Worley v. Hicks

61 S.W. 818, 161 Mo. 340, 1901 Mo. LEXIS 116
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedMarch 26, 1901
StatusPublished

This text of 61 S.W. 818 (Worley v. Hicks) 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
Worley v. Hicks, 61 S.W. 818, 161 Mo. 340, 1901 Mo. LEXIS 116 (Mo. 1901).

Opinion

BURGESS, J.

This is an action of ejectment for the possession of a farm containing ninety-three acres of land in Linn county. The petition is in the usual form in such cases.

The answer of defendant Nichols admits possession, but denies all other allegations in the petition. The answer of the defendant Hicks is of the same character, with the exception that it .alleges that defendants were in possession of the land on May 20, 1897, under a lease from their co-defendant Nichols which expired on the twentieth day of February, 1898.

The plaintiffs are husband and wife. The plaintiff [343]*343George W. Worley, purchased, the land from Asa Scott, who, his wife joining with him, on the twentieth day of May, 1878, executed to plaintiff, George W. Worley, a deed of general warranty therefor. Soon thereafter plaintiffs and their children moved upon the land, and lived there and occupied it as their homestead until dispossessed on May 20, 1897.

In order to raise money to pay off a loan upon the land, plaintiffs borrowed from William E. Worley, a brother of George W. Worley, several hundred dollars, and for the purpose of securing its payment, on the eleventh day of February,. 1889, conveyed to him the land. Thereafter, the plaintiff, Mrs. Worley, acquired from her father’s estate about $1,700, out of which was paid the debt to William F. Worley, who then conveyed the land to her by deed dated May 2, 1890, and acknowledged on February 15, 1894.

On March 4, 1891, Nichols and Shepard Company obtained judgment in the circuit court of Linn county, against William Worley, the plaintiff’s son, for $1,374.60, and costs, and thereafter, on January 16, 1894, an execution was issued on said judgment and the land in question levied on as the property of said William Worley, the judgment defendant, and under said levy the sheriff sold said land and executed to the purchaser, the said E. C. Nichols, a sheriff’s deed therefor. Under the claim of title acquired by said purchase and sheriff’s deed, the said E. C. Nichols sued the said George W. Worley in ejectment for possession of said land, and on June 6, 1896, judgment by default was rendered in the circuit court of said Linn county in said cause in favor of the plaintiff and against said defendant for possession of it and for damages and rents, and by virtue of an alias writ of possession issued on said judgment the sheriff of said county removed from said premises and dispossessed the said George W. Worley and his wife and three other persons, and placed said E.. C. [344]*344Nichols in possession. After being so dispossessed the plaintiffs, George W. Worley and Henrietta Worley, his wife, on June 24, 1897, instituted this action for the possession of said premises.

The case was tried by the court, a jury being waived, who at the instance of plaintiffs, and .over the objection and exception of defendants, declared the law to be as follows:

“1. If the court find from, the evidence that plaintiffs are husband and wife, and that soon after the plaintiff, George W. Worley, purchased the land in question and obtained his deed thereto dated May 20, 1878, read in evidence, they took possession of the premises in question and thereafter continuously occupied the same as their homestead until dispossessed May 20, 1897, and that the said premises included only about ninety-three acres, and has not been and is not of greater value than $1,500, then the finding and judgment must be for the plaintiffs.
“2. If the court finds from the evidence that the deed in evidence from George W. Worley to William E. Worley, dated February 11, 1889, and recorded July 10, 1889, read in evidence, was and is a conveyance of the land in question to a brother of said plaintiff and not a conveyance to said plaintiff’s son, and that the judgment recited in the sheriff’s deed, read in evidence by the defendants,'was rendered against a son of said plaintiffs, then the finding and judgment must be for the plaintiffs.
“3. There is no evidence in this case that the deed in evidence from plaintiff, George W. Worley, to William F. Worley was made to said plaintiff’s son, William Noah Worley.
“4. The deed from George W. Worley to William F. Worley and the deed from said William F. Worley to the plaintiff, Henrietta Worley, both in evidence, conveyed to and [345]*345vested in said Henrietta Worley the legal title to said land.
“5. Under the pleadings and all the .evidence in this case the finding and judgment must be for the plaintiffs.”

Defendant asked the following declarations of law which were refused.

“1. Neither the plaintiffs, nor either of them, has shown a chain of legal title to them, or either of them, from the Hnited States, to the land sued for.
“2. Before plaintiffs, or either of them, can recover in this case, they must show a legal and complete chain of paper title from the United States to one or both of them.
“3. Whatever title plaintiffs, or either of them, had to the land, was vested in the defendant, E. C. Nichols, by virtue of a sheriff’s deed, dated March 9,1894, conveying to said Nichols the interest of William Worley, in and to said land.
“4. There is no evidence that William E. Worley, (brother of George W. Worley) as grantee in the warranty] deed from Geo. W. Worley, of February 11, 1889, and signed jointly by Henrietta Worley, his wife (stating that said William F. Worley was a resident of Linn county, Missouri), was a resident of Linn county, Missouri, at that or any other time, but the only William Worley who was a resident of said county and State at said time was one William Worley, a son of the said Geo. W. and Henrietta Worley.
“5. Said deed of February 11, 1889, executed by Geo. W. Worley, and signed jointly by his wife Henrietta, to William F. Worley, conveyed the land to William Worley, a son of plaintiffs, and not William F. Worley, a brother of Geo. W. Worley, one of the plaintiffs.
“6. William F. Worley, named as grantee in said conveyance, and William Worley, whose interest in the land in suit was conveyed by sheriff’s deed dated March 9, 1894, to E. C. Nichols, is one and the same person.
[346]*346“7. Although, the deed of February 11, 1889, was executed by Geo.- W. Worley alone, and signed jointly by his wife, to William E. Worley, yet said Geo. W. Worley, by said conveyance, transferred absolutely all homestead right in and to said land at said time, to one William Worley, his son.
“8. Although the deed of February 11, 1889, to William E. Worley, was only signed jointly by Henrietta Worley with her husband, Geo. W. Worley, yet the signing of the same by her was a complete bar to any homestead right or claim, if any, she may have had to the land in suit.
“9. All the evidence respecting the value of any services rendered on the land after the lease of the same to the defendants, Jehu H. Hicks and J. O. Hicks, by the defendant, E. O. Nichols, is wholly disregarded, as said services constitute no •elements whatever ,of rents or damages.
“10. Defendant, E. O.

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

Related

Holland v. Adair
55 Mo. 40 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1874)
Butcher v. Rogers
60 Mo. 138 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1875)
Miller v. Hardin
64 Mo. 545 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1877)
Comer v. Taylor
82 Mo. 341 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1884)
Charles v. Patch
87 Mo. 450 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1885)
Grandy v. Casey
93 Mo. 595 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1887)
State ex rel. Kramer v. Mason
96 Mo. 559 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1888)
Finch v. Ullman
105 Mo. 255 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1891)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
61 S.W. 818, 161 Mo. 340, 1901 Mo. LEXIS 116, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/worley-v-hicks-mo-1901.