Stevenson v. Boyd

J.—Thomas Boyd, now deceased, was the father of Melissa J. Stevenson, the plaintiff, Thomas M. Boyd, one of the defendants, George Culberson Boyd, and Mary Alice Zinns. In December, 1892, Thomas Boyd and his son, the defendant Thomas M. Boyd, each then owning an undivided one half of an eighty-acre tract of land situated in Fresno County, executed a deed of trust of said real property to E. R. Hamilton and W. P. Coleman, as security for the payment of their promissory note for three thousand two hundred dollars, payable two years after date to the Sacramento Bank. In October, 1897, Thomas Boyd, the father, conveyed his undivided one-half interest to the plaintiff, in trust to receive the rents and profits and to pay them to the use of the grantor, Thomas Boyd, during his life, and in case George Culberson Boyd should survive his father, to apply such rents and profits for his support and maintenance during his life. The deed of trust gave plaintiff power to sell, mortgage, or lease said real estate, and provided that if the property was not sold by plaintiff, in pursuance of said deed of trust, it should, upon the death of Thomas Boyd and George Culberson Boyd, be vested in the plaintiff and Mary Alice Zinns, share and share alike.

On October 13, 1902, two days less than four years after the sale by the trustees to Thomas M. and Josephine Porter Boyd, and over nineteen months after the conveyance from Thomas M. Boyd to Josephine Porter Boyd, this action was: brought by the plaintiff. The complaint alleged that, prior to-the trustees’ sale, the defendants, in pursuance of a conspiracy to that end, did by threats of violence and otherwise, prevent the plaintiff from raising the money necessary to pay off her one half of the indebtedness to the Sacramento Bank, and that they procured the Bank of Selma to take an assignment of the note and to direct a sale of the property by the trustees, Hamilton & Coleman, for the purpose of destroying the rights-of plaintiff under the deed from Thomas Boyd. It is alleged

Thomas M. Boyd and his wife, Josephine Porter Boyd, answered separately. Each of the answers denies that the defendants had conspired or contrived to defeat the deed of' trust under which plaintiff claims, or to deprive the plaintiff as trustee of her interest in the property, or that plaintiff was prevented by any act of the defendants, or either of them, from raising the money necessary to pay her share of the-indebtedness. The defendant Josephine Porter Boyd set up a special defense of laches, alleging that at the time the land was sold by the trustees to the Bank of Selma, and by the-Bank of Selma to the defendants, its value did not exceed five thousand dollars; that on February 21, 1901, Thomas M.. Boyd sold his interest in the land to Josephine Porter Boyd for the sum of seven thousand dollars, more than three thousand dollars of which has been paid in cash and the balance in notes secured by mortgage; that since said sale by the trustees to the Bank of Selma and by the Bank of Selma to the defendants the land has greatly increased in value and is now of the value of about fifteen thousand dollars; that the defendant bought the interest of her co-defendant in good faith and paid and obligated herself to pay the full increased value thereof to said co-defendant Thomas M. Boyd; that plaintiff made no claim to any interest as trustee or otherwise in or to said property and took no steps and made no effort to subject said property to any claim until it had greatly increased in value. The defendant further alleges on information and belief that the plaintiff would not have made any such claim had the property not increased in value, and.

The answer of Thomas M. Boyd, in addition to its denials of many of the allegations of the complaint, set up a claim as against his wife, the co-defendant Josephine Porter Boyd, his contention being that the eighteen hundred dollars belonging to Josephine Porter Boyd which went into the purchase of the property at the time of the trustees’ sale was a loan to him, and that the conveyance of the undivided one-half interest to said Josephine Porter Boyd was made as security for such loan.

The trial resulted in findings and judgment in favor of the defendant Josephine Porter Boyd. The court found against the allegations of the complaint regarding a conspiracy between the defendants, found against the allegation that the sum of eighteen hundred dollars paid by Josephine Porter Boyd wras a loan to her co-defendant, and found that the conveyance of October 19, 1898, from the Bank of Selma to Thomas M. Boyd and Josephine Porter Boyd conveyed to each of'said defendants an equal undivided one-half interest in and to said property, and that the defendant Josephine Porter Boyd, in consideration of said conveyance, paid as a part of the purchase price for said land the sum of eighteen hundred dollars. It was found that Josephine Porter Boyd did not take the title of such one-half interest as security for any loan to her co-defendant Thomas M. Boyd. The allegations of the answer of Josephine Porter Boyd with reference to the defense of laches are all found to be true, except that the court finds that the value of the property at the time of the conveyance to the defendants was six thousand dollars, instead of five thousand dollars, as alleged in the answer. As conclusions of law the court found that the plaintiff should take nothing against Josephine Porter Boyd, and said Josephine Porter Boyd should have judgment against plaintiff and her co-defendant for her costs. Judgment was entered accordingly. The plaintiff appeals from the judgment.

The appellant’s position is that, inasmuch as she and defendant Thomas M. Boyd were cotenants in the property, the latter could not purchase for himself alone the outstanding interest vested in the trustees, Hamilton & Coleman, but was bound to hold any title acquired on such purchase for the equal benefit of himself and his cotenant upon condition that the latter should contribute or offer to contribute her portion of the purchase money. This is undoubtedly the general rule as to cotenants. “A cotenant cannot take advantage of any defect in the common title by purchasing an outstanding title or encumbrance and assert it against his companions in interest. The purchase is, notwithstanding his design to the contrary, for the common benefit of all the cotenants. The legal title acquired by him "is held in trust for the others if they choose within a reasonable time to claim the benefit of the purchase by contributing or offering to contribute their proportion of the purchase money.” (Freeman on Cotenancy and Partition, 2d ed., see. 154.) The respondent contends that this principle applies only where the cotenants hold under the same instrument. Whether or not the rule is subject to this qualification is a question which has given rise to a considerable conflict of authority. It need not, however, be here decided. Assuming that the plaintiff (regardless of her allegations that the defendants prevented her from paying off her share of the debt to the Sacramento Bank) was entitled, as against her cotenant and his wife, to claim the benefit of the purchase by them of the interest sold by the trustees, she must still fail, for the reason that the court below found that her cause of action was barred by laches. This finding is fully sustained by the proofs offered and the principles of law applicable.

The plaintiff’s delay in seeking relief in the courts had not lasted for such a period as to make the statute of limitations available as a bar to the suit. Undoubtedly mere delay to commence the suit for a period less than that of the statute of limitations is not a sufficient reason for dismissing the

We think the facts shown in the case at bar are clearly sufficient to justify the conclusion of the court, that so far as the defendant Josephine Porter Boyd is concerned, the delay of the plaintiff was so great as to deprive her of the right to seek the relief here demanded. It is not disputed that the plaintiff knew of the trustees’ sale and of the conveyance by the Bank of Selma to the defendants at the time these transactions took place. In the meanwhile, the respondent has purchased the interest of her cotenant, has cultivated and cared for the land, has made some improvements upon it, and taken the risks of declining values and failure of crops. It is in evidence, and it is found by the court, that property of this character was in little demand at the time of the sale. Since such sale it has increased greatly in value, until at the time of the trial it had more than doubled in value. We cannot doubt that the court below was fully justified in finding that a delay of almost four years was unreasonable under these circumstances. To permit the plaintiff now to reinstate

The appellant points out certain facts, which, it is alleged, should have been held to have excused the delay in seeking relief. But whether or not, under all the circumstances, the delay has been such as to render it inequitable to grant the relief is, in the first instance, a question for the trial court, the determination of which is left, as is said in Chapman v. Bank of California, 97 Cal. 155 , 159, [ 31 Pac. 896 ], “to the sound discretion of the chancellor in each case.” The matters relied on by appellant as explaining her delay were proper to be considered by the court below, but, without stating them at length, we are compelled to say that, giving due effect to all of them, they were not of such character as to require that court to conclude that, at least as against the respondent, Josephine Porter Boyd, the plaintiff had not slept on her rights to such an extent as to require the denial of relief.

. Our views on this point make it unnecessary to consider any of the other contentions urged by counsel.

The judgment is affirmed.

Angellotti, J., and Shaw, J., concurred.

Hearing in Bank denied.