Caveny v. Curtis

101 A. 853, 257 Pa. 575, 1917 Pa. LEXIS 782
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 23, 1917
DocketAppeal, No. 95
StatusPublished
Cited by39 cases

This text of 101 A. 853 (Caveny v. Curtis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Caveny v. Curtis, 101 A. 853, 257 Pa. 575, 1917 Pa. LEXIS 782 (Pa. 1917).

Opinion

Opinion by

Mb. Justice Feazee,

Plaintiff appeals from a decree of the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County dismissing a bill in equity brought to restrain a conveyance of realty made without inserting in the deed certain restrictions forbidding the use of the property for offensive purposes.

Defendants were tenants-in-common of a tract of land containing about fifty-two acres, and, desiring to sell the same, written authority was given to a real estate dealer, Maurice J. Hoover, to dispose of the property; the agreement stipulating the minimum price for which various parts of the land might be sold, and also containing the following provisions: “All land on the Mill Road to have restrictions as to cost of buildings and position of houses with reference to the road with the adjoining properties. All lands to be sold with restrictions as to offensive occupations. The sale of the minors’ interest to be approved by the Orphans’ Court.” The interest of the minors was represented by the Montgomery Trust Company, one of the defendants, their duly appointed guardian, which company, with the other parties in interest, signed the agency agreement with Hoover. On August 29, 1911, Hoover entered into an agreement of sale with plaintiff, by which he agreed to sell to the latter a part of the tract consisting of three acres “subject to the following restrictions: That at no time hereafter forever shall said premises, or any part thereof, be used or occupied for the manufacture, brewing, distilling or sale of spiritous or malt liquors, nor shall said premises or [578]*578hny part thereof or any building erected thereon at any time hereafter be used or occupied as a tavern, drinking saloon, bone boiling establishment, tannery, slaughterhouse, glue, soap, candle, starch or gunpowder manufactory, or other offensive or dangerous purposes; and that at no time hereafter forever shall more than one dwelling be erected on said premises, and that the cost of said dwelling shall not be less than five thousand dollars; also that no dwelling shall be erected nearer than forty feet to the line of Waverly Road and further that any stable or garage that may hereafter be erected shall be built on the rear of said lot and not nearer than five feet to any party line.” The agreement also contained this clause: “The sale is made subject to the approval of the Orphans’ Court.” Plaintiff testified that at the time the agreement of sale was made there was exhibited to him the agency agreement, and a typewritten paper setting out the restrictions he was told by Hoover would be incorporated in the deeds for all other lands in the tract,, and that these restrictions were practically the same as those contained in the agreement of sale. A deed to plaintiff restricting the use of the property as above indicated was prepared, and the sale duly approved by the Orphans’ Court. At the time of the settlement, November 28, 1911, plaintiff made inquiry concerning the restrictions intended to be incorporated in deeds for other properties sold out of the tract, whereupon counsel for defendant dictated the following paper: “It is hereby agreed and understood that the lands now belonging to H. Agnes Curtis and D. Foster Hewett and the Montgomery Trust Company, guardian, which adjoin the land conveyed to William E. Caveny by deed dated November 6,1911, on the northeast, southwest and northwest, shall be sold subject to the restrictions as they appear of record, in said deed, which is now lodged for record in Norristown.” . This paper was signed by H. Agnes Curtis, and W. Drayton, “Attorney for Montgomery Trust Company, Guardian,” P. Foster Hewett, the other defend[579]*579ant, was not present at the time and did not sign the agreement, nor was it signed by the husband of H. Agnes Curtis, nor by the guardian of the minor defendants, except through its attorney, Mr. Drayton.

Subsequently, on December 9, 1912, Hoover entered into an agreement for sale of seven acres of the tract to George H. Lorimer, “clear of encumbrance and easements......subject to the approval of the Orphans’ Court.” Upon the court’s approval of the sale, plaintiff filed the present bill to restrain the carrying out of the contract, alleging a violation of the agreement made with plaintiff concerning the imposing of restrictions on the entire tract. Demurrers to the bill were overruled, answers filed, and, after hearing, a decree nisi was entered restraining the conveyance to Lorimer without inserting restrictions against offensive occupations, it appearing that the tract sold was not so' situated as to be within the clause prohibiting the erection of buildings costing less than five thousand dollars. Subsequently, exceptions filed to the decree were sustained and the bill dismissed.

Defendants denied the existence of a typewritten paper showing the restrictions to be placed on other properties, which paper plaintiff testified had been exhibited to him at the time of executing his agreement to purchase a portion of the tract; the court, however, found the transaction to be as described by plaintiff, and that plaintiff at that time was shown either the original or a copy of a previous deed for part of the same tract to Charles Sinkler, which, with certain exceptions mentioned by the court, contained the restrictions subsequently inserted in plaintiff’s deed. The court also found that defendants adopted no general plan or building scheme for the improvement of the tract from which an intent to impose similar restrictions upon all parts conveyed might be inferred, hence the case must be considered solely from the standpoint of the oral and written agreements between the parties.

[580]*580We deem unnecessary a consideration of the question whether or not the act of the attorney for the guardian in signing the agreement of November 28, 1911, was within the scope of his authority or was ratified by the guardian, or whether Mrs. Curtis had power to create a restriction upon her property without the consent of her husband, because one of the tenants-in-common did not sign the agreement or authorize it to be signed for him, and, therefore, so far as the right to specific performance of the contract is concerned, the bill was properly dismissed. One tenant-in-common is without authority to bind his cotenants by an agreement concerning the use or control, or affecting the title, of the joint property: McKinley v. Peters, 111 Pa. 283. “Under ordinary circumstances neither tenant-in-common can bind the estate or person of the other by any act in relation to the common property, not previously authorized or subsequently ratified, for cotenants do not sustain the relation of principal and agent to each other, nor are they partners......A contract by one tenant-in-common in relation to the whole estate being voidable at the election of his cotenants not joining in said contract”: 38 Cyc. 101, 104. This principle is sustained by the citation of a large number of cases in various jurisdictions.

Another question for determination is the effect of the parol agreement as to restrictions on other parts of the property, which the court found, was made by Hoover, the agent, viewed in the light of the written authority of the latter, providing for “all lands to be sold with restrictions as to offensive occupations.” While this left the exact nature of the restrictions an open question, and apparently within the discretion of the agent, there can be no doubt the requirement itself is mandatory, and the verbal agreement by the agent to put restrictions in all other deeds was merely his act in following out the provisions of his written authority to sell.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
101 A. 853, 257 Pa. 575, 1917 Pa. LEXIS 782, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/caveny-v-curtis-pa-1917.