Carl v. Detoffol

25 N.W.2d 479, 223 Minn. 24, 1946 Minn. LEXIS 580
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedDecember 20, 1946
DocketNo. 34,217.
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 25 N.W.2d 479 (Carl v. Detoffol) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carl v. Detoffol, 25 N.W.2d 479, 223 Minn. 24, 1946 Minn. LEXIS 580 (Mich. 1946).

Opinion

Peterson, Justice.

This appeal is from the judgment cancelling a certificate of registration of title issued to the defendants DeToffol and directing the issuance of a new certificate of registration of title to petitioner, Helen Carl, as the owner of the real estate in question.

Aside from some procedural questions relating to claims by appellants that they were entitled to a jury trial, that the case was not properly at issue, and that they were entitled to a new trial upon the ground of newly discovered evidence, the principal and only substantive question is whether the district court has jurisdiction to order the cancellation of a certificate of title to land. *26 under the land title registration system held by one who did not purchase in good faith and for value, where the holder of the certificate is the grantee of the grantee of one who acquired title under a judgment as modified which we reversed with directions to reinstate the original judgment decreeing the title to be in the party from whom it was taken by the modification thereof, and to order the issuance of a new certificate of title to the person in whom it was decreed by the original judgment.

The real estate involved is a house and lot in Gary, which petitioner, Helen Carl, and her former husband, Joseph Anich, owned as joint tenants and occupied as their homestead. She obtained a divorce. The judgment in the divorce casé decreed that the real estate be restored to her as her separate property and not as an allowance in the nature of alimony. In April 1943, the district court, upon Joseph Anich’s application, modified the judgment so as to adjudge that he was the owner of the property. On September 22, 1943, an- appeal was taken to this court from the judgment as modified. We reversed with directions “to reinstate the judgment decreeing plaintiff [Helen Anich, now Helen Carl] to be the owner of the premises.” Anich v. Anich, 217 Minn. 259, 263, 14 N. W. (2d) 289, 291. Upon remittitur, the judgment as modified was amended so as to conform to the directions of this court.

After the judgment was modified so as to adjudge that Joseph Anich was the owner of the property and before the appeal from the judgment as modified was taken, Joseph Anich, in an ex parte proceeding, of which Helen Carl had neither notice nor knowledge, obtained an order of the district court directing the registrar of titles to issue to him an owner’s certificate of title without the surrender of the owner’s duplicate of title held by her. Almost immediately after obtaining an owner’s certificate of title, Anich conveyed to the appellants Pietro Chenet and Josephine Chenet, his wife, as joint tenants. An owner’s certificate of title was issued to them. The Chenets demanded possession of the premises of Helen Carl, who occupied them at the time, and upon her refusal to surrender possession they recovered possession of the same in *27 unlawful detainer proceedings instituted in the municipal court of Duluth. On the day after the notice of appeal was served and while the appeal was pending, the Chenets conveyed to Bruno DeToffol (their nephew) and Elizabeth DeToffol, his wife, as joint tenants. An owner’s certificate of title was issued to them.

Subsequent to our decision restoring to Helen Carl the real estate in question, she commenced this proceeding to cancel the owner’s certificate of title held by the DeToffols and upon the cancellation thereof to have an owner’s certificate of title issued to her. The Chenets and DeToffols appeared specially and objected to the jurisdiction of the court “to grant any relief on the petition as signed.” The court overruled the objection and proceeded with the trial. The trial court found all the facts stated, and, in addition, that the Chenets and the DeToffols had actual knowledge of petitioner’s occupancy of the premises, of her claim of ownership thereof, and that the transfers of title in question from Joseph Anich to the Chenets and from the Chenets to the DeToffols were made with the intention of depriving Helen Carl “of her title” thereto and not in good faith and for a valuable consideration. As a conclusion of law, it ordered cancellation of the owner’s certificate of title held by the DeToffols and the issuance of a new one to Helen Carl. Separate motions for a new trial upon the ground, among others, of newly discovered evidence were made by the DeToffols and the Chenets, and denied. Thereafter judgment was entered in accordance with the trial court’s conclusions. The Chenets and DeToffols appeal from the judgment.

In this court, appellants in their main brief assign as error: (1) The trial court had no jurisdiction of the proceeding; and (2) it erred in denying the motion for a new trial upon the ground of newly discovered evidence. After respondent in her brief challenged the sufficiency both of the proceedings on appeal and of the assignments of error, appellants in their reply brief made three additional assignments of error, as follows: (1) They were deprived of the right to a jury trial, which they claim they were entitled to upon the ground that the proceeding was one for the trial of title *28 to real estate; (2) they were deprived by the trial without a jury of the right to a jury trial secured to them under U. S. Const. Amend. VII; and (8) the trial court erred in denying their motion to dismiss for the reason that “no issue had been properly formed” among the parties.

No claim is made that the modification of the divorce judgment was void as being without the jurisdiction of the court (see, Anich v. Anich, 217 Minn. 263, 14 N. W. [2d] 291, supra, and Warner v. Warner, 219 Minn. 59, 17 N. W. [2d] 58), or that the judgment of the municipal court for restitution of possession of the premises to the Chenets adjudicated any of the rights of the parties with respect to title. The sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the findings is not challenged by any assignment of error.

The findings of fact that the Chenets and the DeToffols were not purchasers in good faith and for value will be considered, for lack of assignments of error challenging the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the findings, to be true. An assignment of error is necessary to raise the question whether a finding is sustained by the evidence. Bladine v. Bladine, 158 Minn. 296, 197 N. W. 261; 1 Dunnell, Dig. & Supp. § 361.

The district court had jurisdiction to order the cancellation of the certificate of title held by the DeToffols and the issuance of a new one to Helen Carl as the rightful owner. Under § 508.71, 4 the district court has jurisdiction, where the title of a holder of a certificate of title has “terminated and ceased,” to order the can- *29 ceUation of the certificate of title and the issuance of a new one to the rightful owner; but in exercising such jurisdiction it should do nothing that would “impair the title or other interest of a purchaser who holds a certificate for value and in good faith.” Not only § 508.71, but the land title registration act 5 as a whole, evinces an intention to limit the protection afforded by certificates of title to purchasers in good faith and for value.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
25 N.W.2d 479, 223 Minn. 24, 1946 Minn. LEXIS 580, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carl-v-detoffol-minn-1946.