is taken in the name of the alienee without the consent of the party paying the purchase money; (2) Where the alienee, in violation of some trust, has purchased the land with money not his own; (3) Where, by agreement, the party to whom the conveyance was made was to hold the land in trust for the party paying the purchase money or some part thereof. Burns’ Ind. Stat., §56-608,1951 Replacement.

The records disclose no evidence to sustain either of the first two conditions. To establish a resulting trust under the third condition, the burden was on the appellee to offer clear and convincing proof thereof, and such as unequivocally and unmistakably established such trust. See Costa et al. [548]*548v. Costa et al. (1953), 124 Ind. App. 128, 133, 134, 115 N. E. 2d 516; Vonville v. Dexter (1948) (T. D. 1948), 118 Ind. App. 187, 77 N. E. 2d 259; Rickes v. Rickes (1923) (T. D. 1924) 81 Ind. App. 533, 141 N. E. 486; Koehler v. Koehler (1919) (T. D. 1921), 75 Ind. App. 510, 121 N. E. 450.

In the case of Costa et al. v. Costa et al., supra, this court stated:

“It is a well-established rule of law that to constitute a trust such as alleged by the appellants, the terms thereof must be certainly and definitely established.” (See also Bullerdick v. Miller (1926), 85 Ind. App. 369, 152 N. E. 280.

The record before us reflects that all of the material evidence introduced by the appellee to sustain the averments of his counter-claim was parol. Our court has always held that to sustain a trust relation by oral evidence, the proof thereof must be clear and distinct and that the standard of evidence for such purpose is a superior measure of proof. As stated in the Costa case, supra, and authorities cited, “The evidence must be higher in quality to substantiate the same — that is, in clearness, fullness and persuasiveness,” and, in the case of Vonville v. Dexter, supra, at page 208, it is said that, “In equitable actions of this nature the rule is that ‘While a resulting trust may be established by parol evidence: (our emphasis) It is settled by a complete unanimity of decisions that such evidence must be clear, strong, unequivocal, unmistakable, and must establish the fact of the payment by the alleged benficiary beyond a doubt.’ ”

The record clearly shows that the evidence introduced by the appellee is not of such high quality as to substantiate the averments of his counter-claim [549]*549with the clearness, fullness, and persuasiveness required by our courts. The oral testimony tends to establish no more than mere statements as to what the decedent Rubinstein was going to do or what he was thinking about doing prior to the time he contracted for the purchase of the property in question, and, prior to the time he paid the balance due on the contract and took the deed on 3/7/42, and executed a mortgage to the Bremen State Bank on 6/4/42.

A condensed recital of the evidence in the record before us is as follows:

Appellee’s first witness said that Rubinstein had told him in 1942 that “he was thinking of buying a house” for appellee and that this property was then in the process of being purchased; that in October, 1942, Rubinstein told him he had purchased “this house” and was taking the deed in his name and would pay the interest, taxes, and upkeep expenses in order to take credit for income tax purposes; that appellee was going to pay him Forty ($40.00) Dollars per month until the house was paid for.

The next witness (a brother of decedent) testified that his brother, Samuel, had said he was buying a house for appellee “to live in”; that he wanted to make appellee “happy”; saw property but once and Sam called it appellee’s house “a hundred times”; that his conversation with Sam was two or three years before 1942 and concerned “a home, but not any particular property”; that in the course of two to three years there had been a “hundred” discussions “about a home, but no particular home”; that he told Rubinstein to make it easy for Joe and the former answered, “Leave it to me, I will take care of it.”

The next witness was a business associate of decedent; that he .said beginning in 1940, Rubinstein [550]*550suggested using appellee as a plant superintendent and various conversations went on about “arranging living quarters for ‘appellee to be financed by Rubinstein’ or the wall paper company”; that the day after Rubinstein purchased the house he told the witness he had paid $4500.00 and Joe was to pay back at $40.00 per month; that he had visited the house once and Rubinstein call it “Joe’s home”; that he doesn’t know whether Rubinstein used his “own” or “corporation funds” in buying the house; that the property was first financed through a South Bend bank and then the loan was transferred to the Bremen bank.

The succeeding witness testified that he and Rubinstein drove from Chicago to South Bend when the deal for the property was made; that Rubinstein stated to him that Joe had found a home he was interested in and Rubinstein was coming down to arrange the financing and called the place “Joe’s house.” A real estate broker was the next witness and said he was acting as the agent in making sale of 722 East Pennsylvania Street; that he received $100.00 from appellee and gave a receipt of part payment.

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Related

Schwab v. Schwab
162 N.E.2d 329 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1959)

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Bluebook (online)
153 N.E.2d 505, 129 Ind. App. 544, 1958 Ind. App. LEXIS 179, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bradley-v-talarico-indctapp-1958.