Diehl v. Middle States Loan, Building & Construction Co.

77 S.E. 549, 72 W. Va. 74, 1913 W. Va. LEXIS 12
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 25, 1913
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 77 S.E. 549 (Diehl v. Middle States Loan, Building & Construction Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Diehl v. Middle States Loan, Building & Construction Co., 77 S.E. 549, 72 W. Va. 74, 1913 W. Va. LEXIS 12 (W. Va. 1913).

Opinions

LyNoh, Judge: .

Dying testate in 1893, Louis Diehl by will gave his wife Rosa the rents, issues and profits of all his property of which he died seized and possessed, “to have, hold and enjoy during her natural life,” and to his six children “the reversion or remainder” of all his estate.

At his death, he held and owned six notes, executed to him by his son Robert, aggregating $2600. To secure their payment Robert Diehl and wife, at the instance of the plaintiff, Alfred Diehl, and his co-legatee, in 1894 and 1895 gave three successive trust liens on lots owned by Robert. Each of these trusts describes the notes, and recites that “said notes are now owned and held by one Rosa Diehl, devisee of Louis Diehl, deceased They provide that, in ease of default in payment of the notes, the trustee shall, “at the request of said Rosa Diehl, devisee as aforesaid, or the holder thereof,” sell the property conveyed, on notice prescribed by law. But they do not explicitly indicate the person to whom payment may be made.

By releases duly signed and acknowledged by her and recorded in the proper office, Rosa Diehl undertook to release unconditionally each of these trust liens, except the one dated November 22, 1895, hereafter referred to.

By deed of February 17, 1896, Robert Diehl and his wife conveyed to S. C. Humphreys parts of the lots subject to the trust liens for $20,000, “to be paid as provided for in a deed of trust of even date herewith executed by the said S. C. Hum-phreys upon the property hereby conveyed to secure the payment of the unpaid purchase money.” The record does not show any such trust. It does, however, show one executed by Humphreys, July 14, 1896, to secure the appellant, the Middle States Loan, Building & Construction Company the repayment of a loan of $6500 upon conditions usual in such trusts. It provides that upon default in payment of the loan Williams and [76]*76Scott, the trustees therein named, should sell the lots subject to the lien. Humphreys did default, and thereupon the trustees sold the lots to the beneficiary, and by deed of December 8, 1897, conveyed the same pursuant to the sale.

By an order of the circuit court of Cabell county entered March 16, 1898, upon due notice, Rufus Switzer was substituted in the room and stead of Frank Diehl as trustee in the first and second deeds of trust heretofore mentioned as securing the Diehl notes, said Switzer also being the trustee named in the third of said deeds of trust. Subsequently, Switzer as trustee sold parts of the lots so conveyed to Albert Diehl, executor and conveyed such parts to him accordingly by deed of May 28, 1898. The trustee declined to sell the remainder of the property so encumbered, because involved in the Hum-phreys trust.

Albert Diehl, in his own right and as executor, instituted this suit, in the life-time of his mother, against her, his co-legatees, and the appellant, to cancel the releases by Rosa Diehl, the deed from Robert to Humphreys, the deed of trust by Humphreys to appellant, and the conveyance by the trustee to appellant, as clouds upon the title to the lots subject to the trusts securing the notes, and to enforce payment of the notes by a sale of the trust subject. The circuit court by its decree granted plaintiff the relief sought. This appeal followed.

Appellant demurred to the bill, assigning several grounds in support of its demurrer. The court overruled the demurrer, at which time the appellant filed its answer. The court did not err in its ruling upon the demurrer, except as to the absence of Humphreys as a party defendant. However, subsequent to the court’s ruling upon the demurrer Humphreys was made a party defendant, appearing by attorney and waiving process. The plaintiff has right and title as devisee and as executor to maintain the suit, and did not prematurely institute it. If the sole object of the bill were to remove a cloud on title, the third ground assigned upon demurrer would, under the decisions of this Court, demand serious consideration. But its purpose is not so limited. As stated, it seeks not only cancellation, but the enforcement of the trust liens by sale and the application of the [77]*77proceeds to tbe payment of the notes secured. Cancellation is but an incident to other relief sought, to obtain which the bill is maintainable.

By -its -answer, appellant relies upon various grounds of defense. It asserts that it became a purchaser for value without notice; that Bosa Diehl had authority to execute the releases; that the legatees under the will assisted in procuring the releases of the liens securing the Diehl notes; that a deed of trust by Bobert Diehl to the Iron Belt Building & Loan Association was executed and recorded prior to the trusts upon which plaintiff relies, that the money advanced by it to Humphreys was applied to the payment of such prior lien, and that thus it became entitled to subrogation to the rights of the beneficiary thereunder. These are material defenses, if established.

Was the appellant a purchaser for value without notice? It is not necessary to determine whether by its answer the appellant has sufficiently pleaded this defense. In fact, it may be safely asserted that it has not. But ignoring this defect, it can not with propriety be said that appellant is a purchaser without notice. It is a purchaser for value. But apparently the records necessary for it to examine disclose information sufficient to warrant abundant notice of infirmity in the attempt to discharge the liens created by the Bobert Diehl trusts. As noted, these trust deeds secured the payment of the notes in general terms. They do not specify any particular person secured. True, they recite that the notes are “held and owned by Bosa Diehl, devisee of Louis Diehl, deceased”, and authorize a sale of the trust subject upon her request. But the will under which she held and claimed, was likewise of record in the same office. Whether in the same office or elsewhere, the language of the trust reasonably suggested further inquiry as to the source of her authority to 'execute the releases, unless they were procured, as the answer asserts, by the joint action of the legatees under the will, of which there is no proof. The deeds of trust, read with the will, indicate with sufficient precision to a cautious con-veyancer that the authority of Bosa Diehl to execute the releases was at least doubtful. She had the usufruct of the notes during life only, the reversion and remainder being in her children as [78]*78legatees under the will. Of course, she could hold possession of the notes, receive payment of the sum due on any one or more of them, and reinvest the proceeds. She could exercise the control ordinarily appertaining to ownership of personal property, But she could do no act the resultant effect of which would be the impairment or diminution of the corpus of the estate, except perhaps that which even by prudent management results from the frailty of human judgment. Her interest was limited to the income derivable from the notes. But, by her releases, she discharged, or at least attempted to discharge, the security given for their payment.

There is authority holding that the unqualified grant of the rents, issues and profits of any species of property is in effect the grant of the corpus of the property. 40 Cyc. 1487. But the bequest here is in express terms limited to the life of the widow, with reversion and remainder to the children of the testator.

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Bluebook (online)
77 S.E. 549, 72 W. Va. 74, 1913 W. Va. LEXIS 12, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/diehl-v-middle-states-loan-building-construction-co-wva-1913.