Moss v. Brant

116 S.W. 503, 216 Mo. 641, 1909 Mo. LEXIS 353
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedFebruary 25, 1909
StatusPublished

This text of 116 S.W. 503 (Moss v. Brant) 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
Moss v. Brant, 116 S.W. 503, 216 Mo. 641, 1909 Mo. LEXIS 353 (Mo. 1909).

Opinion

WOODSON, J.

This is an injunction proceeding, instituted by plaintiff against the defendants in the circuit court of DeKalb county, to prevent the' sheriff from selling certain real estate, located in that county, under and by virtue of a certain deed of trust to satisfy a debt, described therein, for the alleged reason that the debt had been paid, and that the sheriff and the other defendants had conspired together for the purpose of defrauding her out of her interest therein by selling said real estate under said deed.

The petition upon which the case was tried is as follows:

“Plaintiff for her first amended petition and cause of action states that from the 2d day of December, A. D. 1899, until the 23d day of October, A. D. 1902, she was the lawful wife of the defendant, Oliver G. Mills; that on the last-named date she was duly divorced from the bonds of matrimony existing between her and the said Mills, she being the innocent and injured party; that since said divorcement plaintiff has intermarried with Charles F. Moss; that during the time the marital relation existed between plaintiff and defendant Mills, to-wit, on July 18, 1901, defendant, Oliver G. Mills, had title to the lands hereinafter mentioned and described, on said date receiving a deed from Ernest B. Ross et al., conveying said property to him, the said defendant Mills; that theretofore and on the 13th day of June, A. D. 1901, the said grantors to the said defendant Mills of the said land, and before conveying the same to Mills, had made and executed their certain deed of trust to one A. B. Chrisman, trustee for James Ewart, conveying [646]*646or purporting to convey to the said trustee the said lands before mentioned as having been by the said Ernest B. Ross et al. sold and conveyed to defendant Mills, and'described as follows: The south half of the south half of the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section number twenty-six, township number sixty, range number thirty-one, all in DeKalb county, Missouri; that the said trust deed is recorded in the records of DeKalb county in Book 36 at page 288 thereof; that said lands are of the reasonable value of fifteen hundred dollars and were at all times thereafter occupied and claimed as plaintiff’s homestead; that on the 18th day of July, 1901, defendant Mills and this plaintiff, at that time his wife, executed to one A. B. Chrisman, trustee, a deed of trust to secure to one James Ewart the debt in said deed described, which said deed is recorded in Book No. 39 at page 132 thereof of the records of DeKalb county, Missouri, and which conveyed or purported to convey the south half of the south half of the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section 26, township 60, range 31, and other lands of defendant Mills, all of reasonable value of at least $4,000; that immediately after the execution of the said last-named deed of trust defendant Oliver GL Mills offered to this plaintiff, then his wife, such indignities as to render her condition intolerable; and his treatment of her was so inhuman and cruel that she was compelled to and did separate herself and infant from him and seek a divorce from him, and alimony for the support of herself and infant; that shortly after plaintiff left the defendant Oliver Gr. Mills, and about the time she commenced proceedings for a divorce, said defendant, with the purpose, design and intent to' defraud plaintiff and deprive her of the support to which she was legally entitled as his wife, conspired with the defendant, James K. Ekin, to defraud this plaintiff, and the said Ekin was to and attempted to and is now aiding and [647]*647attempting to aid and assist said Mills in his wrongful, fraudulent and unlawful efforts to defraud this, plaintiff of her rights as aforesaid, and to deprive this plaintiff of obtaining support out of the property of the said Mills, and the said defendant Mills, in pursuance of the said conspiracy, agreement and fraudulent combination with the said EMn, defendant herein, did, by quitclaim deed, recorded at page 408 of Booh No. 25 of the boohs of the records of DeKálb county, Missouri, convey to the said Ehin all the lands hereinbefore in this petition described, as well also all the lands whatsoever in the State of Missouri of which said defendant Mills was at said time seized and possessed or in which he had any interest, that is to say, all the lands owned by said Mills in the jurisdiction of the said court, which said court is and was the only court with jurisdiction to hear and determine the above-mentioned suit of this plaintiff against the said Oliver Gr. Mills for divorce and for alimony, and for the support of plaintiff and her said infant child, the child also of the said defendant Mills, or in any wise aid plaintiff in obtaining her legal rights as the innocent and injured wife of the said defendant Mills; plaintiff further says that it was understood and agreed by and between the said defendants Mills and EMn that the title of said lands should be held by said EMn for the use of said Mills until such time as it could be disposed of and realized on, at which time the proceeds should go to the said Mills; and that said deed was voluntary and without consideration from the said Ehin to the said Mills and was executed to carry out and effectuate said defendant’s fraudulent scheme and conspiracy to cheat and defraud this plaintiff aforesaid.
■ “Plaintiff further states that thereafter, to-wit, on the — day of--, A. D., 1902, she filed in the circuit court of DeKalb county, Missouri, her petition for a divorce from the said Oliver Gr. Mills and prayed [648]*648for alimony in gross; that at the October term, 1902, of said court, a decree of divorce was duly granted her, divorcing her from the said Oliver G-. Mills, and judgment and order allowing her alimony in the gross sum of $2,387.50 were made and entered, all of which will more fully appear from a copy of said judgment and order hereto attached and made a part hereof, marked ‘Exhibit A.’
“Plaintiff further states that thereafter and on the — day of---, 1902, execution duly issued out of the office of the clerk of the said circuit court of DeKalb county, Missouri, on said judgment, and was duly levied on all lands herein and in said quitclaim deed and in said trust deed described, the property of the said Oliver Gr. Mills, and was by the sheriff of this county duly and lawfully sold, at which said sale this plaintiff became the purchaser and is now the owner thereof; that thereafter and on the 3d day of May, 1903, the trust deed above mentioned as having been executed by Ernest B. Ross et al. to A. B. Ohrisman, trustee for James Ewart, being still outstanding and in the hands of said Ewart, and being then and there apparently á legal debt and liability for the sum of four hundred dollars against the said described tract of land in section 26, township 60, range 31, and against the said Oliver Gr. Mills, but which said apparent debt and liability had in fact been fully paid off and discharged, viz., on the — day of--, A. D. 1901, by the defendant Mills, then plaintiff’s husband, but by inadvertence and mistake on the part of the then legal holder of said debt, the payment of the sums of money in discharge of said debt was placed as a credit upon the note and debt of the said Mills, secured by the other trust deed herein mentioned instead of being credited upon the note secured by the Ross trust deed aforesaid; said Mills in the further prosecution of his said fraud against this plaintiff and toward the consummation of his wicked, wrongful [649]

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Related

Snow v. Bass
73 S.W. 630 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1903)
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88 S.W. 630 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1905)
Moss v. Fitch
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Bluebook (online)
116 S.W. 503, 216 Mo. 641, 1909 Mo. LEXIS 353, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moss-v-brant-mo-1909.