Meddis v. Kenney

75 S.W. 633, 176 Mo. 200, 1903 Mo. LEXIS 98
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJune 20, 1903
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 75 S.W. 633 (Meddis v. Kenney) 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
Meddis v. Kenney, 75 S.W. 633, 176 Mo. 200, 1903 Mo. LEXIS 98 (Mo. 1903).

Opinion

ROBINSON, J.

This is an action of ejectment in statutory form to secure possession of the north half of lot three, range “A,” in the city of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, known as the John Albert homestead.

The suit was originally begun in the Cape Girardeau Court of Common Pleas, against the defendant Nancy R. Kenney, the tenant in possession. After-wards, H. H. Albert, the landlord of the defendant Kenney, was, on his own application, made a party defendant, and the venue changed to the Cape Girardeau Circuit Court, where the cause was tried.by the court without a jury, resulting in a judgment for the plaintiff, from, which defendants have appealed to this court. The petition is in the usual form, and the answer a general denial.

The record shows that John Albert died testate, in Cape Girardeau county, Missouri, in August, 1881, leaving surviving him his widow, Terresa Albert, and the following children, to-wit: Anna, William, Robert, Clement, Jules, and the defendant II. H. Albert. That John Albert at the time of his death was seized of the land in suit and occupied it as his homestead. ' Both parties claim through him as the common source of title. By the last will of John Albert, which was duly probated in that county, Linus Sanford was appointed executor. After giving to each of his children the sum of one dollar, the will provides: “To my wife, Terresa Albert, I give and bequeath all the balance of my property of every kind, whether real or personal, after the payment of my debts.” Sanford qualified and proceeded to administer on the estate. In 1897, Sanford, as such executor, filed his petition in the Cape Girardeau Court of Common Pleas, a court possessing original probate jurisdiction, setting forth the fact that the personal property was insufficient to pay the debts of [204]*204the estate, and prayed for an order authorizing him to sell the land in question. At the next term thereof, it appearing that the newly elected judge of the court having been of counsel for TI. H. Albert and his brother and sister, was disqualified to act in the matter, an order of record was made certifying the cause to the Cape Girardeau Circuit Court, as provided by section 1760, Revised Statutes 1899, and the clerk was directed to transfer all of the original papers therein to the circuit court. Thereupon the circuit court, at its May tern.', 1897, made an order authorizing the executor to sell at public outcry the lot in question for the payment of debts, the terms of sale being one-fourth cash and the balance payable in six months. The order was renewed at the August term, 1897, and on the 5th day of June, 1898, the executor, after having the lot appraised, sold the same at public sale in pursuance of the order aforesaid, at which sale the Fidelity Trust Safe Vault Company, a Kentucky corporation, became the purchaser, for the sum of $2,005. The estate of Terresa Albert, the administration of which was pending in the city of St. Louis, held fifth-class demands against the estate of John Albert, amounting in the aggregate to about $1,800, and the Fidelity Trust Safe Vault Company held a sixth-class demand, as trustee, against said estate for $1,500. Shortly prior to the sale the executor represented to the agent of the Fidelity Trust Safe Vault Company that he did not desire to handle any of the purchase money to be paid for this property, except an amount necessary to pay expense of sale, and stated that if the Fidelity company would purchase these demands against the estate, he would accept them as cash. Thereupon the Fidelity company purchased all the outstanding demands against the estate, except the one held by it as trustee, and paid the costs of the sale, including the executor’s commission. The money derived from the proceeds of the sale of the lot in question was paid to the defendant H. H. Albert, and his brothers and sis[205]*205ters. Upon these facts the circuit court, at the next term thereafter, approved the sale and ordered the executor to make a deed to the purchaser. Afterwards one of the securities on the executor’s bond having died, the circuit court, upon the application of a creditor o£ the estate, ordered the executor to give a new bond. Having failed to comply with this order, the executor’s letters were revoked, and Leon J. Albert was appointed as administrator de bonis non with the will annexed, and duly qualified as such. On the 8th day of February, 1899, the Fidelity company, having assigned its bid to the plaintiff herein, a deed was made by the administrator at the request of the Fidelity company to the plaintiff in.pursuance of the sale, which was duly approved by the court. This deed constitutes plaintiff’s claim of title to the land in question. The record further shows that after John Albert’s death, the lot in question was occupied by his widow Terresa Albert, until her death, which occurred in . September, 1894, and that thereafter her children occupied the premises until May 26, 1898, when they, after receiving their share of the proceeds of the sale, conveyed the lot by quitclaim deed to the defendant, H. H. Albert, whose tenants have been in the possession thereof since, and he claiming title to the premises from that time, by virtue of the deed so procured from his brothers and sisters. At the close of the ease the following declarations of law were given at plaintiff’s request:

‘‘ 1. The court declares the law to be that if Terresa Albert took the real estate in controversy under the will of John Albert, and the will devised the property to her subject to the payment of his debts, then she took the real estate in controversy cum on ere, and her heirs are estopped from denying that the real estate is subject to sale for the payment of said debts of said John Albert, deceased.
“2. The court declares the law to be that if the children of John and Terresa Albert accepted the pro[206]*206ceeds of the sale of the. real estate made by the executor of John Albert, knowing it to be so, on the allowance to the estate of Terresa Albert, then it was a ratification of said sale, and they are estopped now from contesting said sale or the conveyance made by the administrator by virtue of said sale.
‘ ‘ 3. The court declares the law to be that the property in controversy was used and occupied by John Albert as a homestead in his lifetime, and was so used at the time of his death, and at his death his widow took a homestead interest and that as a homesteader her occupancy and possession of said premises were not adverse to the heirs or purchasers at administration sale, nor did the statute of limitations run against them; nor daring the time she occupied said premises as a homesteader could she enlarge her estate from a homestead, or life estate, by claim of adverse possession.”

The defendants asked the. court to give the follow- . ing declarations of law numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4:

“1. The court declares the law to be that under the evidence in this cause, plaintiff is not entitled to recover, and the finding and judgment of the court should be for defendants.
“2. The court declares the law to be that if the court shall find from the evidence that defendant, TI. H.

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Bluebook (online)
75 S.W. 633, 176 Mo. 200, 1903 Mo. LEXIS 98, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/meddis-v-kenney-mo-1903.