Weiss v. Heitkamp

29 S.W. 709, 127 Mo. 23, 1895 Mo. LEXIS 230
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedFebruary 19, 1895
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 29 S.W. 709 (Weiss v. Heitkamp) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Weiss v. Heitkamp, 29 S.W. 709, 127 Mo. 23, 1895 Mo. LEXIS 230 (Mo. 1895).

Opinion

Brace, P. J.

By general warranty deed, dated the twelfth day of January, 1885, John C. Kleekamp conveyed to his son-in-law, the defendant, B. Joseph Heitkamp, certain real estate in the city of St. Louis known as the “Autumn Street” property for the recited consideration of $12,000; and, by a like deed of the same date, conveyed to the said Heitkamp certain other real estate in said city, known as the “River Des Peres” prdperty, for the recited consideration of $5,000.

Afterward, on the nineteenth day of February, 1885, the Fourth National Bank of the city of St. Louis instituted suit, by attachment, upon two notes of the said Kleekamp, payable on demand, and protested for nonpayment on the seventeenth day of January, 1885, one dated May 3,1881, for $5,000, the other dated September 1,1882, for $15,000; in which suit the bank [26]*26recovered a personal judgment against said Kleekamp, on the fifth of November, 1885, for the sum of $19,409.30, and upon the sixth of November, 1885, this judgment was assigned to John T. Percy. Upon execution, issued upon this judgment, the real estate described in the aforesaid two deeds was sold to the said John T. Percy — the “Autumn Street” property for the sum of $5,125, and the “River Des Peres” property for the sum of $500. The said Percy received a sheriff’s deed therefor, dated December 7,1885, and on the same day assigned the unpaid balance on said judgment to the defendant Heitkamp, and on the ninth day of December, 1885, executed a deed, his wife uniting therein, conveying said real estate to the said Heitkamp for the-recited consideration of $5,625.

After the execution of the deed from Kleekamp to Heitkamp, and after the institution of the suit by attachment by the bank against Kleekamp, to wit, on the sixth of March, 1885, the bank instituted another suit against Kleekamp and Heitkamp to set aside the said, deeds of the twelfth of January, on the ground that they were executed to defraud the creditors of the said Kleekamp; which suit was, on the seventh of November, 1885, dismissed, being the same day on which the execution was levied upon the real estate.

On the fourteenth of March, 1887, John C. Kleekamp died intestate, leaving surviving him three daughters, his only heirs at law — the plaintiff, Angelina Weiss, the defendant Lena H. Heitkamp, and Mary N. Kleekamp, who is not a party to this suit.

At the December term, 1891, of the circuit court of the city of St. Lonis, Angelina Weiss and her husband, Albert E. Weiss, instituted this suit against the said B. Joseph Heitkamp and his wife, charging in the petition, in substance, that, although the said John 0. Kleekamp did, “for purposes of his own,” convey said real estate [27]*27to the said B. Joseph Heitkamp by the said deeds of January, 12,1885, “the conveyances were made without consideration and in trust for the use of the said John 0. Kleekamp, his heirs and assigns, and were made upon a distinct understanding and agreement between the said Kleekamp and the said Heitkamp that the said Heitkamp should hold the said property for the use and benefit of the said Kleekamp, should collect the rents and profits thereof and pay the same to the said Kleekamp, and should convey the said property to the said Kleekamp, or to such person or persons as he might nominate, whenever requested so to do by said Kleekamp; and that the said John T. Percy conveyed said property by his said deed of the ninth day of December, 1885, to the said B. Joseph Heitkamp at the instance and request of the said John C. Kleekamp; and in all the transactions aforesaid, the said Percy and Heitkamp acted at the request of, and as the agents and trustees for, the said Kleekamp, who furnished to said Percy the money to buy said claim and judgment, and to buy said property at the sheriff’s sale; that the said Percy held said claim and judgment as trustee for said Kleekamp, purchased said property at said sheriff’s sale as trustee for said Kleekamp, and assigned said judgment and conveyed said property to said Heitkamp, at the request of said Kleekamp, without consideration, to be held by said Heitkamp in trust for the sole use and benefit of said Kleekamp, his heirs and assigns, and upon and under the distinct understanding and agreement, as hereinbefore set forth, between the said Kleekamp and the said Heitkamp, that the said Heitkamp should hold the said property for the use and benefit of said Kleekamp, should collect the rents and profits thereof and pay the same to said Kleekamp, and should convey the said property to the said Kleekamp, or to such persQn or persons as he might nominate, whenever [28]*28requested so to do by the said Kleekamp; that during the lifetime of the said Kleekamp the said Heitkamp, in pursuance of said agreement and trust, did collect the rents and profits of said property and pay the same to the said Kleekamp; that, since the death of the said Kleekamp he has appropriated the same to his own use, and has failed and refused to account to the plaintiff for her proportion or any part thereof, though often requested so to do, and has refused to convey to the plaintiff her share and proportion of said premises.”

Wherefore, plaintiff prays that the said B. Joseph Heitkamp be declared to hold said premises in trust for the said three daughters of the said John 0. Kleekamp; that he be required to account for and pay over to plaintiffs their share of the rents and profits thereof, and “to convey to plaintiffs by good and sufficient conveyance their interest in the premises;” and for general relief.

The answer was, in substance, a general denial, except as to the record facts hereinbefore stated.

On the trial it was admitted that the estate of John 0. Kleekamp had been administered, and final settlement made in the probate court.

The plaintiffs, after making proof of the matters and facts of record as hereinbefore stated, introduced the defendant, B. Joseph Heitkamp, who, after testifying that the deeds of the twelfth of January were both delivered to him by John 0. Kleekamp on that day, and that there was no agreement between him and the said Kleekamp, either before or at the time of making said conveyance, in regard thereto, was asked many questions for the purpose of eliciting parol evidence proving or tending to prove that he gave no consideration for said conveyances, and that the money be paid for the conveyances from Percy had all been returned to him by Kleekamp between the twenty-third of May, [29]*291885, and the eighth of February, 1886. To the admission of all' evidence of this character the defendants objected, and their objections were sustained by the court. The court, on the objection of the defendants, also refused to permit the plaintiff Albert E. "Weiss to give any evidence in regard to a conversation supposed to have been had by him with Heitkamp with reference to the terms upon which he acquired said real estate, or as to who occupied or paid the taxes thereon between the date of the conveyances and the date of Kleekamp’s death; or as to who collected the rents on the “River Des Peres” property between those dates.

Thereupon, the plaintiffs took a nonsuit with leave, and, the court thereafter refusing to set the same aside upon proper motion, they bring the case here by appeal.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
29 S.W. 709, 127 Mo. 23, 1895 Mo. LEXIS 230, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/weiss-v-heitkamp-mo-1895.