Sieferer v. City of St. Louis

43 S.W. 163, 141 Mo. 586, 1897 Mo. LEXIS 350
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedNovember 30, 1897
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 43 S.W. 163 (Sieferer v. City of St. Louis) 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
Sieferer v. City of St. Louis, 43 S.W. 163, 141 Mo. 586, 1897 Mo. LEXIS 350 (Mo. 1897).

Opinion

G-antt, J.

— This is an action of ejectment which, was returnable to the circuit court of the city of St. Louis. It resulted in a judgment for plaintiff on January 12, 3895. The land in dispute is thirty feet of a tract containing ninety-three one-hundredths of an acre in block 3770 of the city of St. Louis, which the city claims to have condemned for a part of Martin avenue. The answer is a general denial.

Chronologically stated, the facts in this case are as follows:

First. In 1876 William A. Mosberger died, owning a tract of land amounting to ninety-three one-hundredths of an acre, of which the thirty foot strip here in controversy constituted a part.

Second. On May 18, 1876, the will of William A. Mosberger was filed for record in the probate court, which will bequeathed all of his property (except $1 each to his two children) to his wife, Matilda Mosberger, and her heirs forever,

Third. On the second of June, 1876, Matilda Mosberger qualified as the executrix under said will.

Fourth. On the fourth of October, 1878, the probate court ordered the real estate to be sold to pay the debts of the estate.

Fifth. On the eighth of March, 1879, Matilda Mosberger, executrix, filed her report of sale, showing that on the fourth Monday in November, pursuant to said order of sale, she sold the third parcel of land described in said order, being ninety-three one-hundredths of an acre (unimproved) and being land of which the thirty foot strip here in controversy constitutes a part, to Emil Teschemacher, for the sum of $150, and the probate court approved said-sale.

Sixth. On the eighth of March, 1879, Matilda Mosberger, executrix, executed a deed to said land so sold to Emil Teschemacher (but said deed was not put [591]*591on record until July 9,- 1884, and defendant claims there is no evidence that this deed was ever delivered to him). , ■,

Seventh. On January 10, 1883, the city passed ordinance number 12,324, establishing Martin avenue from Duncan avenue to the New Manchester road, thirty feet wide, and ordering the city counselor to institute proceedings for this purpose.

Eighth. On the thirtieth of July, 1883, the city counselor' instituted condemnation proceedings in the circuit court for the purpose of establishing Martin avenue, and Matilda Mosberger was made a party defendant, and was personally served by the city marshal. Thereafter, commissioners were appointed by the circuit court, who assessed the value of the thirty foot strip to be taken from the ninety-three one-hundredths of an acre aforesaid at the sum of $125, in favor of Matilda Mosberger, or the owner of a lot of ground situated in city block 2969, having a front of one hundred and seventy-five feet on Clayton road, by a depth of two hundred and seventy-two feet and seven and one-fourth inches eastwardly.

Ninth. The deed to Emil Teschemaeher, dated March 8, 1879, was not recorded until July 9, 1884, when he and his wife joined with Matilda Mosberger in a conveyance of the property to Mena Sieferer, wife of Frank Sieferer. The deed from Matilda Mosberger, executi’ix, to Teschemaeher, was then placed upon record on the ninth of July, 1884, and the deed from Teschemaeher and Mosberger to Mena Sieferer was placed on record on the tenth of July, 1884, but defendant insists there is no evidence that the deed to Teschemaeher was ever delivered to him at any time.

Tenth. The final judgment of condemnation was entered in the circuit court on the thirteenth day of November, 1884.

[592]*592Mr. H. A. Loevy, attorney for plaintiff, testified that he had examined the records of the recorder’s office in the qjjty of St. Louis and had failed to find that the will of William A. Mosberger had been recorded in said office. At the time of the death of William S. Mosberger said property was vacant and unimproved and not under fence and so remained until after Teschemaeher and Matilda Mosberger sold it to Mena Sieferer, who in the spring of 1885 caused the same to be fenced, which was removed in June, 1887, from the thirty feet, after the final judgment of condemnation by the city officers.

I. When this cause was considered by division number two of this court it was held that there was ample evidence of a documentary nature to show title in plaintiff to the land sued for, and that unless the condemnation proceedings by the city were valid the plaintiff’s judgment must stand. The defendant in the circuit court undertook to establish a valid condemnation, which was controverted at every point by plaintiff. - No declarations of law were asked or refused, and as we were wholly unadvised as to the theory upon which the court disposed of the defense interposed by the city, we held that inasmuch as no declarations of law were given or refused, there was nothing to review on the principal issue in the case. The learned city counselor having challenged that decision as being out of line with the recognized practice of this court, it was ordered that the case be transferred to the court in lane and it has accordingly been reargued. There can be no doubt that it is the uniform practice of this court to apply the law to the facts when there is an agreed state of facts, or where the evidence is wholly documentary, and its legal effect is simply matter of law. Waddell v. Williams, 50 Mo. 216; Henry v. Bell, 75 Mo. 194; State ex rel. v. Smith, 141 Mo. 1, and [593]*593numerous other eases to the same effect. We have no disposition to overrule those decisions. But notwithstanding the confidence of the learned counsel to the contrary, the facts are not agreed upon in this case, nor are they conceded. On the contrary, the plaintiff challenged the condemnation proceedings at every step, and the validity thereof is not conceded by plaintiff nor by this court. Among other things plaintiff insisted that the steps taken to condemn this land for a street were without notice to Emil Teschemacher, whom the evidence clearly demonstrates was the owner of the land when the proceeding to condemn was commenced. Mrs. Matilda Mosberger alone was made a party defendant to the condemnation proceeding. William A. Mosberger, her husband, was the last record owner, but he died in 1876 long prior to the passage of the ordinance establishing Martin avenue for which the city attempted to condemn the thirty feet of land in suit. Mosberger left him surviving his widow and two children, William Mosberger and Charles Hugo Mosberger. By his will he devised all his estate, except $1 each to his two sons, to his wife, and made her executrix of his will. She administered and under the order of the probate court sold the lot in suit to Teschemacher and he in turn sold to Mrs. Sieferer, wife of plaintiff. The city only made Mrs. Mosberger, who was neither a record owner nor the actual owner at that time, a defendant as to this lot.- There was evidence from which tbe circuit court was authorized to find that Teschemacher was the owner of the land when the condemnation suit was begun. If so, and that fact was known to the city or its attorneys conducting this proceeding, it was the duty of the city counselor to set forth in his petition the name of Teschemacher as the owner of this lot, and have him [594]*594served with summons as directed by section 2, article 6, of scheme and charter of St. Louis, Revised Statutes 1889, page 2120. On the other hand, if the owner was unknown

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Bluebook (online)
43 S.W. 163, 141 Mo. 586, 1897 Mo. LEXIS 350, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sieferer-v-city-of-st-louis-mo-1897.