Florida v. Morrison

44 Mo. App. 529, 1891 Mo. App. LEXIS 184
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 21, 1891
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 44 Mo. App. 529 (Florida v. Morrison) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Florida v. Morrison, 44 Mo. App. 529, 1891 Mo. App. LEXIS 184 (Mo. Ct. App. 1891).

Opinion

Thompson, J.

In this case the court sustained a demurrer to the plaintiff’s petition, and the plaintiff prosecutes a writ of error to this court. The petition is as follows:

“Now comes plaintiff, and, by leave of court, files this as his amended petition.
“And for his complaint says :
“That, on the fourteenth day of September, 1887, he sold to defendant the following-described real estate situated in the city- of St. Louis and state of Missouri, to-wit: Eight dwelling-houses on northwest corner of Hickory and Joab streets, and the ground on which same are situated, to-wit, lots 28, 29 and 30, in block 6, of Tony’s addition, city block 1370.
“That, as the consideration for said real estate,' defendant gave him a farm in Monroe county, Missouri, also thirty head of mules, and also his notes for the sum of thirteen hundred dollars ($1,300), secured by a deed of trust on the real estate conveyed to defendant, and also the west twenty (20) acres of the southeast fractional quarter of section 6, township 33, range 4, east of the third principal meridian, in the county of LaSalle and state of Illinois.
“That, by the terms of the agreement, the title to the real estate conveyed by plaintiff to defendant, and that conveyed by defendant to plaintiff, was to be free and clear of any incumbrances, and each was to make to the other good and sufficient general warranty deeds to the said real estate.
“That, in pursuance to said agreement, plaintiff did make to defendant a good and sufficient deed to said real estate so conveyed to him.
[532]*532‘' That defendant made to plaintiff a general warranty deed to the real estate so conveyed to him, gave him the deed of trust for thirteen hundred dollars ($1,300), and delivered tojhim the mules as agreed upon in said contract.
“Plaintiff says that he had seen and examined the farm in Monroe county, Missouri, and the thirty (30) head of mules. That a price was agreed upon as the value of said farm, and also as to the mules, and also as to the twenty (20) acres in LaSalle county, Illinois.
“That he had never seen the said LaSalle county land, nor had he examined, or had examined, the title thereof..
“But that defendant had represented the land to be valuable and of good quality, near a town, and of the value of two thousand dollars ($2,000), and that the title to same was perfect and free from any lien or incumbrances.
“ That the consideration paid for said real estate was $2,000.
“That plaintiff relied solely upon the statements made by defendant as to the quality, value and title to said real estate, of which the defendant well knew.
“That, so relying on the statements of the defendant as aforesaid, the defendant, with thapurpose and intent to cheat and defraud him, falsely and fraudulently stated and represented that he had the title to said real estate examined, and that the same had been forwarded to him by mail, but, for some reason unknown, the same had not been received by him, but he assured plaintiff that title to said real estate was perfect, and that his deed to same conveyed him a good and sufficient title thereto.
‘ ‘That plaintiff relied solely upon the statements and representations of defendant, and, believing them to be true, accepted the said deed to said land as a payment of the sum of $2,000, and a part of the consideration for [533]*533the said real estate so conveyed by plaintiff to defendant as aforesaid.
“Plaintiff further says that afterwards he had the said LaSalle county real estate examined, and found that the same was not valuable land; that it was not worth $2,000, but that the sum of $500 would be a good price for same, and that it was not worth more than $500, if the same had been free of incumbrances and the title to same had been perfect as stated by defendant.
“ Plaintiff further says that, upon an examination of the title, there were the following defects in said title :
“ A mortgage on said real estate, dated July 2,1875, for the sum of $500, which has not been satisfied; also another mortgage of $500, dated December 10, 1877; also a lease on two and one-fourth acres of said tract for the purposes of taking the coal out of said land; also the said land has been sold for taxes, and one, J. B. Johnson, has a tax title on same.
“There is also a certificate of sale under confession of judgment by H. A. Howland, who, at the time, was the owner of, or had an interest in, said real estate, in favor of J. H. Morrison, who has assigned his interest to Ann Eliza Morrison, who has a deed from the sheriff of said county, dated August 10, 1883.
“That, immediately after plaintiff had discovered that the land was of little value and that the title to same was imperfect, and of the great fraud and wrong perpetrated by the defendant, he made out in proper form a deed reconveying to defendant all the title to said real estate so conveyed to him and tendered the same to defendant and demanded of him the said sum of $2,000, which deed defendant refused to receive, and which amount he refused to pay. And plaintiff now again tenders to defendant said deed. Plaintiff further says that, as the said real estate was given by defendant to him, and accepted by him, as $2,000 as a part of the purchase money for the St. Louis real estate, and as the defendant had no title to said reál estate at the time [534]*534said conveyance was made, and as the plaintiff received nothing for the $2,000, he, therefore, asks that he may have judgment against defendant for said sum, and that he have a vendor’s lien for same against said real estate, and for such other rynd further relief as may be just and right.”

In this state the mere fact, that a sale of land has taken the form of an exchange, that is to say, that the buyer pays the purchase price in other lands, does not prevent the vendor1 from having a vendor’s lien upon the land conveyed by him. This is shown by the case of Pratt v. Clark (57 Mo. 189 ; s. c., on second appeal, 65 Mo. 157), in which the defendant conveyed to the plaintiff, in exchange for land conveyed by the plaintiff, a tract of land which was subject to an. incumbrance of $1,000, agreeing to discharge the incumbrance, which he failed to do. It was held that the plaintiff had a lien for $1,000 on the land conveyed by him to the defendant in the exchange, which would rest upon it until the removal of the incumbrance from the land conveyed to the plaintiff.

In Bradley v. Bosley, 1 Barb. Ch. 125, there was an exchange of land. The land, which the defendant conveyed to the plaintiff in the exchange, was situated in the distant state of Illinois, and the plaintiff was unacquainted with it. The defendant made false representations to the plaintiff as to its situation, quality and value, upon the face of which representations the plaintiff made the exchange.

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Related

Morgan County Coal Co. v. Halderman
163 S.W. 828 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1914)
Bishop v. Seal
87 Mo. App. 256 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1901)
Culver v. Smith
82 Mo. App. 390 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1900)
Goebel v. Troll
71 Mo. App. 123 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1897)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
44 Mo. App. 529, 1891 Mo. App. LEXIS 184, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/florida-v-morrison-moctapp-1891.