Rausch v. Michel

91 S.W. 99, 192 Mo. 293
Supreme Court of Missouri·Decided December 21, 1905·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

MARSHALL, J.

This is an action to recover the southwest quarter of the northeast quarter of section 13, and the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section 13, all in township 44, range 5 west, containing eighty acres, in Gasconade county, Missouri. The plaintiff calls it an action under section 650, Revised Statutes 1899, to determine the interests of the parties therein. The defendant gives it no name. The court treated it as an action under section 650, or as a bill of equity, it does not clearly appear which. The trial court entered a decree that the defendant stand seized of the land and that the plaintiff take nothing by his suit, and after proper steps the plaintiff appealed.

[297] THE ISSUES.

The petition alleges that in 1881, Dorothea Vetter, the mother of the plaintiff, was the owner in fee simple, and in possession, of the premises; that she made a verbal gift thereof to the plaintiff and put him in possession thereof in 1881, and afterwards on the 30th of October, 1894, she executed and delivered to the plaintiff a quitclaim deed therefor; that from 1881 to 1901, the plaintiff was in the actual, open possession, relying on the gift, and in good faith claimed title to the property, and claimed to be the absolute owner thereof; “that by virtue of the premises aforesaid, plaintiff claims to be and is the owner of the absolute fee-simple title of, in and to said real estate; ’ ’ that defendant is in possession of the premises and claims to he the owner in fee simple; that the defendant’s claim of title is derived through a mortgage executed by Dorothea Vetter long after the fee-simple title had passed from Mrs. Vetter to the plaintiff.

The prayer of the petition is that the court adjudge the plaintiff to be the owner in fee simple and that the defendant hath no title, interest or estate in the land, and for costs — there is no prayer for possession.

The answer admits that Mrs. Vetter owned the land in 1881 but denies the alleged verbal gift to the plaintiff, or that Mrs. Vetter put the plaintiff in possession, or that she executed a quitclaim deed as alleged in the petition', and that plaintiff ever had possession of the real estate as alleged in the petition; and denies that the title ever passed from Mrs. Vetter to the plaintiff.

The answer then affirmatively pleads that on the 14th of October, 1881, Mrs. Vetter became seized of the premises and that she afterwards leased the same to the plaintiff at an annual rental of $36 a year, and that the plaintiff entered into the possession pursuant to the lease and continued to hold possession thereof, as in the [298] answer afterwards alleged, without notice to' Mrs. Vetter that he claimed possession thereof adversely to her; that about the 30th of October, 1894, Mrs. Vetter.executed a quitclaim deed purporting to convey the property to the plaintiff, “hut it being represented to her that said deed was intended to operate as a last will and testament, she did not deliver said deed to the plaintiff, but herself retained possession thereof, and after-wards destroyed the same;” that plaintiff paid no consideration for the deed; that on the 30th of November, 1882, Mrs. Vetter executed her mortgage on the premises to secure a debt of $100 she then owed one Henry Nolte; that prior to the year 1896 plaintiff became indebted to one Simon Boeger, represented by a promissory note for $89.30, and also to H. F. Brinkmann, represented by a note of $60, on both of which notes Mrs. Vetter was the surety; that on the 20th of February, 1896, Boeger recovered a judgment against the plaintiff and Mrs. Vetter for $92.90; and that Nolte and Brinkmann were pressing Mrs. Vetter for the amounts due them; that thereupon Mrs. Vetter, with the knowledge and without the objection of the plaintiff, applied to the defendant for a loan of money sufficient to satisfy and pay off said claims and demands; that defendant was informed and believed that plaintiff had no title, claim or interest in the land except as tenant of Mrs. Vetter, and acting on such information, and so believing, without notice that the plaintiff claimed said real estate in fee, the defendant did, on the 28th of May, 1896, loan to Mrs. Vetter the sum of $300, and took her note therefor, payable one day after date, with five per cent interest thereon, and to secure the payment of such note Mrs. Vetter executed and delivered to the defendant her mortgage with power of sale, which was duly recorded, and that out of said loan Mrs. Vetter paid off said claims; that upon default being made in the payment of the note, the mortgagee foreclosed the mortgage, on the 21st of October, 1899, and one Edward [299] Michel became the purchaser, and the mortgagee executed a conveyance to him, which was duly recorded, and thereafter Edward Michel conveyed the same to the defendant, and his deed was.recorded; that within a short time afterward the plaintiff voluntarily abandoned the possession of the premises and the defendant entered upon the possession of the premises and now holds the same.

The reply admits the defendant’s claim of title, but denies all other allegations of the answer, and then affirmatively pleads that at the time of the execution and delivery of the mortgage of Mrs. Vetter to the defendant, the plaintiff was in the actual possession of the real estate, and had been in such possession more than ten consecutive years, claiming it adversely to all persons, and that at the time the defendant made the loan to Mrs. Vetter, he had actual notice that plaintiff was in the actual possession of the land and of his title thereto, and the conveyance from Mrs. Vetter to the plaintiff.

The case was tried before the court without a jury, and at the request of the plaintiff the court made a special finding of facts, as follows:

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