Federal Land Bank v. McCraney

157 So. 248, 171 Miss. 191, 1934 Miss. LEXIS 218
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 22, 1934
DocketNo. 31382.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 157 So. 248 (Federal Land Bank v. McCraney) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Federal Land Bank v. McCraney, 157 So. 248, 171 Miss. 191, 1934 Miss. LEXIS 218 (Mich. 1934).

Opinion

Anderson, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

Appellees, the seven children of Travis McCraney and his wife, Mrs. Mamie D. McCraney, filed their bill in the chancery court of Jasper county against the appellants, the Federal Land Blank of New Orleans, Barrett Jones, trustee, and K. F. Huddleston, to establish title to, and recover possession of seven sixteenths undivided interests in one hundred forty acres of land in that county, which they claim by inheritance from their father. Appellant, the Federal Land Bank, answered the bill denying its material allegations, and embodied in its answer a demurrer raising the question of its legal sufficiency. The demurrer was overruled, and the cause tried on bill, answer, and proofs, resulting in a final decree in favor of appellees. From that decree appellants prosecute this appeal.

In 1904 Travis McCraney and his wife, Mrs. Mamie Mc-Craney purchased the land involved from W. E. Jones, and received a conveyance from him to both of them. They continued to own the land until the death of Travis McCraney, which occurred in 1911 or the early part of 1912. On the 15th of October, 1910, they executed a deed of trust on the land to W. R. Morgan, trustee, to secure a joint indebtedness they owed Abney & Travis, a mercantile firm. Default was made in the payment of this indebtedness. After such default, Travis McCraney died intestate. On July 1, 1912, this deed of trust was foreclosed by a substituted trustee and purchased by S. W. *194 Abney, a member of the firm of Abney & Travis. The purchase price paid by him was five hundred twenty dollars. The trustee made the proper conveyance to S. W. Abney, and on the next day thereafter S. W. Abney, in consideration of five hundred twenty dollars, cash paid, conveyed the land to Mrs. Mamie D. McCraney.

Appellees bas^ their case on two grounds: First, that by their mother’s purchase from Abney she did not get absolute title to the one-half undivided interest in the land owned by her husband; that• although she got the legal title it was cumbered with a trust in their favor as to seven sixteenths interests, because at the time she purchased she was a cotenant with them in the husband’s and father’s undivided one-half interest, therefore she occupied a relation of trust toward them, and under the law seven sixteenths interests in the land inured to their benefit as cotenants. Second, that the foreclosure sale was void, and therefore Abney acquired no title at such sale to' Travis McCraney’s interest in the land, and for that reason he could not and did not convey such interest to appellees’ mother; that it was void because the substitution of the trustee who conducted the foreclosure sale was void. We will consider those questions ixi the order stated.

First. Appellant Federal Land Bank contends that it was a bona fide incumbrancer of the land without notice that appellees had any rights therein; that whatever rights appellees had, if any, were not revealed in the chain of title on record. While appellees contend that there was sufficient on the record to put the bank on notice and inquiry which, if followed up, would have led to the knowledge that Mrs. McCraney did not own the absolute title to her husband’s one-half interest in the land but held seven-sixteenths of it in trust for appellees. The record of the title showed that Mrs. Mc-Craney was the wife of Travis McCraney, and therefore *195 after Ms death, his one-half interest in the land descended to her and her seven children as cotenants. Those are the principal facts appellees rely on as suggesting inquiry by appellant.

Barksdale v. Learnard, 112 Miss. 861, 73 So. 736, 737, is controlling in favor of appellants. In that case Mrs. Barksdale owned the land involved. She and her husband, H. C. Barksdale, gave a deed of trust on the land to Hearn & Company to secure their joint indebtedness of three thousand three hundred thirty-six dollars and fifty cents and advancements thereafter to be made by Hearn & Company. Mrs. Barksdale died leaving as her sole heirs her husband and her son four years old. After her death her husband executed another deed of trust to Hearn & Company on “all the interest of the party of the first part” in the land described in the former deed of trust. Later the deed of trust executed by Barks-dale and his wife to Hearn & Company was foreclosed, and the land bought in by Barksdale for the sum of four thousand nine hundred fifty dollars. The deed executed by the trustee to him acknowledged payment of that sum, but the evidence showed that no money was in fact paid by Barksdale, that the. amount of his bid was credited by Hearn & Company on his and his wife’s notes. Barksdale then executed a new note payable to Hearn & Company for the sum of five thousand five hundred dollars, and gave a deed of trust on the land involved to secure the same. Then he executed still another deed of trust to correct an error in the one last abové referred to. It is true that in none of these' deeds of trust was the fact directly revealed that H. C. Barks-dale was the husband of Mrs. Barksdale, but in the last two deeds of trust executed by him to Hearn & Company after the’ death of his wife, he was described as “widower.” The son of Mr. and Mrs. Barksdale brought suit for the land against Learnard and others, who *196 claimed title through Barksdale’s purchase at the foreclosure sale. The son' claimed that on account of his father and himself being .-ootenants in the land, his father by the purchase took the title in trust as to his one-half interest. On the other hand, Learnard and others contended that they were bona fide purchasers of the land for value without notice of any such equity. The first purchaser from Barksdale after he purchased at the foreclosure sale was one Herron; Learnard and others were subsequent vendees. The court held that Herron acquired perfect title to the land through his purchase from Barksdale, which title was transmitted to the subsequent vendees. The court recognized the doctrine that where a cotenant purchases an outstanding superior title to the common property he acquires thereby the legal title to the whole, of it, but holds such title in trust for the benefit of those of his cotenants who may wish to avail themselves of it by contributing or offering to contribute their proportion of the purchase money; however, the court held that such doctrine had no application in that case, because Herron, by the purchase from Barksdale, acquired the legal title to the land, and since he was without notice, actual or constructive, that it was held by Barksdale in trust for the benefit of-young Barksdale, he acquired it discharged of the trust. Citing, Clark v. Rainey, 72 Miss. 151, 16 So. 499; Atkinson v. Greaves, 70 Miss. 42, 11 So. 688; Conn v. Boutwell, 101 Miss. 353, 58 So. 105; 1 Perry on Trusts (6 Ed.), sec. 218.

In the Barksdale Case the cotenant bought at the foreclosure sale, while in this case Abney bought at the foreclosure sale. He occupied no such relation. It is true that the purchase price paid by Abney at the foreclosure sale was five hundred twenty dollars, and on the next day thereafter he sold and conveyed the land to Mrs. McCraney for exactly the same price. In the Barksdale *197

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Bluebook (online)
157 So. 248, 171 Miss. 191, 1934 Miss. LEXIS 218, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/federal-land-bank-v-mccraney-miss-1934.