Horton v. Koner

671 S.W.2d 235, 12 Ark. App. 38, 1984 Ark. App. LEXIS 1555
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedJune 13, 1984
DocketCA 83-303
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 671 S.W.2d 235 (Horton v. Koner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Horton v. Koner, 671 S.W.2d 235, 12 Ark. App. 38, 1984 Ark. App. LEXIS 1555 (Ark. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

Tom Glaze, Judge.

This appeal results from the chancellor’s denial of partition in an action the appellant brought against the seven appellees. The facts are undisputed. In 1972, the appellee Diana Rivers purchased a 520-acre tract in Newton County on which she established a community called Sassafras. The residents of Sassafras had a “back to the land’’ philosophy. In an attempt to return to a simpler life, the group eschewed chemical fertilizers and pesticides in their gardening, conducted their business by a “consensus democracy,” and held an antipathy toward private ownership of property. In 1978, by a consensus of women residents, Sassafras became a community of women only. When the men were requested to leave, appellee Rivers deeded forty acres to a married couple who had been residents and active participants in the community since its inception.

At about the same time the men left, on June 6, 1978, Rivers, who had sole title to the property, made a deed to the remaining 480 acres, naming herself and the six other appellees as joint tenants with rights of survivorship. Appellant was away from Sassafras at the time the deed was made. When she returned, she complained to the appellees that she had not been named on the deed, despite the fact that she had been a resident for two years, had participated actively in the community, and had halfway completed a dwelling on the property. As a consequence, in September, 1978, Rivers made a new deed naming appellant and the seven appellees as joint tenants with rights of survivorship.

In 1979, the residents of Sassafras became embroiled in a dispute over permitting a group of women they called gypsies to come into the community to live. The appellant left the community and the state as a result of the controversy. In March of 1980, apparently when appellant was gone, the appellees — described as Anglo-Saxon — deeded a 120-acre tract to two minority women, leaving the 360 acres that are the subject matter of this dispute. 1 In 1981, she commenced the partition action that is the subject of this appeal. She contended below that she was entitled to a one-eighth interest in the 360-acre tract by virtue of the warranty deed naming her as an owner. She also contended the land is not divisible in kind and asked the chancery court to order the lands sold and the proceeds divided. The chancellor heard testimony from the appellant, appellee Rivers, two other appellees, and five women who were residents of Sassafras at the time of the action below.

The intentions of the parties, the living arrangements, and the agreements they had with each other with respect to the land were undisputed. Although appellee Rivers provided all of the $40,000 purchase money for the land, she testified that she did not consider it her private property, but rather community property, purchased because, “I had money and there [were] a lot of people interested in living on land in the country, growing gardens and doing all that stuff.” The arrangement, according to all the testimony, was that Rivers and the others intended to create a “land trust,” but when they were unable to do that legally, they created the joint tenancy as an interim means of sharing power and responsibility. Their goals were to create a community for women of like ideals and to treat the land with respect. They disclaimed any notion of private ownership but contended the women named on the deed were “caretakers” of the land and representatives of the community of women who lived and worked on the land. Even the appellant, in her effort to have the land partitioned, testified that she had never considered herelf an owner of the land. Her contention was that in permitting the gypsies to come onto the land, to “trash” the land, and to ignore the principles on which Sassafras was founded, the others had abdicated their responsibility to protect the land. She now feels she is entitled to something for the time and the efforts she expended for the five years she lived in the community.

The testimony indicated that actual residence at Sassafras was not a prerequisite to one’s being named on the deed. In fact, neither the appellant nor any of the appellees lived on the land at the time of the hearing. Diana Rivers testified that she maintained a cabin there but that her primary residence was in Fayetteville.

The chancellor made lengthy findings of fact. He determined that in making the joint tenancy deed, the parties intended to protect the land and to prevent its sale. He impressed a constructive trust upon the property and found that appellant held the property in trust for the grantor, the other grantees, and the community of women who lived on the land. He ordered the appellant to convey her record interest to the appellees as joint tenants. He ordered that appellant be permitted to remove personal property from the land and to remove or to sell the dwelling she had constructed. The appellant contends on appeal that the chancellor erred in two respects: (1) in imposing a constructive trust and enforcing a parol agreement not to partition, and (2) in failing to grant appellant reimbursement for her improvements to the property.

The chancellor imposed a constructive trust after he found that the appellant was in a confidential relationship with the appellee Rivers, the other appellees, and the other members of the community. The chancellor found:

It is clear that [appellant] had gained the confidence of all these individuals and in accepting placement on such deeds purported that she would act in their best interest to preserve the community and its goals. . . . Despite the occasional problems within the community, all member[s] were committed to the goal of preserving the land and deeply trusted each other in that regard. Besides the family nature of their living arrangement fostered by the small size of the group, the members of the community were kindred spirits with a special trust between themselves regarding the basic goals of the community, especially preservation and nonconveyance of the land. . . . To allow [appellant] 1/8 of the sale proceeds of the property would constitute unjust enrichment.

On appeal, we affirm the chancellor’s findings of fact unless they are clearly erroneous or clearly against the preponderance of the evidence. Ark. R. Civ. P. 52(a). Also, we affirm if the chancellor reached the right result, even if he gave the wrong reason for his decision. Moose v. Gregory, 267 Ark. 86, 590 S.W.2d 662 (1979); Williams v. Cotten, 9 Ark. App. 304, 658 S.W.2d 421 (1983).

In the case at bar, the chancellor heard extensive testimony regarding what the parties intended when appellee Rivers made a deed naming herself, the appellant and the other appellees as owners. None of the evidence reflects the parties intended by their deed to create an express trust regarding the land in question. Rather, the chancellor utilized an equitable tool — the constructive trust — in order to prevent unjust enrichment to appellant who admittedly never considered herself an owner of the property, not even at the time of the hearing wherein she was seeking partition.

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

Related

Lucas v. Grant
962 S.W.2d 388 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 1998)
Malone v. Hines
822 S.W.2d 394 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 1992)
State v. Schaal
806 S.W.2d 659 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1991)
First National Bank of Roland v. Rush
785 S.W.2d 474 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 1990)
Ray v. Graham (In Re Graham)
111 B.R. 801 (E.D. Arkansas, 1990)
Mitchell v. Mitchell
773 S.W.2d 853 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 1989)
Lane v. Peterson
851 F.2d 193 (Eighth Circuit, 1988)
Savage v. McCain
728 S.W.2d 203 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 1987)
N.S. Garrott & Sons v. Union Planters National Bank
772 F.2d 462 (Eighth Circuit, 1985)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
671 S.W.2d 235, 12 Ark. App. 38, 1984 Ark. App. LEXIS 1555, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/horton-v-koner-arkctapp-1984.