Moon v. Moon

192 P. 840, 107 Kan. 466, 1920 Kan. LEXIS 99
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedOctober 9, 1920
DocketNo. 22,615
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 192 P. 840 (Moon v. Moon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Moon v. Moon, 192 P. 840, 107 Kan. 466, 1920 Kan. LEXIS 99 (kan 1920).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Burch, J.:

The plaintiff appeals from an adverse judgment rendered after a second trial of the cause which was under consideration in the case of Moon v. Moon, 102 Kan. 787, 173 Pac. 9.

The petition alleged that on April 22, 1911, the plaintiff’s husband, Charles S. Moon, was the owner in fee simple of an undivided one-fourth of land described in the contract executed on that date, which appears in the former opinion; that Charles S. Moon complied with the contract by delivering possession to the vendees; that Charles S. Moon died in September, 1911; that the plaintiff, as his sole heir and as administratrix of his estate, made the necessary tender and otherwise fully performed on her side; that the defendants had not performed the contract, but had repudiated it; and that the defendants had not restored to the plaintiff possession of the land. The plaintiff’s tender of deeds was renewed, and the prayer was that the defendants be compelled to specifically perform by payment of the contract price. The general nature of the answers was indicated in the former opinion. The court made very full findings of fact, which, together with the conclusion of law, are appended to this opinion. The plaintiff contends that the thirty-first finding of fact is not sustained by the evidence, and that her motion to set aside the conclusion of law and render judgment in her favor on the findings should have been allowed.

Following a suggestion contained in the former opinion, the plaintiff undertook to show that the consideration for the contract was a compromise of disputed claims. All the evidence on that subject was stated in the findings of fact. The court doubtless concluded that the facts found disclosed nothing more than pressure brought to bear by Charles S. Moon to obtain some kind of a contract from his aged mother. By assuming to have an interest in the land; by threat of suit, and other conduct, he did succeed in bringing the parties to [468]*468the contract together. When he had accomplished that he accepted the contract which was executed, but he gave nothing for it, and had nothing to give. There was positive evidence that no money consideration passed, and the court expressly negatived the inference that compromise entered into the contract itself as the vital element of consideration, by finding no consideration at all. It was the duty of the district court to draw the ultimate inference of fact. The one stated is consistent with the specific facts found, and this court is not authorized to interfere.

In the former opinion it was held the recital in the contract that Charles S. Moon was the owner of the land which he purported to sell was open to dispute. If he were in fact such owner, his promise to convey furnished a consideration for the promise to pay. If he were not in fact such owner, there was no consideration for the promise to pay. The court found all the facts on which a claim of ownership may be based. It did not find ownership, and its conclusion of law negatived the validity of any such inference. It- found specifically against the claim of possession, on undisputed evidence.

In 1890 Nancy J. Moon and her two sons were tenants in common of the land. The plaintiff argues that the master’s sale and deed to Zahn-er, Zahner’s deed to Edgar L. Moon, and Edgar L. Moon’s mortgage, were mere devices to protect the title and obtain a new loan sufficient to discharge liens, for the benefit of all the tenants in common; and that one tenant in common may not acquire sole title to the common property through a sale to satisfy a lien. In the plaintiff’s brief appears the following:

“In McGranighan v. McGranighan, 39 Atl. 951, it is said: ‘Purchase of common uroperty by part of tenants in common- at sheriff’s sale thereof, to satisfy liens, will be held to be for the benefit of all, the purchasers having been able to raise enough to pay the mortgage lien.’ This is exactly the case at bar.”

The quotation is from the headnote of the report in the Atlantic Reporter, and is garbled. The case was one involving acquiescence induced by imposition on ignorance and poverty, and the full headnote reads as follows :

“Purchase of common property by part of the tenants in common, at sheriff’s sale thereof to satisfy liens, will be held to be for the benefit of all, the purchasers having been able to raise by mortgage enough to [469]*469pay the liens, and having- had this in mind while leading the others, poor and inexperienced in business, to understand that only those having money could save their shares.” {McGranighan v. McGranighan, 39 Atl. 951.)

The opinion of the court was per curiam, and very brief. There was no discussion of legal principles, and the state reporter’s conception of the decision was expressed in the following headnote found in the official report:

“Where a tenant in common, with the acquiescence of his cotenants, buys the joint estate at a sheriff’s sale, in his own name, he will be adjudged to hold it as trustee for all the joint tenants, if it appears that he paid for the property out of the proceeds of a mortgage upon the property itself, and that he failed to suggest to his eotenants, who were very poor and inexperienced in business, this method of saving the property in the interest of all, but, on the contrary, gives them to understand that only those having money could buy.” (McGranighan v. McGranigham, 185 Pa. 340.)

The defendant cites the case of Ladd v. Kuhn, 27 Ind. App. 535, the syllabus of which reads:

“A surviving husband in possession of lands of his deceased wife as tenant in common with his two children cannot by purchasing the land at a sale under a mortgage executed by himself and wife, acquire title in the lands as against the children.” (¶ 3.)

The decision applied the general rule, subject to many exceptions, that one tenant in common cannot, by purchasing a lien, acquire title which will evict a cotenant. The opinion of Chancellor Kent in the leading case of Van Horne v. Fonda, 5 Johns, ch. 388, is quoted at considerable length, and a portion of the quotation follows:

“ ‘I will not say, however, that one tenant in common may not, in any case, purchase in an outstanding title for his exclusive benefit. But when two devisees are in possession, under an imperfect title, derived from the common ancestor, there would seem, naturally and equitably, to arise an obligation between them, resulting from their joint claim and community of interests, that one of them should not affect the claim, to the prejudice of the other. It is like an expense laid out upon a common subject, by one of the owners, in which case all are entitled to the common benefit, on bearing a due proportion of the expense. It is not consistent with good faith, nor with the duty which the connection of the parties, as claimants of a common subject, created, that one of them should be able, without the consent of the other, to buy in an outstanding title, and appropriate the whole subject to himself and thus undermine and oust his companion. It would be repugnant to a [470]*470sense of refined and accurate justice.’ ” (Ladd v. Kuhn, 27 Ind. App. 535, 543.)

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Bluebook (online)
192 P. 840, 107 Kan. 466, 1920 Kan. LEXIS 99, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moon-v-moon-kan-1920.