Lindsay v. Britt

1929 OK 330, 280 P. 609, 138 Okla. 163, 1929 Okla. LEXIS 512
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedSeptember 17, 1929
Docket18522
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 1929 OK 330 (Lindsay v. Britt) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lindsay v. Britt, 1929 OK 330, 280 P. 609, 138 Okla. 163, 1929 Okla. LEXIS 512 (Okla. 1929).

Opinion

LEACH, C.

This action was commenced in the district court of Cleveland county by Sarah H. Lindsay, the mother of William H. Lindsay, deceased, and administratrix of his estate, against W. A. Britt, to enforce an, alleged trust and recover legal title to a cemetery lot. In the year 1924, William H. Lindsay was in poor health which affected both his body and mind; while he and his wife, Hattie Britt Lindsay, were residing with the parents of the latter at the home of the defendant, William A. Britt, the wife became sick and died in the latter part of said year and was buried in the northwest corner of the cemetery lot here involved. On the death of the wife, her father, the defendant, acting through 'his son and another party, selected and apparently bargained for the lot involved in this action, which is a plot of ground 20 feet square, sufficient on which to bury eight persons, and a deed was issued and delivered to defendant therefor.

A statement of the cost of such lot, $75, was included 'by the undertaker in his bill and statement of cost «E the funeral of the deceased wife, and the bill was paid by cheek signed by William H. Lindsay and satisfied out of funds belonging to him and derived from the proceeds of a life insurance policy on the life of his said deceased wife. It was alleged and testified to by defendant that he purchased the lot in question as a family burial plot and intended to personally pay for the same and did offer and tender pay therefor; that subsequent to the death of his wife the said William H. Lindsay was committed to the hospital for insane where he died in January, 1926, without issue, and was buried beside his wife; thereafter this action was instituted, and-upon a trial of the issue, a judgment was *164 entered by the court vesting the title to the northwest quarter of the lot in question in the estates of Hattie B. Lindsay and William H. Lindsay, deceased, jointly, and it was further decreed that the parties to the action, or either of them, should have the right to construct on the northwest quarter of the lot such suitable monument as to them seemed appropriate, and ■ in the event they were unable to agree upon a single monument, then each might erect a monument at the grave of their respective children, and they were empowered to plant and maintain such shrubbery and flowers to the memory of their respective children as to them should seem suitable and appropriate, without hindrance from the other, from which judgment the plaintiff brings this appeal, and, as ground for reversal, alleges and contends that the judgment is contrary to the law and the evidence; that the undisputed facts are sufficient to establish a resulting or constructive trust to the entire lot in the defendant, and that he should he adjudged to hold title thereto for the estate of William H. Lindsay, and directed to convey the same accordingly.

Quoting from plaintiff’s brief, it is therein said:

“Plaintiff has no intention or desire to in anyway exclude the defendant or the other relatives of Hattie Britt Lindsay from their proper attention to the last resting place of Hattie Britt Lindsay. She does not ask for the property for herself, but only desires that the entire title to the lot in question he vested in the estate of William H. Lindsay, and that. no other person be buried upon this lot, the burial place of the family of William H. Lindsay; that it be dedicated solely and exclusively as the last resting place of these two people.”

Defendant testified:

“I have no desire whatever and have no intent to interfere with their doing anything they want done in the way of flowers and anything of that sort that they want to put on there. I just simply want the title to the lot so that I can use it for my own family. That is what I bought it for.”

From the statements of the parties litigant, it would appear that the principal matter here in dispute between them is the title to three-fourths of the lot in question.

Pomeroy’s Equity Jurisprudence (4th Ed.), section 155, in speaking of trusts, such as is here sought to be established, says:

“The second great division of trusts and the one which in this country especially affords the widest field for the jurisdiction of equity in granting its special remedies so superior to mere recoveries of damáges, embraces those which arise by operation of law from the deeds, wills, acts, contracts, or conduct of parties without any express intention, hut always without any words of declaration or creation. They are two species, ‘resulting’ and ‘constructive,’ which later are sometimes called trust ex maleficio; and both these species are properly described by the generic term ‘implied trusts’ * * *”

• — and thereafter follows a statement of the author as to when and under what circumstances such trusts arise.

In the following cases and language, this court defined resulting and constructive trusts and the measure of proof necessary to establish the same:

“2. Constructive trusts are such as are raised by equity in respect of property which has been acquired by fraud, or where though acquired without fraud, it is against equity that it should be retained .by him who holds it.
“3. A resulting or implied trust is one which arises where the legal estate in property is disposed of, conveyed, or transferred, but the intent appears or is inferred from the disposition or from the accompanying facts and circumstances that the beneficial interest is not to go or be enjoyed with the legal title. It may result from the fact that one man’s money has been invested in land and the conveyance taken in the name of another or from other circumstances where intention is an essential element.” Rollow v. Taylor, 104 Okla. 275, 231 Pac. 224.
“3. A resulting trust is that such a trust can arise only in favor of a person who claims to have furnished the consideration money, when such consideration, or some aliquot part thereof, was furnished as part of the original transaction at the time the purchase was made.” Boles v. Akers, 116 Okla. 266, 244 Pac. 182.

See, also, Bryant v. Mahan, 130 Okla. 67, 264 Pac. 811; Teuscher v. Gragg, 136 Okla. 129, 276 Pac. 753.

“2. A constructive trust may be established by parol evidence, but the law for the safety of titles requires that the proof should be of the most satisfactory and trustworthy kind. The onus of establishing a constructive trust rests upon him who seeks its enforcement, and before a court of equity will be warranted in making a decree therefor, the evidence must be clear, unequivocal, and decisive.” Hayden v. Dannenberg, 42 Okla. 776, 143 Pac. 859.

The court in the body of the opinion in the case of Craig, Ex’x, v. Craig, 114 Okla. 302, 247 Pac. 67, after quoting from the case of Hayden v. Dannenberg, supra, and Bab- *165 cock v. Collison, 73 Okla. 232, 175 Pac. 762, said:

“The authorities seem to be uniform in ■holding that one who seeks to establish the existence of a constructive or resulting trust, must do so by clear and unequivocal evidence.”

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Bluebook (online)
1929 OK 330, 280 P. 609, 138 Okla. 163, 1929 Okla. LEXIS 512, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lindsay-v-britt-okla-1929.