Gammel v. Enochs

1960 OK 162, 353 P.2d 1106, 1960 Okla. LEXIS 412
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJuly 6, 1960
Docket38814
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 1960 OK 162 (Gammel v. Enochs) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gammel v. Enochs, 1960 OK 162, 353 P.2d 1106, 1960 Okla. LEXIS 412 (Okla. 1960).

Opinion

BERRY, Justice.

The defendant in error, W. L. (Will) Enochs, an incompetent, acting through his guardian and wife, Florence Enochs, instituted this action on March 21, 1958, against plaintiff in error, W. E. Gammel, as the administrator of the estate of Samuel (Sam) Enochs, deceased, hereafter referred to as “administrator”. Sam Enochs and Will Enochs were brothers. The Enochs will be referred to herein by their first names.

In his amended petition upon which the case was tried to the court, Will alleged in substance that he was an incompetent; that the action was prosecuted on his behalf by Florence as his guardian; that W. E. Gammel was the administrator of the estate of Samuel who died October 10, 1957; that on March 4, 1957, Will owned two tracts of real estate which will be referred to herein as “city property” and “acreage”; that on said date Will and Florence, by separate warranty deeds, conveyed the property to Sam; that “notwithstanding the recitations of consideration paid and received, contained in said deeds, the said Samuel did not in truth and fact pay any consideration for said real estate at the time the same was conveyed to him as aforesaid, or at any other time; that at all times from the date of the deeds, March 4, 1957, until he was placed under guardianship on the 26th day of August, 1957, said (Will) was in full possession and enjoyment of all of the beneficial rights in said land; renting, managing and controlling the same, and receiving the rents and profits therefrom; that said Samuel well knew that no beneficial interest in said real estate was conveyed or intended to be conveyed to him, but that he was holding the legal title to said real estate for said (Will). Plaintiff states further in this connection that Samuel acquired and held the title to said real estate only as trustee for said (Will).; that said (Will) conveyed the legal title to said real estate to said (Sam) by deed, as aforesaid, for the sole purpose of enabling said (Will) to hold, trade or sell *1108 said real estate in (Sam’s) name, without him, (Will) appearing of record to he the owner thereof.”; that subsequent to August 26, 1957, Sam, and subsequently his administrator, took possession of the real estate so deeded to Sam and collected rents in the aggregate amount of approximately $715; that Sam removed abstracts covering the referred-to property and another piece of property from Will’s safe deposit box, which abstracts were of the approximate value of $555; that a claim was filed with Sam’s administrator covering the claims and demands upon which Will’s action was based. Will prayed that he be declared to be the owner of the city property and acreage; that Sam be declared to have acquired said property as Will’s trustee; that Sam’s administrator be required to convey “legal title” to Will and to deliver possession thereof to Will; that an accounting be had as to rentals and profits, etc.

A photostat copy of each of the referred-to deeds from Will and Florence to Sam was attached to and made a part of the amended petition. The deeds were executed February 4 and February 5, 1957. In each deed it is stated that the consideration for the deed was “Ten Dollars and other valuable consideration”. The deeds purport to convey an absolute and unconditioned fee simple to the property described therein. In each deed it is stated that grantor “warrant title to the” real estate described therein.

Administrator filed a demurrer to Will’s amended petition. In his answer administrator renewed his demurrer and for answer denied the allegations of said amended petition. The record fails to show that either demurrer was considered by the court.

Following trial of the case, judgment .was entered in Will’s favor against administrator. From order denying administrator’s motion for new trial, this appeal was perfected.

After counsel for Will had begun examination of the first witness, called in Will’s behalf, counsel for administrator objected to the introduction of evidence on the grounds that the amended petition failed to state a cause of action, which objection was overruled and the administrator excepted. At .the conclusion of Will’s case in chief, administrator demurred to Will’s evidence. The court reserved ruling on the demurrer until after each party had rested. At the conclusion of the trial administrator’s demurrer was overruled, to which ruling he excepted.

Administrator first contends that the trial court erred in overruling his demurrers to the amended petition and objected to the introduction of evidence on Will’s part. Administrator’s contention is that “there were no allegations of duress, mistake or fraud, and their failure to plead that it was not the intention of the grantor to convey the property as a gift, and that it was the intentions of the party at the time of conveyance that the property should be re-conveyed upon demand.”

As we understand administrator’s argument, he contends that in view of the fact that a valuable consideration was recited in each warranty deed in controversy and the further fact that each deed purports to convey an absolute and unconditional fee simple title, Will could only state a cause of action by pleading either fraud or mistake in the making or delivery of the deeds or an express oral agreement on the part of Sam to hold the property in trust. See 89 C.J.S. Trusts, § 105, p. 956, where the rule relied upon by administrator is stated.

In Bobier et ux. v. Horn, 95 Okl. 8, 222 P. 238, 241, it is stated that the contention was made that parol evidence was not admissible to show that the deed was not in fact an absolute conveyance, but only a conveyance in trust. In rejecting said contention it was pointed out that in J. I. Case Threshing Machine Co. v. Walton Trust Co., 39 Okl. 748, 136 P. 769, 771, it was said that “Although the deed executed by the bank to Edmonds purported on its face to be a warranty deed, conveying the absolute title, yet hay- *1109 ⅛g been made wholly without considera.tion by a corporation to one of its officers, for the corporation’s benefit, while no writings were entered into declaratory of the terms and conditions and the purposes for which the conveyance was made, it is clear that it was not intended by the deed to ■convey to the grantee the absolute title or to vest in him a beneficial interest in said lands, but instead to convey only the naked legal title. * * * Resulting trusts not being embraced within the statute of frauds, their existence need not be evidenced by any writing, and may therefore be established by parol evidence.”

In the case last above cited, it is stated at page 770 of 136 P. that the deed there involved was “a warranty deed, reciting a ■cash consideration.”

In Payne v. Allen, 178 Okl. 328, 62 P.2d 1227, this is said in the first paragraph of the syllabus:

“A warranty deed may be shown to be without a consideration and to have been intended by the parties to convey to the grantee, only the naked legal title as trustee for the grantor.”

Our research has lead us to the conclusion that this Court has never departed from the rule laid down in the cited case.

The fact that there was no express agreement on Sam’s part to recon-vey the property in controversy is without significance. In the fifth paragraph of the syllabus to Bobier et ux v. Horn, supra, this is said:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Fleet National Bank v. Valente (In Re Valente)
360 F.3d 256 (First Circuit, 2004)
Catron v. First National Bank & Trust Co. of Tulsa
1967 OK 107 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1967)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1960 OK 162, 353 P.2d 1106, 1960 Okla. LEXIS 412, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gammel-v-enochs-okla-1960.