Klingstein v. Vaughan

140 S.E. 275, 149 Va. 147, 1927 Va. LEXIS 182
CourtSupreme Court of Virginia
DecidedNovember 17, 1927
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 140 S.E. 275 (Klingstein v. Vaughan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Klingstein v. Vaughan, 140 S.E. 275, 149 Va. 147, 1927 Va. LEXIS 182 (Va. 1927).

Opinion

West, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

B. E. Vaughan, trustee, plaintiff, recovered against E. L. Klingstein, defendant, a judgment for $1,600, which is now before us for review.

On November 22, 1923, Leo G. Sheridan, a defaulting cashier of the First National Bank of Lexington, Lexington, Virginia, executed a deed of trust conveying all of his personal property to B. E. Vaughan, trustee, to secure the payment of the amount he owed the bank. Among the specific property conveyed was “one Studebaker coupe, now in the possession of said Sheridan, in the town of Lexington.” The deed also conveyed “all of the tangible personal property of every kind and description belonging to the said Sheridan, whether in the town of Lexington, or county of Rockbridge, Virginia.”

This deed was duly recorded in the clerk’s office of Rockbridge county on November 24, 1923.

The Studebaker coupe, described in the deed, is referred to in the record as a Studebaker coach, or coupe, and was purchased by Sheridan from C. E. Straub & Sons, of Lexington, about five weeks before he executed the deed of trust. Sheridan had been using this car for more than a month and rode down to the bank in it on November 22, 1923, and it was parked in front of the bank while the trust deed was being prepared and executed.

[150]*150According to the uncontradicted testimony of C. E. Straub, of C. E. Straub & Sons, the terms of the contract between his firm and Sheridan were these: Straub & Sons agreed to sell Sheridan the Studebaker coupe for $2,750, to be paid in cash, trade and notes as follows: Sheridan was to have the Studebaker coupe, which he already owned, painted and turn it in at $950; turn in his Ford coupe at $150; and pay one-third of the balance in cash and give his two notes, payable in sixty and ninety days, respectively, each for one-third of such balance. Sheridan paid $827 in cash on the purchase price and delivered the Ford coupe to Straub & Sons, and they delivered the new car to him. Sheridan did not refuse to give the notes for the deferred payments, but told them to see him later. The old Studebaker coupe was at the Sheridan Transfer Company’s garage in Lexington, but he did not have it painted, nor deliver it to Straub & Sons on the purchase price of the new car. The new Studebaker coupe was sometimes stored at the Rockbridge garage, but usually it was kept at night at Straub & Sons’ garage, and it was there when Sheridan was taken into custody by the Federal authorities and convicted and sent to the penitentiary at Atlanta.

Straub & Sons claim that there was never a completed sale of the new Studebaker coupe to Sheridan and that the title to it was at all times vested in them, and on January 24, 1924, they sold the car to the defendant, E. L. Klingstein for $1,600.

At the time he purchased the car, Klingstein had both actual and constructive notice that B. E. Vaughan, trustee, claimed the legal title to the car under the deed of trust of November 22, 1923.

Klingstein refused to surrender the possession of the car, and in January, 1927, B. E. Vaughan, trustee, [151]*151brought action, against him for its value and recovered the judgment for $1,600 here complained of.

Klingstein, plaintiff in error, called defendant, makes three assignments of error: The action of the court, (1) in refusing to give two instructions offered by the defendant, (2) in giving the instructions tendered by the plaintiff, and (3) in refusing to set aside the verdict of the jury as contrary to the law and the evidence and grant the defendant a new trial, and in giving the jury improper instructions on its own motion.

Defendant’s instructions refused:

(a). “The jury -are instructed that even though they should believe from the evidence that Leo G. Sheridan owned two Studebaker coupes on the day that he made his assignment, November 22, 1923, and that he gave a deed of trust over one of them, that the description of the Studebaker coupe covered by said deed of trust must be sufficient to identify it as the one covered by the deed of trust.”

(b). “The jury are instructed that if they believe from the evidence that the contract of sale between Straub and Son and Leo G. Sheridan for the sale of the new Studebaker coach or coupe was not closed, and that the title to said car did not pass to Sheridan, then they must find for the defendant.”

Plaintiff’s instructions granted:

1. “If the jury believe from the evidence that Straub and Son agreed to sell the car in question to Sheridan at $2,775, to be paid with one second hand Ford and one second hand Studebaker automobile, at a valuation of $150 and $950, respectively, and $827 in cash, and Sheridan’s notes for the balance; that Sheridan paid the $825 and delivered the Ford, but did not deliver the Studebaker or his notes; that Straub and Son delivered the car to Sheridan on condition that he would settle [152]*152the balance of the purchase money as above stated; that while Sheridan was in possession of the car he included it in his deed of assignment to Vaughan, trustee; that afterwards Straub and Son sold the car to Klingstein at $1,600, and that before Klingstein paid his purchase price he had notice that Vaughan, trustee, or the First National Bank of Lexington claimed the car, then the jury should find for the plaintiff.”

2. “If the jury believe from the evidence that Straub & Sons, in selling the car in question to Sheridan, retained title to the car, but did so in order to secure the remaining purchase price, namely, the delivery to them of the second hand Studebaker coupe, repainted, and Sheridan’s two notes for the money balance, and that no written agreement to that effect was made with and signed by Sheridan, then the court instructs the jury that such retention of title was void as to Vaughan, trustee, and he took title to the car free of any claim of Straub and Son.”

3. “The court instructs the jury that in November, 1923, it was not necessary for a dealer to give the purchaser a bill of sale when a car was sold by him, and even if such purchaser failed to register his automobile with the State authorities, that fact did not affect the title.”

The following instruction was given by the court on its own motion:

“The court instructs the jury that under the evidence and the law in this case the deed of trust of November 22, 1923, executed by Sheridan to Vaughan, trustee, must be construed as embracing the Studebaker coupe sold to Klingstein and at the time of the sale of said automobile to Klingstein by Straub & Sons, they, Straub & Sons, had no title or interest in it, and Klingstein now has no title or interest in it.”

[153]*153In Hardaway v. Jones, 100 Va. 481, 483-4, 41 S. E. 957, 958, this is said: “It seems to be equally well settled that' it is not necessary, in fact in many eases it is impossible, to so describe the property that it can be identified-by the words or names used in the deed by its mere inspection, without the aid of extrinsic evidence. It is, therefore, permissible, and in most cases necessary, to resort to parol evidence to identify the property mentioned in the deed, even where it has been minutely described.”

In Elgin v. DeHart, 144 Va. 318, 132 S. E. 325, the court quoting with approval from Williamson v. Payne, 103 Va. 555, 49 S. E.

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Bluebook (online)
140 S.E. 275, 149 Va. 147, 1927 Va. LEXIS 182, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/klingstein-v-vaughan-va-1927.