Jennings v. Moon

34 N.E. 996, 135 Ind. 168, 1893 Ind. LEXIS 204
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 20, 1893
DocketNo. 16,295
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 34 N.E. 996 (Jennings v. Moon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jennings v. Moon, 34 N.E. 996, 135 Ind. 168, 1893 Ind. LEXIS 204 (Ind. 1893).

Opinion

Howard, J.

On the 1st day of January, 1884, one [170]*170Freeman, and his wife, being the owners of lot 8, in Fry’s addition to Greentown, Howard county, Indiana, conveyed, by warranty deed, to appellees, the undivided ohe-half of said lot; and, on the 23d day of February, 1884, the said .Freeman and wife conveyed, also, by warranty deed, to appellants, the remaining undivided one-half of said lot.

Prior to said sales, and while said Freeman and wife were sole owners of said lot 8, there were certain mechanics’ liens on said lot, for the payment of which Freeman and wife were liable.

After said sales to appellees and appellants, the said liens were foreclosed, appellees and appellants being made parties to the suits in foreclosure, and the said lot was sold by the sheriff in discharge of the liens. Appellants became the owners of the sheriff’s certificate of sale, and, on the expiration of the time for redemption, received from the sheriff a deed for the whole of lot 8.

This action was begun, in the court below, by the appellees, who filed their complaint to quiet their title to the undivided one-half of said lot.

To this complaint the appellants answered by a general denial.

Appellants also filed a cross-complaint in two paragraphs, in the name of Margaret E. Jennings, and also jointly in the name of both appellants.

The first paragraph of the cross-complaint is an action to quiet title in appellants to the whole of said lot 8.

The second paragraph of the cross-complaint sets up the following facts: That on the 5th day of May, 1883, and up to the 28th day of July, 1883, one George W. Price was the owner, in fee-simple, of the whole of said lot 8; that while said Price was the owner of said lot 8, and also of 4x54 feet of lot 9, adjacent thereto, Henry Hunt and William Hunt acquired a mechanic’s lien on [171]*171'all of said real estate; that on the 10th day of March, 1884, said Hunt & Hunt commenced their action in the Howard Circuit Court to foreclose said lien against said Price, Freeman and Freeman, and appellees and appellants, all of whom were duly summoned to appear to said action; that said Hunt & Hunt recovered a personal judgment against said Price, for $206.39, a foreclosure of said lien, and an order of sale of said real estate; that on January 10, 1885, said land was duly sold by the sheriff to said Hunt & Hunt, for $253.97, who received a certificate of purchase therefor; that said Hunt & Hunt duly assigned said certificate to appellant William L. Jennings, who, on January 11,1886, duly assigned the same to his co-appellant Margaret E. Jennings; that after the year for the redemption of said property so sold had expired, the said appellant Margaret E. Jennings received from the sheriff a deed for the whole of said real estate; that from the 1st day of January, 1884, up to the date of said sheriff’s sale, the appellees were the owners, in fee-simple, of the undivided one-half of said lot 8, except a ■certain room in a building on said lot 8, which belongs to the appellant Margaret E. Jennings; that appellees became the owners of said undivided one-half of lot 8 by purchase from said Freeman and Freeman; that appellants were the owners by entireties of the undivided one-half of said lot 8, and the whole of said strip 4x54 feet of lot 9, from the 23d day of February, 1884, up to the date of said sheriff’s sale; that appellants became the owners of said undivided one-half of lot 8, and of said 4x54 feet of said lot 9, also by purchase from said Freeman and Freeman, showing also the purchase of a judgment lien in like manner by the appellant Margaret E. Jennings against all of said lot 8 and said strip of lot 9. Averring that appellees are claiming title to the undivided half of lot 8, adverse to the title of said appellant, [172]*172which claim is a cloud on her title; asking that her title be quieted against appellees to the whole of said lot 8; that in default of the court giving her a decree quieting her title, she have a lien on said lot 8 for four hundred dollars, and that the undivided one-half thereof so claimed by appellees be sold to satisfy such lien, and other relief.

The cross-complaint by appellants, jointly, was similar, and need not be set out, as the same questions arise under both, and we shall refer hereafter to but one cross-complaint. A sheriff's deed to appellants, for all the land, is also shown in the joint cross-complaint.

A demurrer to the second paragraph of the cross-complaint was overruled, and an answer to the cross-complaint in general denial followed.

The cause was submitted to a jury, who returned a general verdict for the appellees, that they are the owners of the land described in the complaint, and that the appellants, nor either of them, have any lien thereon, also answering certain interrogatories.

Over a motion for a new trial, and also a motion for judgment for appellants on the answers to the interrogatories, the court entered judgment for the appellees.

The only error assigned is the overruling of the motion for a new trial.

The first reason given for a new trial is that the court refused the request of appellants to submit the issue made in the second paragraph of the cross-complaint to the court for trial.

The second paragraph of the cross-complaint sets up a state of facts upon which appellants based their claim to the land in question, and concludes with a prayer to quiet their title thereto against appellees. There is a further prayer that if the court should refuse to quiet title that a lien be declared in favor of appellants.

[173]*173We think this paragraph shows an action to quiet title simply, to give to appellants whatever title or interest they may have in the land. Such an action is triable by a jury. We must, as a general rule, look to the facts pleaded, and not to the prayer of the pleader, to determine the character of the pleading.

‘ ‘The court will look to the substantial averments of the complaint or cross-complaint, as the case may be, and from the facts so averred determine whether the action is one of equitable or common law jurisdiction,” and whether it is triable by the court or by a jury. Martin v. Martin, 118 Ind. 227; see, also, Puterbaugh v. Puterbaugh, 131 Ind. 288.

As well said by the court to the jury in this case: “Our statute providing for the quieting of title does not confine the question to one of ownership, but it embraces all claims affecting the owner’s right to enjoy his land. When one is brought into court in such an action to answer as to his interest, he must set forth all the interest he claims. The complaint challenges him to present every claim of every nature that he has against the land. It is the object of the statute to settle all claims .to the land in one action.” Green v. Glynn, 71 Ind. 336; Farrar v. Clark, 97 Ind. 447; Ragsdale v. Mitchell, 97 Ind. 458; Faught v. Faught, 98 Ind. 470; Watkins v. Winings, 102 Ind. 330; Indiana, etc., R. W. Co. v. Allen, 113 Ind. 581; Jackson v. Smith, 120 Ind. 520; Bisel v. Tucker, 121 Ind. 249; Davis v. Lennen, 125 Ind. 185.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
34 N.E. 996, 135 Ind. 168, 1893 Ind. LEXIS 204, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jennings-v-moon-ind-1893.