Schwenck v. Schwenck

52 La. Ann. 239
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedDecember 15, 1899
DocketNo. 12,986
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 52 La. Ann. 239 (Schwenck v. Schwenck) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schwenck v. Schwenck, 52 La. Ann. 239 (La. 1899).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Breaux, J.

Plaintiff, claiming to be the owner of a three-sixteenth interest in a lot and improvements, situated in New Orleans, brought a petitory action to recover her interest, together with an action for the partition of the property and for rents and revenues.

The property was bought by Jacob and John Schwenck in 1873.

John Schwenck died in June, 1874, intestate and unmarried, leaving as his heirs. Nicholas Schwenck, his father, Jacob Schwenck, his brother of the full blood, and Julia Schwenck, his sister of the half-blood, petitioner in this suit, who was a child (nine years old) of Nicholas Schwenck by a second marriage.

The succession of John 'Schwenck was opened in 1874 by Nicholas Schwenck, the father, and Jacob 'Schwenck, the brother, who chose to ignore that plaintiff was an heir. They alleged and swore that Jacob Schwenck left no other heirs than themselves, and obtained judgment putting them in possession.

In 1879, Nicholas Schwenck sold his interest, inherited as just stated, to Jacob Schwenck.

After the death of Jacob Schwenck, his widow and testamentary heir brought a suit against her co-heirs, children of Jacob Schwenck, claiming title to one-third of the property, and praying for a partition, [241]*241and, under the sale made in accordance with the decree of court, she became the owner.

In her answer, defendant alleges that she has been in undisturbed possession of the entire property since her purchase, on — October, 1892, from the succession and the heirs of Jacob Schwenck; that the sale was made under a judgment of partition; that the deed to her was the confirmation of the sale at public auction; and that the proceeds of the sale were distributed among the heirs of Jacob Schwenck by an act of partition.

She also avers that the property had been in her husband’s possession for many years before his death, and no one ever questioned his title or disturbed his possession.

She charges that the plaintiff knew of those proceedings; that, if she had rights, she wilfully permitted respondent, the present owner, to make a purchase of the property and pay therefor, and that, in consequence, she is estopped.

The defendant, as executrix, sought to intervene in the suit, averring that John Schwenck died insolvent; that there was due on the property a mortgage placed thereon by the joint owners, Jacob and John 'Schwenck, amounting to six thousand, six hundred dollars, with 8 per cent, interest from November 9th, 1873, and which should be paid by the plaintiff, should there be judgment in her favor. The plaintiff objected to this intervention, and pleaded an estoppel on the ground that petitioner, in her answer, averred that the estate was partitioned, and that, in consequence, the duty of executrix was at an end, and that she could no longer have a standing in court. The estoppel was sustained and the intervention dismissed. Subsequently, the judgment condemned the plaintiff to refund her virile share of that debt as had been prayed for in the dismissed intervention.

The District Court, in its decree, recognized Julia Schwenck as the owner of an undivided three thirty-seconds interest in the property in ■common with Wilhelmina Schwenck as owner of an undivided twenty-nine thirty-seconds interest; ordered a sale of the property at public auction to effect a partition, fixed the rent of the property at sixty dollars ($60.00) per month from August 27th, 1874, to January 1st, 1880, and at forty dollars ($40.00) per month thereafter until a sale, as ordered, and on the other hand the decree condemned the plaintif.' to pay an amount due on the property which was paid by defendant or her authors.

[242]*242From that judgment, defendant prosecutes this appeal.

The evidence shows that Julia Schwenek, the plaintiff, became the owner-, by inheritance from her brother John Schwenek, of a three-thirty-second interest in the property. This is not seriously contested by the defendant, whose defense is chiefly directed against plaintiff’s averment of her bad faith. She contends, in support of her good faith as an owner, that she was not aware of the defect in the title, but that, on the contrary, the sworn declaration of -her husband and of the father of the plaintiff, in their application for the opening of the succession of John Schwenek and its settlement, was enough to warrant her in the belief that the title offered, when the property was offered at public sale, was good and valid.

Mrs. Schwenek, the defendant, was not a third person, and is not protected as a third person would be by the sale at public auction to effect a partition. The funds, proceeds of the sale, were distributed among' the heirs of Jacob Schwenek. In this distribution, Mrs. Schwenek, the defendant, was included, and received her portion, viz: One-third.

Obviously, Nicholas Schwenek and Jacob Schwenek were not possessors in good faith. The former concealed the fact that Julia, the plaintiff here, was his daughter, and the latter concealed the fact that she was his sister, of the half blood, and together they sought to obtain a title which was null and void, in so far as she was concerned. These parties could not gain an advantage by such acts. “No man should derive any benefit from his own wrong,” is a familiar maxim. Nul prendra advantage de son tort demesne, 2 Just., Y13. We pass from the case of the two authors of the defendant’s title fully convinced that as to them there is not the ground upon which to base a decision sustaining the title in opposition to plaintiff’s claim.

This brings us to the claim of the defendant that she bad no knowledge of the heirship of plaintiff, and that she is protected by the proceedings of partition to which we have already referred, and in which she took part as a purchaser of property and as an heir.

She stands in the shoes of her ancestor in title.

She can not be heard to urge that he was in good faith, nor can she, in her defence, sustain the position that she can not be held for rent and revenues because she had no knowledge of the defect in the title. We must hold that she had cognizance of the action taken by one from whom she inherited, and that knowledge had the effect of rendering [243]*243her possession one in bad iaitb from its inception. It lias always been held, as relates to the title to real' property and its possession, that heirs can not be heard when they set up in their own defence that which equity and good conscience would not permit the one from whom they inherit to set up as a defence. Armorer vs. Casé, 9th Ann., 242.

If one is estopped, those claiming under him as heirs are estopped. One to whom the defects of'title are known is not a 'bona fide possessor. Heirs of Dohan vs. Murdock, 41 Ann., 494; C. C., 503.

The following is laid down as correct: If the title discloses facts which show the person from whom it was acquired had no title, it can not form the basis of a right. Frique vs. Hopkins, 4 N. S., 221.

The de cujus was fully aware of the relation existing between his son, John Schwenck, and his daughter, the plaintiff, and of this fact we are bound to hold that defendant also had knowledge. This being the condition, it necessarily follows that the defendant was also a possessor in bad faith.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
52 La. Ann. 239, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schwenck-v-schwenck-la-1899.