West Portland Homestead Ass'n v. Lownsdale, Assignee

17 F. 205, 9 Sawy. 106, 1883 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96
CourtUnited States Circuit Court
DecidedJuly 20, 1883
StatusPublished

This text of 17 F. 205 (West Portland Homestead Ass'n v. Lownsdale, Assignee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Circuit Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
West Portland Homestead Ass'n v. Lownsdale, Assignee, 17 F. 205, 9 Sawy. 106, 1883 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96 (uscirct 1883).

Opinion

Deady, J.

On March 27,1883, the plaintiff, a corporation formed and existing under the laws of Oregon, brought this suit to have the defendant, as the assignee in bankruptcy of Charles M. Carter, perpetually enjoined from selling block 67 in Carter’s addition to Portland.

The case was heard on a plea in bar to the bill, founded on the limitation contained in section 2 of the bankrupt act, (section 5057. liev. St.,) which provides that—

“Ko suit, either at law or in equity, shall bo maintainable in any court between an assignee in bankruptcy and a person claiming an adverse interest, touching any property or rights of property transferable to or vested in such assignee, unless brought within two years from tlie time when the cause of action accrued for or against such assignee.”

The facts stated in the bill necessary to an understanding of the case are briefly these :

[206]*206On and prior to September 6,1871, Joseph S. Smith, Charles M. Carter, T. J. Carter, and L. F. Grover were the owners in common oí the unsold portion of the north-east quarter of the donation claim of Thomas and Minerva Carter, situated in township 1 S., range 1 W. of the TVallamet meridian, and bounded on the south by the east and west subdivision line of section 4, in the township aforesaid; and,as such owners, on or before October 1, 1871, caused the same to be surveyed and- platted into blocks, lots, and streets, by numbers and names, as Carter’s addition to Portland, and divided the same between themselves by deeds of partition, designating therein, according to said plat, the lots and blocks allotted to each; thao in the deed so executed to Charles M. Carter there is described block 67, “ in Carter’s addition,” whereas at the date of such deed there was no such block in said addition, the designation of the same therein being a mistake, and without consideration between the parties thereto; that in October, 1871, said L. F. Grover and Elizabeth, his wife, caused to be surveyed and platted into blocks, lots, and streets, by numbers and names, a certain tract of land, owned in severalty by said Elizabeth, and adjoining the first-mentioned tract on the south as a part of said Carter’s addition, one of which blocks is said block 67; that afterwards said Grover and wife, in conjunction with the other parties to said partition, executed a general plat of both said surveys' and plats of Carter’s addition, and acknowledged the same, which was recorded on November 4,1871; that on August 11, 1875, said Grover and wife, for a valuable consideration, duly conveyed to the plaintiff said block 67; that at the date of such conveyance, and prior to the one to Charles M. Carter, said Grover and wife were in the exclusive possession of the said block and paid the taxes thereon, and the plaintiff since the conveyance to it has been and is now in the exclusive possession of the same, and has paid the taxes thereon; and the said Charles M. Carter was never in the possession of the same or paid any taxes thereon, “ but was ignorant that said mistaken designation was in his deed.”

The bill also alleges that the plaintiff purchased the premises in good faith, and that no creditor of said Carter was deceived by the fact; that said block 67 was included in said deed to him, and that the defendant, as assignee aforesaid, now claims to be the owner of the. same, and as such is about to sell it at public auction.

On the argument the point was made that this was not a pure plea, and therefore it ought to be supported by an answer. Where the matter of the plea is, anticipated by the bill as a release, but circumstances are also alleged that may avoid its effect, as that it was obtained by fraud or mistake, the plea is not a pure one. In such cases the plea must deny the circumstances, and be supported by an answer making a discovery touching the same. Story, Eq. PI. §§ 674, 675. A pure plea is founded on new matter, not apparent on the face of the bill, or it is limited to a denial of some allegation therein, which goes to the foundation of the suit—as the fact of partnership. Story, Eq. PI. §§.660, 668.

The material facts contained in the plea appear on the face of the bill, except the recording of the deed aforesaid to Charles M. Carter on September 20, 1871, and the date—February 19, 1878—of the defendant’s appointment as assignee in bankruptcy of said Carter; and if these two facts had been stated -in the bill, the defense might have been made by demurrer.

[207]*207The right to maintain a suit to correct the alleged mistake in the conveyance to Carter was not barred by the law of the state at the date of the appointment of the defendant as his assignee in bankruptcy, and therefore the qualification of section 5057, supra, that it shall not have the effect to “revive a right of action barred at the time when an assignee is appointed, ” has no application to the case. But I do not perceive that any attempt is made in the bill to anticipate this defense of lapse of time and avoid it, and therefore it sepms to be a case for a pure plea of the statute—a simple statement of facts which show that the right to maintain this suit is barred because it was not brought within two years from the time it accrued.

The allegation concerning the possession of the premises in the mean time is not pertinent to this matter, as the right to maintain this suit is not affected by that fact, whatever weight it might have as evidence upon the question of mistake. If the plaintiff is in the possession of the premises, and the defendant’s right thereto is barred by the adverse occupation of the former and those under whom it claims, it may avail itself of that fact as a defense when the defendant or his grantee seeks to recover that possession. So with the allegations of good faith on the part of the plaintiff, and the creditors of Carter not being deceived: they in no way excuse the delay in bringing this suit, or tend to avoid the bar of the statute. Neither is the allegation of Garter’s ignorance of the fact that block 67 was included in the conveyance to him material in this connection. But if it had been alleged that the plaintiff was ignorant of the mistake, and did not discover it or become aware of it until within two years next before the commencement of this suit, that would be a circumstance sufficient to avoid the apparent bar of the statute, and to require an answer from the defendant in support of this plea, and a denial of the same therein; for in case of fraud or mistake a court of equity does not allow the statute to run until the discovery thereof. Story, Eq. PL § 1521ct. And tins rule has now been incorporated into the statutes of many of the states, including Oregon, (Code Civil Proc. | 378;) and in Bailey v. Glover, 21 Wall. 347, was applied to this very statute by the supreme court in a case of fraud, and by a parity of reasoning and authority would doubtless he similarly construed in a case of mistake. See, also, Nicholas v. Murray, 5 Sawy. 324; Carr v. Hilton, 1 Curt. 390. Counsel for the plaintiff also contends that the right to maintain this suit against the assignee did not accrue until the defendant set up a verbal claim to the property by advertising it for sale in March last, as the assignee in bankruptcy of Carter, and therefore the statute has not run. ’

But this view of the statute cannot be maintained. The deed to Carter vested the legal title to the premises in him, and the conveyance by the register in bankruptcy to the defendant passed the same to the latter.

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

Related

Bailey v. Glover
88 U.S. 342 (Supreme Court, 1875)
Freelander v. Holloman
9 F. Cas. 748 (S.D. Mississippi, 1873)
Carr v. Hilton
5 F. Cas. 137 (U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Maine, 1853)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
17 F. 205, 9 Sawy. 106, 1883 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/west-portland-homestead-assn-v-lownsdale-assignee-uscirct-1883.