Stokely v. Connor

85 So. 678, 80 Fla. 89
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJune 26, 1920
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 85 So. 678 (Stokely v. Connor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stokely v. Connor, 85 So. 678, 80 Fla. 89 (Fla. 1920).

Opinion

Reaves, Circuit Judge.

This is the second appearance of this case in this court. The opinion in the former appeal sets out the bill and decree of partition in full, and reference is hereby made to said opinion for an extended statement of the case as it then stood. Stokely v. Conner, 69 Fla. 412, 68 South. Rep. 452.

After the former appeal complainants filed a petition in the Circuit Court for leave to file a supplemental bill, assigning as a reason therefor that, after the mandate had gone down from this court, and after commissioners had been appointed and had filed their repurt, and exceptions had been filed thereto by the defendants, “discovery was made of the filing in the public office for recording-deeds in St. Johns County of a deed of conveyance of the lands sought to be partitioned by -the defendant Harry M. Stokely, to one Lewis Shepard, Jr., dated A. D. 1905, but not filed for record until the 27th day of May, A. D. [91]*911914. Wherefore your. petitioners are advised that it is necessary to bring the said Lewis Shepard, Jr., and his wife named Edna N. Shepard before this court as parties to this suit.”

An order was made granting this petition, whereupon a supplemental bill was filed against the’Stokelys (except Harry M., who was dismissed by order of the Chancellor), and also against the new parties, viz: Shepard and his wife. Shepard is shown to be a resident of the State of Missouri, and the Court ordered that an order of publication be made against him and his wife, and that they be thereby brought “before the court to answer said supplemental bill.”

The subject matter of the suit is the partition-of a tract of land in St. Johns County known as the Miranda Grant. The complainants claim that the property in question was originally granted to one Pedro Miranda, who deeded a one-half undivided interest to Joseph S. Sanchez, that the interest of Sanchez was subsequently sold under execution to one Conner, the ancestor of the complainants and under whom the complainants claim a one-half undivided interest; and the remaining one-half undivided interest was deeded by Pedro Miranda to his daughter Rufina Miranda, who inter-married with one Bisbee, by whom she had several children, and from these children as the heirs at law of their mother, the said Rufina Bisbee, the Shepards obtained title to and now own a one-half undivided interest. The Shepards, on the other hand, claim that the description of the land deeded by Miranda to Sanchez did not include any p>art of the Miranda Grant, but covered other lands; that the said Miranda conveyed a one-half undivided interest to his daughter Rufina, and died seized of the other one-half [92]*92interest, which passed to his said daughter as his sole heir at law, and that the deeds from the Bisbee heirs conveyed to Hattie N. Stokely the whole of said property and not merely an undivided one-half interest therein as alleged by complainants. One of the Stokelys also set up some claim under a tax deed, and' it was likewise claimed that the title of the Stokelys had been made secure by adverse 'possession. All these claims were decided against the Stokelys in the decree of partition, which decree was affirmed by this Court. The new defendants under the supplemental bill, viz. Shepard' and his wife answered not only the supplemental matter but the original bill, and set up in their answer the same defenses which the Stokely’s had previously set up, and which had been determined against them, and counsel for complainant moved to strike all that part of their answer which related to the subject matter of the original bill, and also excepted to the same portion of the answer, claiming it to be impertinent. The Chancellor overruled the motion to strike, but sustained the exceptions and' the cause is now before this court upon an appeal from that order. No point is made in the argument as to whether this answer was properly attacked by motion or by exception, and we shall not discuss that question of practice, but, unless the matter expunged was wholly irrelevant and immaterial, it was improperly stricken upon motion or exception. Ferro Concrete Co. v. Federal Terra Cotta Co., 79 Fla. 376, 84 South. Rep. 171; Busch v. Baker, 79 Fla. 113, 83 South. Rep. 704; Law v. Taylor, 63 Fla. 487, 58 South. Rep. 844.

The point we must decide, then, is whether the matter expunged from Shepard’s answer was material or pertinent to his defense. The answer to this question depends [93]*93upon whether Shepard', being brought into the case at the stage of the proceeding heretofore stated, had the right to raise by his answer, and to be heard before the court upon the same questions which had been raised by Stokely, his grantor, and decided against Stokely.

The Stokely-Shepard deed was made long before the bill was filed, but recorded long after the bill was filed. If this deed had been recorded before the bill was filed, and, if this action had been prosecuted to a final decree without making Shepard a party, it is clear that his rights would not have been affected by the action.

“No alienee, grantee, assignee or mortgagee is bound or affected by a judgment or decree in a suit commenced by or against the alienor, grantor, assignor, or mortgagor subsequent to the alienation, grant, assignment or mortgage to which he is not a party.” Logan v. Stieff, 36 Fla. 473, 18 South. Rep. 762; Austin v. Hoxsie, 44 Fla. 199, 32 South. Rep. 878; Reddick v. Moffert, 32 Fla. 409, 13 South. Rep. 894; Henderson v. Chaires, 25 Fla. 26, 6 South. Rep. 164.

If this rule is not to apply in this case, it must be because (1) Stokely failed to record his deed until after the action was begun or (2) because he was brought into the. cause as a party before the final decree. The decree determining the rights and interests of the parties in a partition suit is not the final decree notwithstanding it finds and fixes the- equities of the respective parties. Camp Phosphate Co. v. Anderson, 48 Fla. 226, 37 South.Rep. 722.

From the brief of counsel for appellees we quote as follows: “Shepard is entitled to his day in court. That is what he has been brought into this case for. It is [94]*94admitted that, if he had not been made a party, the decree made in this cause, that complainants had title to one-half the grant and Hattie N. Stokely had title to the other half, would not have been binding on Sliapard;” and again, “because of the rule of law that one not a party t,o a suit is not bound by a judgment or decree thei’ein unless such party’s rights accrued subsequent to the beginning of the suit, and so are bound by the Lis Pendens, the appellant, Lewis Shepard, Jr., has been brought into this suit before a final decree for the purpose of making the decree binding on him.”

The incoherency of these statements lies in the fact that the decree, which counsel admits would not have bound Stokely had he not been brought into the case, had been rendered before he was brought in and it is not apparent how Stokely can be bound by Avhat transpired in the progress of the suit before he was made a party, if he would not have been bound by the result of the suit had the same been concluded without making him a party. To bring a party into court and then refuse to hear his defense on the ground that the court had previously heard the same question raised by another defendant not representing the same interest is hardly giving-one his day in court, either in name or in fact. Such procedure in effect says, you are entitled to be heard but the court refuses to hear you.

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Bluebook (online)
85 So. 678, 80 Fla. 89, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stokely-v-connor-fla-1920.