Yaden v. Kinney

205 P. 980, 103 Or. 580, 1922 Ore. LEXIS 168
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedApril 18, 1922
StatusPublished

This text of 205 P. 980 (Yaden v. Kinney) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Yaden v. Kinney, 205 P. 980, 103 Or. 580, 1922 Ore. LEXIS 168 (Or. 1922).

Opinion

HARRIS, J.

1. There are three bodies of land which must be kept in mind; one is knowm as the Kilgore land; another is more frequently referred to as the Harris land, although it is sometimes called the Beaughan land; and the third is known and designated as the Davidson-McClure land. The Kilgore land embraces 81.4 acres. Kinney at one time owned half of the Kilgore land while Lena Barkhurst owned the other half. Kinney conveyed his half to Lena. The plaintiff contends that this transfer to Lena was made for the purpose of hindering Kinney’s creditors. After acquiring the half owned by Kinney, Lena con[582]*582veyed the Kilgore land embracing 81.4 acres, to Iva Drew. Clarence Harris owned an equity in a tract embracing 62 acres, tbe record title to which was held by Beaughan. With part of the proceeds derived from the sale to Iva Drew, the defendant Lena Barkhurst acquired Harris’ equity. Subsequently Lena surrendered her equity in the Harris land, and gave her note for $500 to Lew A. Davidson in consideration of the conveyance of the Davidson-McClure land. Davidson owned 160 acres; and McClure owned 160 acres contiguous to the Davidson land. The 320 acres of land known as the Davidson-McClure land may be treated as a single tract of land acquired in a single transaction, for the reason that negotiations for the sale were carried on principally by Davidson or his agent on the one hand, and by Kinney or his representative on the other hand. The plaintiff is attempting to subject the Davidson-McClure land to the payment of the judgments held by him; and, hence, the inquiry is: Does Kinney own an interest ip the Davidson-McClure land? This question cannot be answered without giving an account of the relationship which for several years existed between the defendants, and of business transactions beginning as early as 1914.

In 1909, Kinney’s wife died leaving him with four children, one of whom, Roe Kinney, was a six or seven year old boy. Kinney “bached” until becoming “mighty tired of it” he arranged on February 4,1912, for Lena Barkhurst to act as his housekeeper. The defendant Barkhurst was at that time a married woman with two children aged respectively one and two years. The defendant Lena Barkhurst concedes that she was obliged to accept the employment for the reason that she was without funds. Kinney promised to pay Lena $10 per month, with board and lodging [583]*583for herself and children, and it was understood that she was to receive more than $10 during harvest ‘ ‘ and extra work like that.” Later it was understood that she was to receive $30 per month during harvest and at such times as there was extra work to be done, and $15 a month during the remainder of the year. According to the testimony of Lena, harvest and the extra work extended over a period of four months in each year.

In 1913 Lena was divorced from her husband, and, in settlement of their property rights, he conveyed to her two lots in Klamath Falls on April 7, 1913.

The Klamath Development Company, the owner of the Kilgore land, had contracted to sell half of it to Minnie Hozin and the other half to John Corboff. Kinney acquired Corboff’s equity, and Minnie Hozin relinquished her equity to the defendant Lena Barkhurst. The Kilgore land was irrigated land and there were unpaid water charges against each half of it. Kinney transferred four lots in Klamath Falls to Corboff for his equity; and Lena conveyed her two lots in Klamath Falls to Minnie Hozin for the latter’s equity. The Klamath Development Company, through its representative M. L. Johnson, participated in the negotiations, and as a part of the transaction the Klamath Development Company deeded the Corboff half of the Kilgore land to Kinney and the Hozin half to Lena. The “back water charges” were paid by Kinney. It appears from the record that the conveyances to Kinney and Lena were subject to a mortgage held by Frederic F. Hall who had financed the Klamath Development Company. It also appears that both Kinney and Lena signed notes for deferred payments to be made on the purchase price and that these notes were secured by a mortgage on the land. [584]*584Lena testified that when she and Kinney acquired the Kilgore land, each half was burdened with the same amount of encumbrance, and that there was no difference in the values of the two halves except that a more substantial building was on her half. Lena says that the two lots received by her from her husband were worth about $1,000 in 1913. Lena received from Minnie Hozin a promissory note for $100 and a relinquishment of the latter’s equity in consideration of the conveyance of the two lots in Klamath Falls. According to the testimony of Lena, the parties fixed $1,500 as the value of the two Klamath Falls lots. The deed from Kinney to Corboff was dated August 22, 1916, and the one from Lena to Minnie Hozin was dated November 13, 1916. The deed from the Klamath Development Company to Kinney was dated November 1, 1916, and the deed from the company to Lena bore the same date. Both deeds from the Klamath Development Company were recorded April 10, 1917, at 3 p. m. M. L. Johnson testified that the papers for both halves to the Kilgore land “had been drawn up in the San Francisco office,” and were ready for delivery whenever such of them as required the signatures of Kinney and Lena were signed. It had been discovered that there were two unpaid judgments against Kinney, and he was told that it would be necessary for him to satisfy those two judgments before his deed could be delivered to him. Johnson says:

“Mr. Kinney objected to paying the judgments, saying that they were unjust debts and he didn’t feel morally obligated to pay them. I told him that the deal couldn’t go through unless they were paid because the papers were all drawn up in his name. He said he wished he had known it before the deal started, he would have the whole property put in Mrs. [585]*585Barkhurst’s name. I told him it was too late to make any change in the papers now, the K. D. Co. had stood attorney’s hills on the thing, and spent a lot of time on it and gone to a lot of expense, and it had to go through as outlined, or not at all. Whereupon in due course, Mr. 'Kinney cleared up the judgments and also the back water charges against the property,”

Under date of July 30, 1917, Kinney conveyed his half of the Kilgore land to Lena, and the deed was recorded on the same day. One of the important questions of fact presented for decision is whether this conveyance was made in good faith and in payment of indebtedness due Lena, or whether it was made to hinder Kinney’s creditors. The defendants say that the deed was given in satisfaction of a debt of $800 at that time found to be due from Kinney to Lena for services rendered by her as housekeeper. This question of fact must be solved by what occurred-before July 30, 1917, and also by what happened after that date.

Lena says that she worked continuously for Kinney as his housekeeper from February 4, 1912 until July 30, 1917, except about two months. During a period of about two years she served as postmistress, and received approximately $200 per year for her services. She had no other income whatever except the wages earned by her as housekeeper for Kinney and the salary received for her services as postmistress. In other words, the only moneys received and earned by her during a period of five years and six months were the wages earned as housekeeper and the salary as postmistress.

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Bluebook (online)
205 P. 980, 103 Or. 580, 1922 Ore. LEXIS 168, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/yaden-v-kinney-or-1922.