O'Neill v. Bennett

207 N.W. 543, 49 S.D. 524, 1926 S.D. LEXIS 77
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 1, 1926
DocketFile No. 5425
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 207 N.W. 543 (O'Neill v. Bennett) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
O'Neill v. Bennett, 207 N.W. 543, 49 S.D. 524, 1926 S.D. LEXIS 77 (S.D. 1926).

Opinion

CAMPBELL, J.

Annie O’Neill, the plaintiff herein, and the wife of Robert O^Neill, now one of the defendants, brought her action, alleging the purchase- by her husband in 1916 of a quarter section of land in Sanborn county, upon which she and her husband and family took up their residence in 1917 with the intention of -making the same their permanent residence and homestead; that on March 10, 1919, she executed a location, claim, and description of homestead, describing said land, and caused the same to be recorded in the office of the register of deeds of San-born county, on March 10, 1919, at 9 o’clock a. m.; that thereafter, and on the afternoon of March 10, 1919, plaintiff’s husband, Robert O’Neill, executed- and delivered a warranty deed purporting to convey said land to- the defendant Johnson, in which deed plaintiff refused to join, and at which time said Johnson knew said land was a homestead, and knew plaintiff refused to join in a conveyance thereof; that the defendant Johnson subsequently deeded said land to defendant Bennett, who had knowledge of all the facts, and that the defendant Nelson claimed the right to occupy saidl land as the tenant of Bennett; that on March 20, 1919, plaintiff’s husband, Robert O’Neill, executed and delivered a warranty deed conveying said premises to plaintiff; and plaintiff asked that the pretended deed of March 10th from. Robert 0'’Neill to defendant Johnson be determined null and void, and- that fee title to said land be quieted in plaintiff against all claims or liens of the defendants or any of them. To this complaint the defendants answered, setting up title in the defendant Johnson by virtue of the [527]*527deed of March io, 1919, from Robert O’Neill, alleging that Bennett had no interest in the premises, but that defendant Nelson was entitled to occupy the same as the tenant of defendant Johnson, and alleging that said premises w'ere not in fact the homestead of the O’Neills at the time of the conveyance thereof by Robert O’Neill h> Johnson on March 10, and praying that the title to said premises be quieted in the defendant Johnson. Upon a trial of the case, the court found that said premises were not, at the time of conveyance to Johnson, the homestead of Robert O’Neill ©r Annie O'Neill, or either of them, that title to said) premises passed to the defendant Johnson by virtue of the deed from Robert O'Neill on March 10, and entered judgment holding the defendant Johnson to be the absolute owner in fee of. the premises, and quieting title thereto in him against the plaintiff, Annie O’Neill.

Thereupon the plaintiff, Annie O’Neill, appealed to this court, and the judgment of the lower court was reversed, and it was determined by this court, and has become the law of this case, that the quarter section in question was in fact the O’Neill homestead, and that the same had not been abandoned as such homestead, and_ that the deed from Robert O'Neill to defendant Johnson, on March 10th, passed no title to the premises. O’Neill v. Bennett et al., 181 N. W. 97, 43 S. D. 569.

After the case was returned to the circuit court on remand from the former appeal, the defendants were granted leave to. bring in plaintiff’s husband, Robert O'Neill, as an additional defendant, and were further granted leave to amend their answer. The amehded answer is substantially the same as the original answer, but with this addition to the allegations of the counterclaim and cross-complaint; namely, that the defendant Johnson has paid to the defendant Robert O’Neill on the purchase price of said land the sum of $10,000, no part of which has ever been repaid, and that the premises in question exceed the value of $5,000, and are of the reasonable value of $20,000, and that the pretended deed from Robert O'Neill to Annie O’Neill on March 10th -was given without any consideration and with fraudulent intent. The prayer is the same as that of the original answer — namely, that title to the premises be quieted in the defendant Johnson — but with the added alternative prayer that, if plaintiff, Annie O'Neill, [528]*528should prevail in this action, then that the defendant Johnson should have 'and recover from Robert 0’'N'eill the said sum of $10,000 and interest, and that said money judgment against Robert O’Neill should be adjudged a first lien upon the premises in question as to all excess value of said premises over and above the homestead allowance of $5,000. Demurrer interposed by plaintiff to the amended answer was overruled, whereupon two separate replies were filed.

The defendant Robert O'Neill admitted the receipt of $7,700 from the defendant Johnson, but alleged said payment was made with full knowledge and notice that the premises were a homestead, and that the wife refused to join in a conveyance thereof, and that very shortly after such payment the same was tendered back to defendant Johnson, who- refused to accept it, and further pleading in abatement that the said Johnson had previously commenced an action in circuit court in Sanborn county against him (the said Robert O’Neill) and others, to recover said sum of $7,700, being the same identical debt upon which the said Johnson now sought to recover from him (Robert O’Neill) by the amended answer and cross-complaint in this action. The plaintiff replied to- the allegations of the amended answer substantially as she had previously -done, and specifically alleged that she paid to Robert O’Neill, full value for said premises, by him conveyed to her on March 20th, and alleged the existence of certain mortgages upon said premises which were first liens thereon at the time of the purchase by Robert O^Neill and had so continued.

The case was tried upon the issues so joined and the learned trial judge made findings and conclusions and entered judgment decreeing the plaintiff, Annie O^Neill, to be the owner in fee simple of the premises in question, decreeing that the defendant Johnson have and recover from the defendant Robert O’Neill the sum of $10,000, and forther decreeing that said money judgment against Robert O’Neill be made and created as a lien upon the value of the real estate, title to which was by the- same judgment quieted in plaintiff, Annie 0;Neill, over and above the homestead1 interest of $5,000 and the costs in the amount of $230.60 awarded to- Annie O’Neill in this action, and existing incombrances thereon, and that, if said money judgment be not paid within 30 days, a special execution issue for the sale of said premises, and that out [529]*529of the proceeds thereof there be paid to the plaintiff, Annie O’Neill, the rsum of $5,000 as her homestead interest therein, together with her costs in this action to the amount of $230.60, that an outstanding mortgage of $6,goo be next paid, without any right of subrogation to Annie 0’'Neill for a valid, previously existing mortgage of $3,000 paid off by her in 1921, and that the proceeds of sale be next applied to said, judgment in favor of defendant Johnson and against defendant Robert O’Neill; the overplus, if any, after said judment and all costs were paid to go to the said Annie O’Neill.

The plaintiff Annie O’Neill, and the defendant Robert O’Neill moved separately for new trial, and from the judgment and the orders denying their motions for new trial, they now appeal.

.We will consider first the contentions of defendant appellant, Robert O’Neill, which are that the counterclaim of the amended answer of defendant respondent Johnson did not state a cause of action for the recovery of money, and, second, that his plea in abatement should have been sustained.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
207 N.W. 543, 49 S.D. 524, 1926 S.D. LEXIS 77, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oneill-v-bennett-sd-1926.