Hogeboom v. Robertson

60 N.W. 2, 41 Neb. 795, 1894 Neb. LEXIS 219
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 19, 1894
DocketNo. 5711
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 60 N.W. 2 (Hogeboom v. Robertson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hogeboom v. Robertson, 60 N.W. 2, 41 Neb. 795, 1894 Neb. LEXIS 219 (Neb. 1894).

Opinion

Harrison, J.

On the 20th day of February, A. D. 1890, the plaintiff and appellant herein filed in the district court of Douglas county the following petition:

“The.plaintiff presents this his petition against the defendants and shows to this court: That on or about the 1st day of June, 1857, the plaintiff purchased from one Louis Waldo, the pre-emptor, patentee, and owner thereof, the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 5, township 15, range 13 east of the 6th principal meridian, the same being situate in the county of Douglas and state of Nebraska; that solely as a matter of convenience the plaintiff procured the title of said land to be placed in the name of his daughter, Harriette Hogeboom; that said Harriette Hogeboom afterwards intermarried with one Theodore Robertson, and afterwards, to-wit, in the year 1875, departed this life, leaving her surviving the above named defendants as her children and sole heirs at law; that the said Harriette Hogeboom never paid any consid[796]*796eration whatever for the said premises, and during their lifetime neither she nor her husband ever assumed, exercised, or claimed any ownership, title, interest, or right in or to said premises, but always claimed and admitted that the plaintiff was the rightful owner of the same; that the entire considei'ation therefor was paid by this plaintiff, and no part thereof in any way was paid or advanced by the said Harriette Robertson, or any person on her behalf; that since the death of the said Harriette Robertson, born Hogeboom, her children and heirs at law have not, nor has either of them, assumed or exercised any ownership whatever over said land or any part thereof; that during the sixteen years after the purchase, and before the death of the said Harriette Robertson, born Plogeboom, and during the fifteen years since her death, as aforesaid, and ever since the purchase of said property, the plaintiff has had open, notorious, peaceable, undisputed, actual, and continuous possession of the said premises, and has exercised acts of ownership over the same, and has paid the taxes thereon, except that in the year 1871 the county treasurer of Douglas county sold to Wilson Reynolds said premises for the unpaid taxes, as alleged, of 18 — , and the said Wilson Reynolds thereafter, to-wit, on the 14th day of November, 1883, quitclaimed said premises to the defendants; but the plaintiff claims and avers that the said deed of said county treasurer was utterly void, worthless, and of no effect, and conveyed no title whatever to said premises and gave said Reynolds no title whatever which would be the subject of conveyance.

Wherefore the plaintiff asks for a decree of this court whereby it may be ascertained that the said defendants hold the legal title to the said property in trust for this plaintiff, and the said defendants in and by said decree may be ordered and required to convey said premises, or such portion thereof as the court shall direct, to the plaintiff by a proper deed, or that in default the sheriff be required to [797]*797make such conveyance, or that the decree stand therefor, or for such other or further order or decree, or both, as to this court shall seem meet and as good conscience and equity may require.”

To which the defendants filed an answer, in which they admitted the entry of the land described in the petition by Louis Waldo and its couveyance afterwards to Harriette Hogeboom, her marriage with Theodore Robertson, the death of their father and mother, Theodore and Harriette Robertson, during the year 1875, and the fact of the defendants being the children and heirs at law. The further matters of defense are stated as follows:

“But these defendants most expressly deny that this plaintiff was the real owner of said premises, or that it was so admitted or acknowledged at any time by their said mother, the deceased, or that she held the title in trust for plaintiff, or that plaintiff had any right, interest, or claim in or to said premises, or that plaintiff had been in peaceable and uninterrupted possession of the same, in his own right or for himself, at any time within the last ten years, or at any other time.

“ 3. But defendants allege the fact to be that shortly •after the death of their said mother, Harriette Robertson, as aforesaid, to-wit, in 1879, the plaintiff caused himself to be appointed .guardian of these defendants by the county •court of Sarpy county, Nebraska, and by virtue of such guardianship and under the powers so conferred the said plaintiff, for and in behalf of these defendants as his said wards, entered into possession of said premises as for and as the property of these defendants, and in no other way, manner, or right whatever; and these defendants therefore say that their possession has been open, exclusive, and adverse to any and all claim of plaintiff, as set forth in his petition, for more than ten years prior to the instituting of this cause of action, and that any and all right has been long since barred by the statute of limitations.

[798]*7984. These defendants confess that they are not at this time advised as to who furnished-the means for the purchase of the aforesaid lands from said Waldo; but defendants say that if it is in any way made to appear that the money was furnished by plaintiff, which for the purpose of putting him, the plaintiff, upon full proof, is hereby expressly denied. The same was so furnished and paid as a gift and advancement to their said mother, and that said gift and advancement, if so made, has been at divers times and was ratified and confirmed unto said Ilarriette Robertson and to these defendants.

“5. And for other and further answer the defendants say that plaintiff ought not to be permitted to further prosecute this action, in this: The said plaintiff, while acting for these defendants as their guardian, has, at sundry times and divers ways, represented the property to be the property of these defendants, both in court and under oath, and by virtue of which he, the said plaintiff, has obtained both order and decree of court; and more especially the said plaintiff, as guardian aforesaid, did present his petition to this court upon the 30th day of June, 1883, staling, under oath, that the land in question was the property of these defendants, that they were minors, and that it was for their interest that the same be sold; that permission was given plaintiff, as guardian, to mortgage said lands for the benefit of his said wards, these defendants, in the sum of $1,000; and that afterwards, to-wit, in October of said year, he, the plaintiff, as such guardian, caused the same to be mortgaged as the property of these defendants for the sum of $1,000, whereby the plaintiff is wholly estopped from asserting any right or interest in and to said lauds.

“6. And for other and further matters of defense these defendants allege that the said lands, for all the years since the death of their said mother up to the present time, were under improvements, susceptible of yielding large rents and [799]*799profits, and was so rented by the plaintiff as guardian of these defendants, the exact amount of which these defendants are not able to state, but the said rents, issues, and profits so obtained by plaintiff were more than sufficient to meet the expenses, burdens, and taxations imposed upon said estate, and for which plaintiff has in no manner accounted to these defendants.

“7.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
60 N.W. 2, 41 Neb. 795, 1894 Neb. LEXIS 219, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hogeboom-v-robertson-neb-1894.