Smith v. Sharp

233 P. 374, 70 Cal. App. 336, 1924 Cal. App. LEXIS 25
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 22, 1924
DocketDocket No. 2678.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 233 P. 374 (Smith v. Sharp) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. Sharp, 233 P. 374, 70 Cal. App. 336, 1924 Cal. App. LEXIS 25 (Cal. Ct. App. 1924).

Opinion

PLUMMER, J.

This action was brought by the plaintiff against the defendant for the purpose of having it adjudged that the estate and interest of the defendant in and to a certain section of land containing about 635 acres, situate in the county of Kings, state of California, was held by the defendant in trust for the plaintiff, and as security for the repayment of moneys owing by the plaintiff to the defendant, if any, and for an accounting ■ of the rents, issues, and profits arising from said real property. The plaintiff .acquired title to the' lands in controversy from the state of California during the year 1911, and asserts that his ownership thereof continued down to and including the entire period involved in this action.

The defendant asserts in his answer that he is the owner in fee of said lands, claiming to have acquired title thereto by a constable’s deed, made by a constable on September 14, 1916, under a sale of the land theretofore had under execution. The defendant also further claims to have acquired title to the lands involved by reason of a certain quitclaim deed made and delivered to him by the plaintiff on or about the twenty-fourth day of October, 1916. On the part of the plaintiff it is contended that whatever title was acquired to the lands and premises by the defendant, under and by virtue of the constable’s deed, was acquired by him for the benefit of the plaintiff, and merely as security for the repayment of moneys advanced by the defendant for the uses and purposes of the plaintiff, and as security for the payment of a certain mortgage note made by plaintiff to defendant and the defendant’s brother.

The court found in favor of the plaintiff and directed that an accounting be had of the rents, issues, and profits arising from said real estate, and upon the conclusion of the accounting adjudged that the rents, issues, and profits received by the defendant exceeded the amount of the indebtedness of the plaintiff to the defendant in the sum of $204.89, and directed that the plaintiff have judgment for said amount, and, also, *339 that the plaintiff was entitled to a reconveyance of the 635 acres.

A review of all the authorities and points discussed by the respective parties in their briefs would extend this opinion beyond all reasonable limits, and will therefore not be undertaken. Two points are set forth prominently, to wit, the existence of a confidential relation between the parties and the effect of the quitclaim deed, dated October 24, 1916, as an absolute conveyance, or, as found by the court, merely a mortgage. If a mortgage, the existence of the confidential relation, whether correctly or incorrectly determined by the court, becomes of no vital importance and we shall therefore treat it only as an incidental matter.

An understanding of the questions involved necessitates a rather full statement of the facts. In this particular the transcript shows the following: The plaintiff began working for the defendant’s father in 1908 and continued in such employment until some time during the year 1910', making his home in a store building owned by the defendant’s father. In 1910, the plaintiff went to live at the home of the defendant and the defendant’s parents, under an agreement by which the plaintiff agreed to pay the defendant’s mother the sum of $20 per month for board and lodging. This relationship continued until about February, 1916. In March, 1914, it appears that the plaintiff had become indebted to the defendant’s mother in a considerable sum for such board and lodging, and that on or about the fourth day of March, 1914, the plaintiff made and delivered to the defendant and his brother, Craigie S. Sharp, at the request of the defendant’s mother, a certain promissory note for $1,500, bearing interest at the rate of ten per cent per annum, payable on or before March 4, 1916, and at the same time, to secure the payment of said note, the plaintiff exe^ cuted and delivered to the defendant and his brother a mortgage on the 635 acres hereinbefore mentioned, and, also, upon a certain sixteen-acre tract, referred to and known as the “sixteen-acre tract,” then owned by the plaintiff. As to the sixteen-acre tract, the mortgage just referred to, created a second lien, said tract at that time being subject to a first mortgage given to one IT. Y. Brenton to secure the payment of the sum of $1,200 and interest, and as to the 635-acre tract, known as and called the “lake land,” the *340 mortgage given to the defendant and his brother by the plaintiff was subject to a mortgage theretofore given to one John A. Wilson to secure the payment of a promissory note in the sum of $1,835. In July, 1914, the plaintiff conveyed the sixteen-acre tract to the defendant and his brother, Craigie S. Sharp, and the defendant and his brother gave back to the plaintiff an instrument of defeasance. This instrument purported to grant to the plaintiff the right to repurchase or redeem said sixteen-acre tract within eighteen months from the date of the agreement by payment of $3,068.85, together with interest at the rate of ten per cent per annum. This sum was made up of the amount due H. Y. Brenton, theretofore the owner of the prior lien upon said sixteen-acre tract and the $1,500 note and mortgage given by the plaintiff to the defendant and his brother, as hereinbefore stated. It appears that Brenton, the holder of the first mortgage on the sixteen-acre tract, had made a proposition to the plaintiff to enter into a similar transaction giving the plaintiff eighteen months to redeem or repurchase" said tract, and that after a conference had been had between the defendant and the plaintiff, the defendant agreed to take up the Brenton note and mortgage, and enter into the agreement as herein stated. After the execution of the instruments relating to the sixteen-acre tract had been had, the buildings on said tract burned, and the defendant received as insurance thereon the sum of $250. The plaintiff was not given credit upon his indebtedness for said sum. The plaintiff did not succeed in paying the $3,068.85 necessary to effect redemption of the sixteen-acre tract, and thereafter sale was made of said tract by the defendant for the sum of about $2,600, and thereafter, other than as showing the transactions between the parties and their relationship, the sixteen-acre tract drops out of this case. In August, 1915, the “lake land” was sold by the O’Bryan Reclamation District to one John A. Wilson, the holder of the first mortgage thereon, for the sum of $446.92, on account of an unpaid reclamation district assessment. The right to redeem from this sale would have expired on August 21, 1916. On or about the ninth day of September, 1915, the same land was sold by a constable to one Charles G. Lamberson, for the sum of $516.51, to satisfy a judgment theretofore rendered against the plaintiff. The certificate *341 of sale was assigned by Lamberson to Wilson. The right to redeem from this sale would have expired on September 9, 1916. The “lake land” was also still subject to the Wilson mortgage and the mortgage given to the defendant and his brother by the plaintiff. On June 8, 1916, in an action brought by the First National Bank of Hanford against the plaintiff, an attachment was levied on the “lake property” for an indebtedness in the sum of $560. On June 21, 1916, the plaintiff executed a mortgage on the “lake lands” to one George H. McKissick, to secure the payment of a promissory note in the sum of $237, and interest thereon..

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Solis v. County of Contra Costa
251 Cal. App. 2d 844 (California Court of Appeal, 1967)
Belmont v. Milton
110 P.2d 525 (California Court of Appeal, 1941)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
233 P. 374, 70 Cal. App. 336, 1924 Cal. App. LEXIS 25, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-sharp-calctapp-1924.