Tropico Land & Improvement Co. v. Lambourn

148 P. 206, 170 Cal. 33, 1915 Cal. LEXIS 347
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedApril 10, 1915
DocketL.A. No. 3320.
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 148 P. 206 (Tropico Land & Improvement Co. v. Lambourn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tropico Land & Improvement Co. v. Lambourn, 148 P. 206, 170 Cal. 33, 1915 Cal. LEXIS 347 (Cal. 1915).

Opinions

LORIGAN, J.

This appeal was originally before the district court of appeal for the second appellate district and transferred here on account of the inability of the justices of the district court to concur in a judgment. The opinions of the several justices of that court accompany the transfer. The main opinion was written by Mr. Justice Shaw and states the facts and points involved on the appeal. His conclusion on one of these points with which his associates appear *36 to have agreed, while entertaining a different view on another, is as follows:

“The facts appearing without dispute so far as pertinent to a consideration of the case, as shown by the first count of the complaint which contains two counts, are as follows: Plaintiff is a corporation created under the laws of Arizona, and defendant is the executrix of the last will and testament of Susan Glassell Mitchell, who died December 31, 1907. On August 30, 1880, Andrew Glassell, who was the owner in fee thereof, executed a deed whereby he conveyed to his daughter, Susan Glassell Mitchell, the real estate in said deed described, ‘for and during her natural life remainder to the issue of her body living at the time of her decease, forever, failing such issue of her body remainder to said E. H. Mitchell (her husband) for and during his natural life and remainder equally to the heirs of the party of the first part (the grantor) forever, and to the heirs of said H. M. Mitchell. ’ The grantee, Susan Glassell Mitchell, entered upon and continued in possession of the land so conveyed until October 28, 1905, when, in consideration of $52,500 paid her by J. B. Treadwell, she conveyed the same to him, and he and plaintiff corporation, to which he conveyed 106 acres of the land, entered upon and continued in possession thereof down to the bringing of this action. This deed so executed by Mrs. Mitchell to Tread-well contained a covenant of warranty made by the grantor, as follows: ‘To have and to hold the same to the said J. B. Treadwell, his heirs and assigns forever; and the said first party (Susan Glassell Mitchell) does hereby covenant with the said J. B. Treadwell and his legal representatives that the said real estate is free from all encumbrances, and that she will and her heirs, executors and administrators shall warrant and defend the same to the said J. B. Treadwell, his heirs and assigns forever, against the just and lawful claims and demands of all persons whomsoever. ’ At the time Glassell conveyed the land to Mrs. Mitchell she had living two daughters, Lucie M. Lambourn and Eileen G. Bedford, and no other children. These two daughters, by deed duly executed, conveyed to their mother, Susan Glassell Mitchell, such interest and title as they had acquired in the land under and by virtue of the deed from Andrew Glassell to their mother, thus vesting in Treadwell the title and interest in the land not only of Susan Glassell Mitchell, but also that of her two *37 children. Prior to the death of decedent, her daughter Eileen died, leaving surviving her a minor daughter, Lucile Richmond Bedford, who was born prior to the execution of the deed by Susan Glassell Mitchell to Treadwell. Lucie M. Lamboum as such executrix, in pursuance of an order of court, caused a notice to creditors of said decedent to be duly published, requiring all persons having claims against said deceased to present them, with vouchers, to the executrix for allowance within ten months after the first publication of said notice, which was made on January 25, 1909, and thereafter duly published as required by law. On April 9, 1910, Lucile Richmond Bedford, then a minor, by her guardian commenced an action in the superior court of Los Angeles County against plaintiff and others, whereby she sought to have entered a decree adjudging her to be the owner of an undivided one-half of said premises so conveyed by Susan Glassell Mitchell to Treadwell. On April 14, 1910, plaintiff filed in the superior court of Los Angeles County a petition entitled in the matter of the estate of said Susan Glassell Mitchell, deceased, wherein it asked for an order requiring the specific performance by Lucie M. Lambourn; as executrix, of the covenant of warranty so made by said decedent as contained in her said deed to J. B. Treadwell, claiming it was entitled to a conveyance from said executrix of all right, title and interest of said Lucile Richmond Bedford in and to the property so conveyed to it by Treadwell, and wherein it alleged that said Lucile Richmond Bedford was willing to sell and convey her interest to said executrix at- a fair valuation thereof, and alleging that said Lucile Richmond Bedford was ready, willing, and anxious to sell said property to said executrix at its reasonable market value, and that said executrix could, by paying the reasonable market value thereof, obtain a conveyance of such interest as Lucile Richmond Bedford had therein, which petition was, in August 1910, by the court dismissed without prejudice to the rights of petitioner. That Lucile Richmond Bedford is willing and anxious to sell and convey her interest in the land to said executrix, or to any person whom she may nominate, for its reasonable market value, and said executrix can, by paying the reasonable value thereof, have the same conveyed to plaintiff. The value of the property of the estate of said Susan Glassell Mitchell in excess of an amount sufficient to pay the claims against said *38 estate other than under said covenant of warranty, was three hundred thousand dollars, all of which, under the terms of the will of said Susan Glassell Mitchell, was to be distributed to Lucie M. Lambourn. The prayer of the complaint based upon this count was for a decree requiring the executrix to purchase and procure from Lucile Richmond Bedford all her right, title and interest in and to the property conveyed by Treadwell to plaintiff at a fair valuation thereof and convey the same to plaintiff. A demurrer interposed to this count of the complaint was sustained upon the ground that it did not appear therefrom that such or any claim had been presented for allowance to the executrix, as required by statute, and also for want of facts alleged sufficient to entitle plaintiff to specific performance of the contract of warranty made by deceased.
“The alleged cause of action for specific performance is based upon a breach of the warranty contained in the deed of Susan Glassell Mitchell. By no rule of interpretation can this covenant of warranty be construed as a contract whereby she agreed to acquire and convey, or cause the owner thereof to convey, an outstanding paramount title to plaintiff. Her deed purported to convey the title, and the covenant was an assurance of title in fee to the land so conveyed to the grantee,with an agreement on her part to defend the same against the lawful claims of all persons asserting ownership thereof. The covenant of warranty in a deed conveying land, or any interest in land, is an undertaking by the warrantor, that on the failure of the title which the deed purports to convey, either for the whole estate or for a part only, by setting up a superior title, that he will make compensation in money for the loss sustained by such failure of title. (King v. Kerr’s Adm’rs, 5 Ohio, 155, [22 Am. Dec. 777].) And in McGary v. Hastings, 39 Cal. 360, [2 Am. Rep.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
148 P. 206, 170 Cal. 33, 1915 Cal. LEXIS 347, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tropico-land-improvement-co-v-lambourn-cal-1915.