Merrick v. Pattison

85 Wash. 240
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedApril 22, 1915
DocketNo. 12371
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 85 Wash. 240 (Merrick v. Pattison) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Merrick v. Pattison, 85 Wash. 240 (Wash. 1915).

Opinion

Parker, J.-

This action was originally commenced in the superior court for Snohomish county by the plaintiff, as trustee in bankruptcy of the Donovan-Pattison Realty Company, against Fred O. Pattison and wife. The plaintiff sought to be decreed the owner of lots 3, 4 and 5, block 772, plat of Everett, division H, as against the defendants Fred O. Pattison and wife. The lots having been conveyed by Fred O. Pattison and wife to R. E. Pattison before the commencement of this action, which conveyance was not recorded in the office of the auditor of Snohomish county until thereafter, R. E. Pattison and wife intervened as defendants, and the controversy thereafter became one between them and the plaintiff. The trial resulted in findings and decree denying to the plaintiff the relief prayed for, and in effect decreeing the title of R. E. Pattison and wife, the intervening defendants, to be superior to the claims of the plaintiff. From this disposition of the cause, the plaintiff has appealed to this court.

The Donovan-Pattison Realty Company is a corporation organized under the laws of this state, and, prior to the time it was adjudged a bankrupt, it was engaged in the real estate business, buying and selling real property for itself and as agent for others. Fred O. Pa'ttison, one of the [242]*242original defendants in this action, participated in the active management of the affairs of the corporation as one of its trustees. On June 18, 1912, the corporation conveyed certain of its property in exchange for other property. Among the property given in consideration of the conveyance of the property by the corporation was the property here involved, which property the corporation caused to be conveyed to Fred O. Pattison by one of the parties it dealt with in making the exchange. This deed of conveyance was duly recorded in the office of the auditor of Snohomish county soon thereafter. It is claimed that the corporation caused this conveyance to be made to Fred O. Pattison in lieu of the payment to him of certain moneys it held in trust for him, which were the proceeds of the sale of property it had held in trust for him. This is one of the disputed facts in the case, which, however, in view of our conclusions, is of no particular importance here. The corporation was insolvent at the time of making all of these conveyances in connection with this exchange of property, and it was formally adjudged a bankrupt on August 30, 1913, when appellant became its trustee in bankruptcy.

There is nothing in the record before us tending to show that the legal title to the property here involved was ever in the corporation, nor is there any record evidence that it made any claim of title, legal or equitable, to the property until the filing of the notice of the pendency of this action. We proceed upon the assumption that appellant’s claim to the property as trustee in bankruptcy rests wholly upon the theory that Fred O. Pattison received the legal title thereto in trust for the corporation when it was conveyed to him in connection with the exchange of property between the corporation and those it then dealt with.

On October 1, 1913, Fred O. Pattison and Ella Pattison, his wife, conveyed the property here involved to respondent, R. E. Pattison. On. October 9, 1913, this action was commenced, and on the same day notice of its pendency was duly [243]*243filed for record in the office of the auditor of Snohomish county in compliance with Rem. & Bal. Code, § MS (P. C. 81 § 173). On October 14, 1913, the deed of conveyance from Fred O. Pattison and wife to R. E. Pattison was duly filed for record in the office of the auditor of Snohomish county. Thereafter, R. E. Pattison and wife voluntarily became parties defendant in this action by intervention, and thereafter the cause proceeded to trial and final determination in the superior court as a controversy between them and the appellant. The trial court found, touching the good faith of R. E. Pattison and wife in the purchase of the property and the consideration then given by them therefor, as follows :

“(12) . . . the consideration for said transfer was the payment and satisfaction of an existing debt payable by F. O. Pattison and Ella Pattison to R. E. Pattison, evidenced by a note for one thousand dollars dated July 2, 1912, with accrued interest amounting to over fifty dollars, and the assumption and agreement on the part of the said R. E. Pat-tison and Eclista Pattison, his wife, to pay two mortgages upon said property aggregating the sum of ten hundred fifty dollars, together with taxes and street assessments amounting to the sum of about seventy dollars. .

“(13) That at the time of said purchase set forth in finding XII, interveners had no knowledge and information that the above named plaintiff claimed any right, title, or interest whatever in or to said real estate or any part thereof, and that on said date of said purchase the said R. E. Pattison and Eclista Pattison, in good faith and for the consideration set forth in finding No. XII, purchased said premises, . . . ”

These findings were duly excepted to by counsel for appellant. The court made no specific finding as to the value of the property at that time, but the evidence clearly warrants the conclusion that it was worth approximately $2,000. The evidence also clearly shows that the debt evidenced by the note mentioned in the above quoted finding as being satis[244]*244fied by the conveyance to respondents and part of the consideration therefor was then past due.

It is contended by counsel for appellant that the evidence does not warrant the making of the findings above quoted touching the good faith of the respondent in purchasing the property from Fred O. Pattison and wife, and the consideration therefor. A painstaking review of the evidence convinces us that it preponderates in favor of these findings. Respondent R. E. Pattison is the father of Fred O. Pattison, one of the original defendants. This is about the only fact suggesting inquiry into the motives and good faith of the respondent in purchasing the property. It seems quite clear to us, however, as it evidently did to the trial court, that neither of the respondents had any connection whatever with the Donovan-Pattison Realty Company; that there was then nothing of record suggesting that the Donovan-Pattison Realty Company ever had the least interest, legal or equitable, in the property; that neither of the respondents had any actual notice of any such interest; that they had no knowledge that would have suggested inquiry as to any such possible interest; that the $2,170, which they in effect paid for the property by cancellation of the debt due them from Fred O. Pattison and wife and the assumption of the mort-gages and taxes against the property was all the property was then worth. Indeed, the testimony of the apparently disinterested witnesses, as to the value of the property at that time, seems to indicate that it was worth even less than this amount.

It is contended in appellant’s behalf that the commencement of this action and the filing of the notice of the pendency thereof in the office of the auditor of Snohomish county, before the recording therein of respondents’ deed from Fred O. Pattison and wife, rendered appellant’s claimed right to the property superior to that of respondents under their deed. This contention is rested upon the provisions of Rem. [245]*245& Bal. Code, § 243 (P. C. 81 §173), which, so far as necessary to be here noticed, reads as follows:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
85 Wash. 240, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/merrick-v-pattison-wash-1915.