Cantrell v. Republic National Life Insurance Co. of Dallas

397 S.W.2d 612, 1966 Mo. LEXIS 848
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJanuary 10, 1966
DocketNo. 51374
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 397 S.W.2d 612 (Cantrell v. Republic National Life Insurance Co. of Dallas) 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
Cantrell v. Republic National Life Insurance Co. of Dallas, 397 S.W.2d 612, 1966 Mo. LEXIS 848 (Mo. 1966).

Opinion

BARRETT, Commissioner.

The plaintiff-appellant, Annabelle Car-lisle Cantrell, was the owner of the Elms Motel at 7th Street and Range Line in Joplin. On the 28th day of April 1961, she entered into a “Contract For The Sale Of Realty” by which she sold the motel property to Charles A. and Helen E. Parrish. In [613]*613brief the terms of the sale were that the Parrishes were to pay $600 upon the signing of the contract, $11,198.84 indebtedness of the seller to four banks, her personal debts and taxes of $1133.47, all of which together with the sum to be paid on delivery of the deed was to total $85,000, and thereafter the purchasers were to pay the seller $1000 a month for 25 years. On June 28, 1961, the buyers and the seller entered into an “Amendment” to the original contract of sale which, after numerous recitals, provided that “it is the intent and purpose of Seller to release said property from all liens or encumbrances, if any, which she may hold or have thereon by reason of her former ownership,” and then there was the further recital that the Parrishes had conveyed the property to Southwest Enterprises, Inc., which was to “become a party to the original instrument.” By another part of the amended agreement the seller agreed to and accepted from the purchasers an unsecured note in the sum of $300,000 payable in monthly installments of $1000 for a period of 25 years. Thereafter, as it appears from the pleadings, Southwest Enterprises by deed of trust transferred the property to Max W. Lilley, trustee, to secure a principal indebtedness of $440,000 to the Republic National Life Insurance Company.

In these briefly narrated circumstances the appellant-seller Cantrell, on December 19, 1963, instituted this action in one count, in thirteen separately numbered paragraphs, against Republic National Life Insurance Company of Dallas, Texas, Max W. Lilley, trustee, Southwest Enterprises, Inc., and Charles A. and Helen E. Parrish. The petition set out the above noted facts but alleged that all the parties had knowledge of the terms of the original sales contract and of the fact that all the “purchase money” had not been paid and “with full knowledge that the plaintiff was looking to the land for security for such unpaid purchase money.” She alleged that out of these circumstances she had a “special vendor’s lien arising from the conveyance of this land” which the parties defendant all refused to recognize. She then alleged the existence of a controversy between the parties with respect to their rights and liabilities under the various contracts and conveyances and again asserted the substance of her several contentions as well as further pleading for the first time fraud and the invalidity of one or more of the documents involved in the transaction. In conclusion the prayer of her petition was for a declaration of rights and particularly for a finding that she had “a special vendor’s lien on the premises” to secure $290,-725. She asked for a money judgment against the Parrishes for the balance due under the original contract and finally that “the Court declare that said lien be first in priority to all other claims of the defendants herein; and that the same attach to and constitute an equitable charge upon and against said land” and that the land be sold to satisfy her claim.

In response to this petition the respondent-Parrishes filed an answer in which they admitted certain paragraphs of the petition, as to others they professed a lack of sufficient knowledge and finally in paragraph nine they pleaded in defense of the claim for a judgment of $290,725 that on January 18, 1963, “the plaintiff executed and delivered to these defendants her release for a valuable consideration by the terms of which she did release and discharge” the defendant-Parrishes.

Defendants Republic National Life Insurance Company, Max W. Lilley and Southwest Enterprises filed a motion for costs, a motion to strike certain paragraphs of the petition and a motion to dismiss plaintiff’s petition “upon the ground that said petition fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.”

In October 1964 the Parrishes, alone upon the pleadings and attached contracts and documents, moved for summary judgment under Civil Rule 74.04, V.A.M.R.

Following this motion there is next in sequence in the transcript a minute from [614]*614either the clerk’s records or the court’s minutes which “ordered and adjudged” that the motion to dismiss by Republic National Life, Lilley and Southwest Enterprises is “sustained,” and that these parties “be discharged and go hence hereof without day.” In this entry it is further ordered that the dismissal of plaintiff’s petition as to these particular defendants "shall be final and with prejudice to plaintiff unless plaintiff shall file an amended petition on or before 30 days from this date.”

On the basis of all these noted motions there was on January 20, 1965, an over-all “Judgment Entry.” It is not necessary to set that document out in full, in substance it recites that the Parrishes’ motion for a summary judgment “shall be and is hereby sustained” and that they were “entitled to have judgment rendered herein in their favor as a matter of law.” The court found the release valid and denied plaintiff’s claim for a money judgment against the Parrishes. The court also found that plaintiff Cantrell “has no lien of any kind” against the motel property.

At this stage in the proceedings the plaintiff Cantrell filed a motion for a new trial directed almost entirely to the rendition of the summary judgment. That motion was overruled but in the order disposing of it “the plaintiff is granted until on or before 10 days from February 19, 1965 to file amended petition as to defendants Republic National Life Insurance Company and Southwest Enterprises

Then on February 17, 1965, there was another “Judgment Entry” (probably an amended entry). This order again sustains the Parrishes’ motion for summary judgment and declares the rights of the parties upon the pleadings and accompanying documents and concludes by denying plaintiff’s “special vendor’s lien first in priority as to the claims” of the Parrishes.

On February 25, 1965, the plaintiff filed her notice of appeal “from the judgment entered in this action for defendants Charles A. Parrish and Helen E. Parrish against plaintiff on the 17th day of February 1965.”

The pleading is not captioned but the next matter in the transcript, which incidentally has been approved by counsel for plaintiff and for the Parrishes, is a “First Amended Petition” filed on February 26, 1965. As stated, there is no caption, but according to the allegations in the petition the parties, including Charles and Helen Parrish, are identical to the parties in the original petition, the same facts and relationships are set forth, the same documents are all attached as exhibits and in substance the allegations and prayer are the same except that this time there is a more direct charge of fraud and that consequently some of the documents were either void or constituted conditions precedent to the release of her “special vendor’s lien.” But in the end she again prays for a declaratory judgment, particularly for “a special vendor’s lien,” for a money judgment against the Parrishes and finally that her claim of a lien “first in priority” be enforced.

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Related

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514 S.W.2d 177 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1974)
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413 S.W.2d 310 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1967)

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Bluebook (online)
397 S.W.2d 612, 1966 Mo. LEXIS 848, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cantrell-v-republic-national-life-insurance-co-of-dallas-mo-1966.