Cunningham v. Love

150 S.W.2d 217, 202 Ark. 375, 1941 Ark. LEXIS 159
Supreme Court of Arkansas·Decided April 28, 1941·No. 4-6333·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

Humphreys, J.

Mrs. M. J. Cunningham, who owned lot 2 in block 20 in Mooses’ Addition to the town of Morrilton, Arkansas, on the 23rd day of February, 1937, executed a warranty deed to said property and acknowledged same in accordance with the statutes of the state and delivered same to Mrs. Bertha Love, the appellee, for and in consideration of the assumption by Mrs. Bertha Love of the debt due the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation in the approximate sum of. $875 and also the assumption of all taxes,-improvement district, state and county now past due, and as a further consideration, that said Mrs. M. J. Cunningham was to have the sole use and enjoyment of the property during her natural life, and have complete control of the property as her own home, during her natural life.

This deed was recorded in Record Book 45, p. 540, in Conway county, on the 25th day of February, 1937.

On March 1, 1940, Mrs. M. J. Cunningham brought suit in the chancery court of Conway county, Arkansas, to cancel the deed on two grounds; first, because the consideration purported to have been paid for said lands was so small as to raise the presumption of fraud, and, second, that through mutual mistake, or mistake of the scrivener of said deed, or through fraud and connivance on appellee’s part, Mrs. M. J. Cunningham was induced to sign the deed without a meeting of minds between herself and appellee.

She alleged in the complaint that she entered into a contract to the effect that appellee was to pay the HOLC loan or mortgage and all delinquent taxes against the property including the state, county and improvement district taxes and to support her as long as she lives and leave her in possession of her property during her life and that when she died the property should be sold and appellee reimbursed for her expenditures out of the proceeds of the sale thereof and that the remainder should be paid to the local Presbyterian church.

On March 14, 1940, appellee filed an answer denying’ all the material allegations in the complaint.

On April 17, 1940, Mrs. Mayme Montgomery McDaniel filed an intervention that she nursed Mrs. Cunningham for a period 'of forty-six weeks under an agreement with her that she would pay her $10 a week for her services out of the proceeds of the sale of her home when same should be sold and that under said agreement she was entitled to $460 for services she rendered Mrs. M. J. Cunningham pursuant to the agreement and alleged that the conveyance by Mrs. M. J. Cunningham to appellee was a fraud upon her rights as a creditor.

Appellee filed an answer denying the right of the intervener to any interest in said real estate or that she had any lien upon said real estate for the payment of the services which she rendered Mrs. M. J. Cunningham.

Mrs. M. J. Cunningham died on or about the 21st day of March, 1940, and the cause was revived in the name of George Leslie Cunningham and James Cunningham, grandchildren and the only heirs-at-law of Mrs. M. J. Cunningham.

On the 16th day of August, 1940, the cause was submitted to the court upon the pleadings and the testimony pro and con responsive to the issues involved who rendered a decree dismissing appellants’ complaint including the intervention of -Mrs. McDaniel for the want of equity, from which is this appeal.

(1) We have read the testimony very carefully and find no evidence which would warrant the cancellation of the deed on the ground of inadequacy of consideration. The evidence reflects, without dispute, that appellee has paid upon the HOLC mortgage and the state, county and improvement taxes $1,472.77 in actual cash and still owes a balance to the HOLC in the sum of $653.76 principal drawing a monthly interest of $2.43. In other words that-the total amount paid and to be paid on the property is $2,126.53. There is much testimony in the record as to the value of the property now and at the time Mrs. M. J. Cunningham conveyed it to the appellee. At one time the property was very valuable, worth perhaps over $10,000, but it is an old home, built many years ago and we think the weight of the evidence clearly shows That a fee simple unincumbered title to the property could not have been sold for more than about $2,500 when the deed was executed. This did not take into account the fact that Mrs. M. J. Cunningham reserved in the deed a life estate with full control. The undisputed evidence is that at the time she made the deed she had an expectancy of about ten years.

While various witnesses put various values upon the property both at the time the deed was executed and at the time they were testifying a very potent circumstance appears in the record that convinces us the property was not worth perhaps over $2,500 at the time the deed was executed. The potent fact referred to was that the Dowdle home on the other corner of the block, which was a larger and better house and with much vacant property around it, sold in 1938 for $2,500 and the owner thereof paid a commission upon the sale out of that amount.

This court said in the ease of McDonald v. Smith, 95 Ark. 523, 130 S. W. 515, that: “The rule is well settled that before inadequacy of price will be considered a sufficient ground for cancelling a conveyance it must be ‘so gross that it shocks the conscience.’ 2 Pomeroy, Eq. Jur., § 927; 6 Cye. 286; Storthz v. Arnold, 74 Ark. 68, 84 S. W. 1036.” There is no such inadequacy of consideration in the instant case that would shock anyone’s conscience.

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Cunningham v. Love, 150 S.W.2d 217, 202 Ark. 375, 1941 Ark. LEXIS 159 (Ark. 1941).

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