Huellmantel v. Huellmantel

57 P. 582, 124 Cal. 583, 1899 Cal. LEXIS 1038
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedJune 1, 1899
DocketS. F. No. 1609
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 57 P. 582 (Huellmantel v. Huellmantel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Huellmantel v. Huellmantel, 57 P. 582, 124 Cal. 583, 1899 Cal. LEXIS 1038 (Cal. 1899).

Opinion

CHIPMAN, C.

Divorce. The case was here on appeal once before, and was remanded, with directions that “all that part of the judgment which undertakes to determine and dispose of the real property described in the complaint is reversed, and as to all that part of the judgment the order denying a new trial is reversed and a new trial is ordered.” The decree granting plaintiff a divorce and alimony and counsel fees, and the order refusing new trial as to this part of the decree, were affirmed. (Huellmantel v. Huellmantel, 117 Cal. 407.) At the time of his marriage with plaintiff defendant Huellmantel was the owner of a certain lot of land in the city of San Francisco. Upon the front part of this lot there is a three-story building which had generally been rented to tenants, and on the rear part :of ihe lot there is a smaller house in which the husband [585]*585and wife resided. After the marriage, to wit, on April 6, 1889, plaintiff filed a homestead claim upon the whole lot. Defendants Francis and Eosalia Steffen claim ownership of the lot under deed from defendant Huellmantel dated February 14, 1891. Plaintiff alleges in the amended complaint, and the court found, that this deed was fraudulent and was given to defeat plaintiff’s homestead right. Defendant Scholten alleges in his answer that in 1816, at defendant Huellmantel’s request, he erected at a cost to him of $4,800 the building situated on the front portion of said lot, and also made other improvements aggregating in value $1,200, and also loaned defendant Huellmantel in that same year $600 in money; that on August .23, 1871, to secure the payment of these several amounts, defendant Huellmantel entered into a written agreement with said Scholten whereby the latter had an interest in said property to the extent of said sums due from said Huellmantel, and that by this agreement Scholten was entitled to receive one-half of the net income of said property until said indebtedness of said Huellmantel was paid; this agreement was recorded on January 22, 1878; Scholten claims that there is due him for rents and unpaid portions of said indebtedness and for interest the sum of $8,600. By stipulation of the parties the cause was tried upon the evidence contained in the former transcript relating to the property described in the complaint, and upon such further evidence as either party might introduce.

The decree annuls and cancels the Steffens deed and adjudges that neither one of the Steffens has any interest in the property. It also adjudges that plaintiff recover the sums following: $730 from defendant Huellmantel, the amount due under the former orders and decree of the court as alimony, “with interest thereon in the sum of fifty-three dollars,” in all, $783; “that plaintiff recover from the defendant Huellmantel .... $1,000 permanent alimony, in full of all future claims upon defendant Huellmantel for support, in lieu of her claim and right of homestead”; from defendant Huellmantel to recover the further sum of $650, counsel fees awarded under former orders, “with eighty dollars interest thereon to date o'f this decree, amounting in all to $130; from defendants Huellmantel, the Steffens, and Scholten, $118 costs allowed on the former trial, [586]*586with twenty dollars interest to date of this decree, in all, $138; from these last-named defendants $478 referee’s fees and costs in said action, including interest (not stated separately) to date of this decree”; from these same defendants all the costs in the action since the entry of the former decree in April, 1895; from defendant Huellmantel, $334, “costs incurred by her and charged against her upon the appeal of the defendants to the supreme court.”

The decree adjudges that plaintiff has a lien upon the premises for all the foregoing amounts, and that none of the defendants except Huellmantel has any interest in said premises and are entitled to no relief in the action; orders the sale of the property at public auction, and appoints a receiver to take possession of the property and collect rents and profits thereof, to conduct the sale of the property, receive the proceeds, and pay the several amounts above awarded to plaintiff.

Defendants Huellmantel, the Steffens, and Scholten appeal from the judgment and from an order denying motion for a new trial.

1. Appellants claim that the rights of the defendants, the Steffens, under their deed of February 14, 1891, were determined by the first appeal and must be deemed to be the law of the case. The court did determine upon the evidence as it then stood Avhat these rights appeared to be, but the court directed that “all that part of the judgment which undertakes to determine or dispose of the real property described in the complaint is reversed, and as to all that part of the judgment the order denying a new trial is reversed and a new trial ordered.” The effect of this decision was to remand the whole question of property rights to be retried. In the first appeal it was found that the deed to the Steffens ivas fraudulent and void, and it is again so found upon substantially the same—certainly as strong—evidence favorable to the validity of the deed. It was held here then that “the deed was not void as between appellant Huellmantel and the Steffens as to the land not a homestead.” The former decree ordered the Steffens to reconvey to appellant Huellmantel, and this was held error. The last decree does not order reconveyance, but the court found as conclusion of law that the Steffens “have no right, title, or interest in or to said [587]*587property, or any part thereof,” and the decree adjudges that the deed “he and is hereby canceled .'. . . and the said grantees therein named have not now, and shall not have or claim or take, any right .... by virtue of said deed,” and “that neither of the defendants, except the defendant Huellmantel, has any interest in said property, and they are not entitled to any relief in this action.” There is no ground for this portion of the decree, so far as it affects the Steffens. Heither appellant Huellmantel nor the Steffens object to the validity of the conveyance from the former to the latter; and we do not think the court could do more than make the interest of the Steffens subject to the lien of plaintiff’s judgment, and this much the evidence fully justifies. It was so held before, and the rights of the Steffens remain the same as between them and appellant Huellmantel.

2. The court decreed that Scholten has no interest in the property, and “that his claim is without merit, and that he has no lien on the said real estate or any part thereof.” The evidence shows that Scholten built, at the cost to him of $4,800, the front building on the premises in 1870-77, pursuant to the contract pleaded by him; and that for many years he collected one-half the rents of the building to be applied under the contract; and took oat insurance policies, loss payable to himself; that plaintiff knew of his claim before she married defendant; and that he still has a claim for an unpaid balance, which defendant Huellmantel does not dispute. Scholten took no mortgage upon or deed to the property as security, and his agreement is, -in effect, merely an evidence of Huellmantel’s indebtedness to him. It appeared by the evidence that the building erected by Scholten became part of the realty, and no right to remove it was reserved to Scholten.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
57 P. 582, 124 Cal. 583, 1899 Cal. LEXIS 1038, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/huellmantel-v-huellmantel-cal-1899.