Spencer v. Lee

19 W. Va. 179, 1881 W. Va. LEXIS 18
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 17, 1881
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 19 W. Va. 179 (Spencer v. Lee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Spencer v. Lee, 19 W. Va. 179, 1881 W. Va. LEXIS 18 (W. Va. 1881).

Opinion

Patton, Judge,

announced the opinion of the Court:

The record in this cause raises a number of questions. It is plain, that several necessary parties have not been brought before the court, and that the decree of the court below would have to be reversed on that account if for no other reason; but in assigning the grounds, upon which some of these parties are material to a proper and final determination of the controversy, it will be necessary to consider in a great measure, if not entirely, the whole controversy in the cause. The original bill in this cause was filed for the purpose of setting aside the sale to Miller under the trust-deed, and to procure a proper assignment of dower in the property. Naturally the first question, which arises is: Should that sale be set aside on account of the misconduct of the trustee, in which Miller participated to the extent of losing the benefit of the legal title, which ordinarily in such a sale inures to the benefit of a bona fide purchaser from a trustee without notice? No general principles are better settled than, that a trustee is the agent of both parties and must consult impartially the interests of each. He is bound to bring the property to sale in the way, which will secure the best price, and to accomplish this he is required to exercise reasonable diligence and to ob[188]*188•serve those precautions, which would natural!y be observed by a prudent business-man in an important business-transaction. It is his duty to see, that no encumbrance or cloud upon the title or any impediment to a fair sale for the best price remains unremoved. He is supposed to be the common friend and agent of both parties impartial and disinterested, whose duty it is to act justly and discreetly towards those in interest. In order that the trustee may thus act, a court of equity is always open to him, when the amount due by the deed is uncertain or is in good faith disputed, when any cloud rests upon the title, when a reasonable price cannot be obtained, or when for any reason a sale is likely to be accompanied by a sacrifice of the property, which at the cost of some delay may be obviated. Rossett v. Fisher et al., 11 Gratt. 492; 1 Tuck. Com. B. II. p. 107; 1 Lom. Dig. 425; Lane v. Tidball, Gilm. 132; Wilkins v. Gordon et als., 11 Leigh 547 ; Miller v. Argyle’s ex’r, 5 Leigh 460; Quarles v. Lacey, 4 Munf. 251; Gay v. Hancock, 1 Rand. 72; Chowning v. Cox, Id. 306; S. C. 3 Leigh 654 (Taylor v. Chowning); Gibson v. Jones, 5 Leigh 370; Norman v. Hill et als., 2 Pat. & H. 676.

These authorities not only establish the above general principles but farther show, that if the trustee in neglect of his duty as trustee fails to apply to a court of equity to remove the impediments to a fair sale, by injunction any one having a substantial interest may prevent a sale, until that can be accomplished, or if a sale be made, may apply to a court of equity, when not in default himself, to have the sale set aside.

Applying these principles to the facts of this cause, it will be seen, that a case can rarely arise, in which more reasons existed for the interposition of a court of equity to remove difficulties in the way of a fair sale of the property. Both the grantor and cestui que trust had been dead about five years; two bona fide purchasers had received conveyances for different parcels of the lands and had thus acquired rights in the trust-property, which they were entitled to have protected against sacrifice; the trustee had become as executor of the original beneficiary a cestui que trust; the widow had instituted proceedings to have her dower assigned to her, and dower had in fact been laid ofl: and assigned to her by commissioners [189]*189of the court but had not been confirmed ; tbe justice of that assignment in point of value was in dispute, or rather the assignment was considered so unreasonable by some and so injurious to the property in the mode of laying off the land, that her counsel gave assurances to one, who desired to be a buyer, that it would not be confirmed; the quantity of land stated in the deed to be three hundred and eleven acres, it was claimed by the commissioners appointed to assign dower, was only two hundred and nineteen acres; it was so doubtful whether the widow was entitled to dower at all, that it was finally adjudicated by the circuit court, that she was not entitled to dower in the land but was in the proceeds after paying the trust-debt. Other circumstances might be mentioned ; but these are sufficient to show the impropriety of a sale without the intervention of a court of equity. Most of these circumstances were known to the trustee, and many of them, if not all, to the purchaser from the trustee, except the subsequent action of the court. The fact, that the grantor in the deed had died, was alone sufficient to prevent the trustee from selling without resorting to a court of equity and convening the personal representative and heirs and the eestui que trust.

In the case of Gibson v. Jones, 5 Leigh, Judge Tucker says: “Indeed an opinion has been entertained by able men, that a trustee ought not to proceed to sell, where the debtor dies, since by his death the duty of redeeming and the benefit of redemption, which were before blended in the same person, are now separated; the duty devolving on the executor, to whom it belongs to discharge debts, and the benefit accruing to the heir, who has a right to demand of the executor, if he has assets, to relieve the trust-subject from the encumbrance. Moreover the heir not being cognizant of the debts is unprepared to defend the estate from an unjust sacrifice. On these grounds Judge Coalter allowed an appeal, when I was at the bar, though I am unable to' say what became of it.” This opinion of Judge Tucker is quoted without dissent in 1 Lorn. Dig. 426. In 2d vol. Min. Inst. 290, this doctrine is announced to be the law by Prof. Minor almost in the very language of Judge Tucker.

It seems to me, that this position is sound and comports with the true view of the respective rights and duties of the [190]*190personal representative and the heir; and it is in accordance with the position held by the court in the case of Bierne v. Brown, 10 W. Va, 748, where it was held, that in enforcing a vendor’s lien against the estate of the vendee, after his death the court ought to require the personal estate in the hands of the administrator to be first ascertained, and how much of it is applicable to the payment of the purchase-money due and should require it to .be so applied, before it decrees a sale of the land to pay the lien.” Vide Hull v. Hamilton’s heirs, 8 W. Va. 43 ; Stewart, adm'r, v. Jackson, Id. 29. In this last case it was held, that “in a bill by an administrator to enforce a sale of real estate by a trustee, on the ground that the debt has been paid by the debtor in his lifetime, the heirs of the grantor are necessary parties.” In the opinion Judge Pauli says: “Had the bill been filed by the creditor to enforce an execution of the trust, it is manifest, that both the administrator and heirs would have been necessary parties.”

These cases all proceed upon the principle, that where there are several persons having separate and distinct rights in a common subject, they should all be convened, before that subject is disposed of, in order that the mutual rights and liabilities may be ascertained and determined.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
19 W. Va. 179, 1881 W. Va. LEXIS 18, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/spencer-v-lee-wva-1881.