Cochran v. Cochran

195 P. 224, 114 Wash. 499, 1921 Wash. LEXIS 626
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 7, 1921
DocketNo. 15999
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 195 P. 224 (Cochran v. Cochran) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cochran v. Cochran, 195 P. 224, 114 Wash. 499, 1921 Wash. LEXIS 626 (Wash. 1921).

Opinions

Parker, C. J.

— The plaintiff, Morgan V. Cochran, commenced this action in the superior court for Benton county against the defendant Irwin E. Cochran, and others, seeking a decree quieting title in himself to a quarter section of land in that county.

The record brought here from the superior court indicates that the trial upon the merits proceeded as though Irwin E. Cochran was the only defendant, and resulted in a judgment decreeing title to an undivided 9/28 of the land to he in the plaintiff, and title to an undivided 19/28 of the land to he in the defendant Irwin E. Cochran, as prayed for in his affirmative answer and cross-complaint. Prom this disposition of the cause, the plaintiff has appealed to this court.

Respondent’s claim of title to the-undivided 19/28 of the land and the trial court’s judgment, are rested [500]*500upon the theory of a resulting trust arising in favor of respondent and against appellant, by reason of respondent having contributed towards and paying to the sheriff of Benton county 19/28 of the amount of the redemption money necessary to redeem the land from a sale thereof made under a judgment of the superior court of that county foreclosing a mortgage upon the land.

There seems to us to be but little, if any, room for controversy over the controlling’ facts of this case. They may be summarized as follows: In April, 1913, appellant, being then the owner of, and vested with full legal title to, the land, executed a mortgage thereon to secure an indebtedness of two thousand dollars owing by him to the mortgagees. In September, 1916, the mortgagees were awarded judgment of foreclosure of the mortgage, by the superior court for Benton county. Execution being issued directing the sale of the land to satisfy the judgment, a sale of the land was accordingly made on October 28, 1916, at which time the Connecticut Investment Company became the purchaser of the land, resulting in a certificate of sale being accordingly issued by the sheriff to that company. Respondent alleges in his cross-complaint:

. . during the year 1917 and prior to October 29,1917, the plaintiff M. V. Cochran qnd this defendant Irwin E. Cochran made every effort to either sell the above described land or to make a loan in order to redeem it from the execution sale, the plaintiff M. Y. Cochran not having the funds necessary to redeem, the plaintiff M. V. Cochran had decided to abandon the land and that prior to the 29th day of October, 1917, the plaintiff M. Y. Cochran finding he was unable to procure the funds to redeem the aforesaid land from said execution sale, he, the said plaintiff M. Y. Cochran, and his brother, Irwin E. Cochran, this defendant, agreed to and did jointly furnish the money to redeem the said land from said execution sale, which required [501]*501in the aggregate the sum of $2,900; pursuant to which agreement the said M. V. Cochran furnished $900 and this defendant furnished the sum of $1,900 of said amount necessary to redeem said land, all of which was paid to said sheriff of Benton county, by this defendant on the 29th day of October, 1917, whereupon the said sheriff delivered to this defendant a certificate of redemption to the plaintiff M. V. Cochran reinstating the legal title in the name of the plaintiff. ’ ’

We shall assume these pleaded facts to be true except as to the appellant’s decision to abandon the land, though we regard that fact as immaterial to our present inquiry. The record is wholly barren as to any information as to what understanding existed between appellant and respondent at the time of the redemption, touching the question of respondent’s acquiring any interest in the land by reason of his contributing and paying towards its redemption from the foreclosure sale; nor does the record furnish us any information touching the question of what understanding existed between them at the time of the redemption as to how or when, if at all, appellant was to reimburse respondent for the amount so advanced and paid by him in effecting the redemption. There is evidence of acts and language of respondent occurring after the redemption, strongly indicating that respondent regarded the obligation of appellant to him merely as that of a debtor, owing him the amount advanced. No claim seems to have been made to the land by anyone other than appellant, until the spring of 1919, when respondent made claim to the whole of it as part of the estate of the deceased mother of appellant and respondent, respondent being then administrator of the mother’s estate, which claim prompted appellant to soon thereafter commence this action to quiet his title to the land as against all of the mother’s heirs, including the respondent.

[502]*502We have seen that the theory of counsel for respondent is not that appellant is indebted to him, but that he is entitled to be adjudged the equitable owner of 19/28 of the land by reason of having advanced that proportion of the money which effected its redemption from the mortgage foreclosure sale. So it seems that the question here to be answered is whether or not respondent is entitled to be adjudged the owner of an undivided 19/28 of the land upon the theory that there has arisen a resulting trust in his favor against appellant, from the fact that he advanced and paid from his own money 19/28 of the amount necessary to effect the redemption of the land from the mortgage foreclosure sale.

Counsel for respondent invoke the general rule, a brief statement of which is to be found in 3 Pomeroy, Eq. Juris. (4th ed.), § 1037, as follows:

“In pursuance of the ancient equitable principle that the beneficial estate follows consideration and attaches to the party from whom the consideration comes, the doctrine is settled in England and in a great majority of the American states, that where property is purchased and the conveyance of the legal title is taken in the name of one person, A, while the purchase price is paid by another person, B, a trust at once results in favor of the party who pays the price, and the holder of the legal title becomes a trustee for him.”

In 26 R. C. L. 1227, the rule is stated in a form rather more directly applicable to the great majority of cases wherein it is invoked, as follows :

“If one person buys land with the money of another, even though there is no fiduciary relation, and takes the legal title in his own name, there is a resulting trust, and the legal title is a mere naked form, and only evidence of title in favor of the cestui que trust, because his money paid for it. And if a person having the money or means of another in Ms hands to invest [503]*503for the owner uses the same in the purchase of property in his own name, the law will hold him to be the trustee of the owner of the money or other consideration used in effecting the purchase.”

This is not a case of a purchaser paying money which is in his hands belonging to another, as the purchase price of 19/28 of the land' and taking title in himself, and thus becoming a trustee thereof for the one whose money he so paid, under the rule above noticed; but it is a case of the would-be beneficiary voluntarily paying his own money and seeking to become such beneficiary by such payment. No decision has come to our notice recognizing the creation of a resulting trust in favor of one so paying all or a part of the purchase price of land.

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Bluebook (online)
195 P. 224, 114 Wash. 499, 1921 Wash. LEXIS 626, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cochran-v-cochran-wash-1921.