Smith v. Maxey

152 N.W. 1011, 186 Mich. 151, 1915 Mich. LEXIS 669
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedJune 7, 1915
DocketDocket No. 12
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 152 N.W. 1011 (Smith v. Maxey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. Maxey, 152 N.W. 1011, 186 Mich. 151, 1915 Mich. LEXIS 669 (Mich. 1915).

Opinion

Steere, J.

Complainant filed this bill in the circuit court for the county of Wayne, in chancery, praying for an accounting by defendant as a trustee ex maleficio; the primary purpose of said bill being to impress a trust in behalf of complainant upon the sum of $9,000 claimed to be in possession of defendant as the proceeds of a sale of certain land, title to which is charged to have been obtained from complainant without compensation, through fraud, misrepresentation, and betrayal of trust. Avoiding mat[153]*153ters most seriously in controversy, and following closely the well-sustained findings of fact painstakingly extracted from this voluminous record by the learned chancellor who heard the case, a general history of the events leading up to this litigation, essential to an understanding of the issues, is as follows:

Before and at the time of the transactions in question defendant was a resident of the village of L’Anse, in Baraga county, and complainant resided in the city of Detroit. Complainant held in his name, both in individual capacity and as trustee for others, title to various parcels of land in and around L’Anse, the management of which was intrusted to one William L. Mason, an attorney residing and practicing in said village. Complainant had held the lands for many years, and, prior to its care being intrusted to William L. Mason, the latter’s father had acted in the same capacity for complainant in affairs connected with his land holdings in that part of the country.

Amongst other activities, defendant had interested himself in timber lands in the vicinity of L’Anse, and during the winter of 1910-11 held under option several thousand • acres with a view to purchasing and lumbering them. In connection with others he proposed and planned to organize a company to take over these lands and erect a mill in the village of L’Anse to manufacture into lumber the logs cut therefrom. To that end he and his associates organized, on March' 16, 1911, the L’Anse Bay Lumber Company. Preliminary to and in connection with the project, public interest was aroused, and meetings of citizens were held in the town hall of L’Anse looking to public support and co-operation in promoting and financing the same, at which the advantages to that locality from the erection and operation of a mill were presented and urged; the matter [154]*154being a subject of general discussion in that community. At some of these meetings, and at other times and places, William L. Mason stated that the interests which he represented in the village would donate a site for such a mill as was proposed. The details of those representations are somewhat in dispute, but it is clearly shown that such overtures and assertions were generally and freely made by Mason.

Upon February 6, 1911, while this matter was rife, and at a time when Mason was confined to his home by illness, defendant, accompanied by two gentlemen who expected with others to be subscribers for stock in the proposed company, and by their attorney, called upon Mr. Mason and discussed the project, at which conference he clearly stated to them that the Smith interests, so called, were ready to and would, through him, donate a site proposed for the mill located on the bay shore, known as lot 3, section 5, town 50 N., range 33 W. Whatever uncertainties had previously existed as to his overtures, he there distinctly told these parties that in his proposal to furnish a mill site for the company, which they intended to form, he represented and was acting for complainant. Defendant and his associates (including Mason himself) thereafter proceeded with their promotion, assuming that Mason had authority to make and carry this offer into execution. Mason, however, never paid his stock subscription and after-wards dropped out of the company.

It is the contention of complainant that in making such representations and proposals Mason acted absolutely without authority. At the time of these transactions he was prominent in local matters, in good standing, and had the confidence of both complainant and the community in which he resided, and was at first active in promoting the L’Anse Bay Lumber Company, although, before trial of this suit, fol[155]*155lowing disclosures of a serious nature, he disappeared from L’Anse under a cloud, concealing his whereabouts, if alive, and his testimony could not, therefore, be obtained. It developed, also, that he had continuously grossly misrepresented the situation as to the mill site project to complainant, who was in Detroit, leading him to believe that it was proposed to purchase the site for the sum of $10,000, the price complainant wanted for it.

Some time in the summer of 1911 a tentative agreement was entered into between complainant and Mason, who had proposed to himself purchase on contract numerous descriptions of complainant’s property in that locality, including lot 3, for $60,000, of which $10,000 was to be paid down and time given for the balance — lot 3 to be released from the contract and' conveyed as soon as the first payment of $10,000 was made. This lot was claimed to be the most desirable and suitable site for the proposed industry near the village, though defendant and his associates contended that independent of the interests of the village others equally good were available. A form of land contract embodying the terms of their agreement, prepared in duplicate and executed by complainant, was sent from Detroit to the .National Bank of L’Anse by complainant’s Detroit attorney, accompanied by a letter of instruction to the bank, dated September 6, 1911, directing that, when Mason signed the same and paid $10,000 thereon, one copy should be delivered to him and the other returned to Smith with the payment. Mason failed to perform on his part, and the papers remained in possession of the bank until the spring of 1913. Defendant was president of said bank.

While this matter was still under negotiation, Mason went to Detroit, near the 1st of September, 1911, and had a conference with complainant and his [156]*156two sons on the subject, urging the desirability of a deed to himself of said lot 3 being put in his hands, that he might have it available at any time, to close a sale then pending, should a consummation be reached. As the result of this interview and a series of letters between Mason and complainant, in which Mason emphasized the progress and anticipated benefits of the mill project, and pending deals with the “mill people,” complainant executed and delivered to Mason a full-covenant warranty, deed of' said lot 3, with a stated consideration therein of $1, and in return, as stipulated, Mason, on September 22, 1911, gave complainant a written agreement obligating himself neither to convey the property nor record said deed to him until his note to Smith for $10,000 had been paid, as provided for in the prior land contract to him, at the same time also giving complainant said note, payable within 20 days after September 22, 1911, which note was later renewed but never paid. The testimony abundantly shows that during-all these transactions, and almost until the time Mason disappeared from L’Anse, Smith believed that $10,000 would be paid for lot 3 before Mason parted with the title.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
152 N.W. 1011, 186 Mich. 151, 1915 Mich. LEXIS 669, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-maxey-mich-1915.