Joerger v. Joerger

91 S.W. 918, 193 Mo. 133, 1906 Mo. LEXIS 104
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJanuary 31, 1906
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 91 S.W. 918 (Joerger v. Joerger) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Joerger v. Joerger, 91 S.W. 918, 193 Mo. 133, 1906 Mo. LEXIS 104 (Mo. 1906).

Opinion

GANTT, J.

— This is a proceeding originally brought by Anton Joerger, Edward P. Luecking and H. J. Krembs against Mrs. Christine Joerger, for the partition of two pieces of real estate, to-wit: Lots ten and eleven of the subdivision by James B. Clay of lots one to five, in block 23 of Old Orchard tract and in block 4441 of the city of St. Louis, said lots having together a front of fifty feet, on the south side of Natural Bridge road, by a depth, to an alley southwardly, of one hundred and seventy-nine feet and six inches, and bounded west by lot nine, north by Natural Bridge road, east by lot thirteen of said block, and south by said alley, conveyed to said Joerger by deed dated the 18th day of September, 1879, recorded in book 617, page 215, in the recorder’s office in the city of St. Louis; and a tract of [136]*136land situated in the county of Ste. Genevieve in the State of Missouri, all of the north half of the southwest quarter of section two, township thirty-eight, range six, east, and the north part of the south half of said southwest quarter of section two, township thirty-eight, range six, east, the last-described land containing about forty-five acres, and containing in the aggregate one hundred and twenty-five acres, more or less.

Judgment for partition and an order of sale of said land was rendered at the February term, 1903, of the circuit court of the city of St. Louis. The defendant filed her motions for new trial and in arrest of judgment, which were by the court overruled, and defendant was granted an appeal to this court.

During the pendency of this appeal in this court ■ and on the 8th day of May, 1904, Anton Joerger, the husband, departed this life testate, and by his last will and testament devised his interest in said estate to John A. Joerger, Paul Joerger, Elizabeth Joerger, Lena Benson and Christine Hammond, and suggestion of the death of the said Anton Joerger was duly made and scire facias ordered to said devisees to show cause why they should not be substituted as plaintiffs in the place and stead of said Anton Joerger, which said scire facias was duly issued and served upon the said devisees, in January and February, 1905, commanding them to appear in this court on the first day of the April term of this court for the year 1905. And no cause to the contrary having been shown, it was ordered that this cause stand revived in their names, together with the plaintiffs Luecking and Krembs.

The interest of the said Krembs results from the giving of a note by the said Anton. Joerger, on may 24, 1900, to the said Krembs, for the sum of $550, payable in one year thereafter, and the execution and delivery of a déed of trust to the plaintiff Edward P. Luecking as trustee on the undivided one-half interest of the said Anton Joerger in said real estate and lots on the Nat[137]*137ural Bridge road as above described, tbe same not having been satisfied when this action was commenced nor at tbe date of tbe judgment. Tbe answer of Mrs. Christine Joerger admitted tbe marriage of Anton Joerger and herself and her divorce from tbe plaintiff on tbe 25th of January, 1900, and that tbe description of tbe property mentioned in the. petition was correctly set forth, and then denied all tbe other ¡allegations of tbe petition. Tbe answer then set up by way of cross-bill that all tbe real estate described in tbe petition was tbe sole and separate estate of tbe defendant Christine Joerger, purchased with her own money, and that she bad expended large sums of money, $1,000, improving, repairing and maintaining tbe same, and that whatever rights tbe plaintiffs, Edward P. Luecking and H. J. Krembs, bad acquired in tbe property, they bad obtained subsequently to tbe institution of this suit and tbe filing of tbe defendant’s answer herein, and with full knowledge of defendant’s rights in tbe premises, and prayed a decree that tbe property described should be adjudged tbe sole and separate estate of tbe defendánt Christine Joerger, and in tbe event tbe same should not be found to be her separate estate, that she should have a lien on tbe said property superior to tbe plaintiffs for tbe sums expended by her for improvements and repairs and such additional relief as she might merit. Tbe reply was a general denial of tbe new matter set up in the answer.

Tbe cause was referred by consent of parties, to George F. Beck, Esq., a member of tbe bar, to be tried, who beard tbe evidence and on May 9, 1901, filed bis report therein with a transcript of tbe evidence and testimony taken before him. Tbe evidence tended to prove without contradiction that Anton Joerger and Christine Joerger, tbe defendant, were married in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1854.

Tbe plaintiff offered and read in evidence a deed from Pattie D. McCowan and B. H. McCowan, her bus-[138]*138band, of Jefferson county, Kentucky, dated September 18, 1879, to Anton Joerger and Christine Joerger, recorded September 30, 1879, in book 617, page 215, of the St. Louis recorder’s office, which was an ordinary warranty deed and conveyed the property first described in the petition, located in the city of St. Louis, on the Natural Bridge road. The habendum clause of the deed is as follows: “To have and to hold the premises aforesaid, with all and singular the rights, privileges, appurtenances, immunities and improvements thereto belonging or in anywise appertaining unto the said parties of the second part, and to the survivor of them and to the heirs and assigns of such survivor.” Plaintiff also offered and read in evidence, a deed from August Kreiger to Anton Joerger and Catherine Joerger, husband and wife, dated August 28, 1890', recorded in book 45 at page 217 of the recorder’s office of Ste. Genevieve county, on August 30, 1890, conveying the property secondly described in the said petition and situated in said Ste. Genevieve county.. This deed is also a general warranty deed and the habendum clause is as follows: “To have and to hold the same, together with all the rights, immunities, privileges and appurtenances to the same belonging, or in anywise appertaining, unto the said parties of the second part and to the survivor of them and to their heirs and assigns forever.” Plaintiff also read in evidence a deed of trust made by Anton Joerger, March 24, 1900, and duly recorded in the city of St. Louis, conveying an undivided one-half interest in the property above described on the Natural Bridge road in the city of St. Louis, to the plaintiff Edward Luecking in trust to secure to the plaintiff H. J. Krembs, the payment of a principal note for $550, one year after date, and two interest notes each for $16.50 payable in six and twelve months after date, respectively. Plaintiff admitted that H. J. Krembs knew that this partition suit was pending when he loaned the money secured by the deed of trust offered’ [139]*139in evidence. The evidence also disclosed that there were five children horn of the marriage between Anton and Christine Joerger.

The warranty deeds offered in evidence to Anton Joerger and Christine, his wife, created an estate in them by entireties, in both tracts of land sought to be partitioned in: this proceeding. By the divorce in 1900, the tenancy by entirety was destroyed, and after that date they became tenants in common in said real estate. [Russell v. Russell, 122 Mo. 235; Freeman on Cotenancy and Partition (Ed. 1874), sec. 444.]

Prima facie, then, plaintiff was entitled to a partition as prayed, and the burden rested on the defendant Mrs.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
91 S.W. 918, 193 Mo. 133, 1906 Mo. LEXIS 104, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/joerger-v-joerger-mo-1906.