Deputron v. Young

after stating the case, delivered the opinion of the court.

It is contended that the Circuit Court erred in entering judgment on the special verdict because the citizenship of the parties was not found ■ by the jury. But 'that fact stood admitted on the record. The plaintiff averred in her petition that she was “a citizen and resident of the.State of Ohio,” and that the defendant was “ a citizen and resident of the State of Nebraska.” The answer set up three defences: (1) An affirmative claim of title under a tax deed; (2) Ten years’ adverse possession; (3) “And this defendant,further answering, denies that the said plaintiff is the owner of the premises described in her petition; and this defendant also denies that the plaintiff is entitled to the possession of the said premises, and prays to be hence dismissed with his costs, to be taxed.” The averment of diverse citizenship was not controverted by the answer,

Clearly, where the jurisdictional allegation is not traversed, no question involving the capacity of the parties in the cause to litigate in the Circuit Court can be raised before the jury, Railroad Co. v. Quigley, 21 How. 202 , 214; or treated as within the issues they might be impanelled tó determine: The Circuit Court properly proceeded to judgment, although the special verdict contained no finding upon this point.

After the case had been twice tried on its merits, and stood on the special verdict upon motions by the parties'for judgment in their favor respectively, the defendant assailed the jurisdiction of the court by petition, upon the ground that the. title had been placed in the plaintiff collusively and with -the view of enabling suit to be brought in the United States Court, when in fact the plaintiff did not own the property and had accepted, the title only for the collusive purposé aforesaid. Prior to the passage of the act of 1875,' such a question could only be raised by a plea in abatement in the nature of a plea to the jurisdiction; but the fifth section of that act provided that if “ it shall appear to the satisfaction of said Circuit Court at any time after such suit has been brought that such suit does not really and substantially involve a dispute or controversy properly within the jurisdiction of said Circuit Court, or that the parties to said suit have been improperly or collusively made or joined, either as plaintiffs or defendants, for the purpose of creating a case cognizable under this act, the sajd Circuit Court shall proceed no further therein, but shall dismiss the suit ; but its order dismissing the cause shall be -rev viewable by the Supreme. Court on writ of error or appeal, as1 the case, may be.” 18 Stat. 472 . The application here was made more than a year and a half after the second trial, and although the petitioner avers that he “ did not have knowledge of the above facts before the trial of this cause,” we remark in passing that such an objection ought tp be raised at the first opportunity, and delay in its presentation should be consid

The issue of fact raised upon this petition was tried by the Circuit Court without a jury, and the application denied. No question of law was reserved by the defendant. during the hearing, but he entered an exception to the final order, and now asks us to hold that it was the duty of the Circuit-Court to dismiss the case' because collusively brought. We do not care to enter upon a discussion as to how far in an action at law, where there are no special findings upon, an issue of .fact such as this, a party has the right to demand a' review of. the final order of the Circuit Court on the merits, as, upon the evidence in this record, we are content with the conclusion arrived at. In Barry v. Edmunds, 116 U. S. 550 , it was held that a suit cannot properly be dismissed by a Circuit Court of the United States, as not involving a controversy within the jurisdiction of the court, unless the facts when made to appear on .the record create a legal certainty of that conclusion. “ Nothing' less than this,” said Mr. Justice Matthews, “ is meant by the statute when it provides»that the failure of its jurisdiction, on this account, ‘ shall appear to the satisfaction of said Circuit Court.’ ”

The question was whether the conveyance by Jane T. Irwin to Kowena Young was colorable merely. The plaintiff testified positively that she was the real owner of the land, and that it was conveyed to her by her sister, Mrs. Irwin, partly in consideration of what Mrs. Irwin owed her, and partly because she herself had a share in it; .that “the land was entered, with money coming out of my father’s estate belonging in'part to me, being the joint, fund of Jane and myself.” And he.r testimony is corroborated by that of her brother,' William P. Young.

We have carefully examined the evidence and especially the matters urged as constituting badges of colorable transfer, but do not find any substantial ground for overthrowing the deed, or questioning the passing of thé title. Such conflict as exists has been determined by the Circuit Court, and it would subserve no useful purpose to restate the circumstances

Upon the rendition of the special verdict the defendant moved to set aside the 10th, 17th and 19th findings as not supported by the evidence, and for judgment upon the verdict as so amended, but the court overruled the motion, and entered judgment for the plaintiff upon the special verdict as returned. "We cannot review the action of the court in reference to the findings objected to, and, no exceptions having been saved, are restricted to the question whether there was error in giving judgment for the plaintiff upon the facts as found.

From the first finding it appears that Jane Y. Irwin “obtained title to said lands by patént from the United States December 15, 1862, and on the 9th of August, 1867, conveyed the same to "William P. Young, who, on the 5th of February,-1874, reconveyed the same to Jane Y. Irwin, who, on the 11th day of June, 1884, conveyed said lands to the plaintiff, .Kow-ena Young.” This made out the title of defendant in error, and to prevent her recovery the plaintiff in error was obliged to sustain one or more of his affirmative defences, in' respect to which he had the burden of proof.

These defences were: Claim under two tax deeds, coupled with ten years’ adverse possession; conveyance by Jane Y. Irwin, by William T. Donavan as her attorney-in-fact; sheriff’s deed on execution sale to Curson, deed of Curson to Little, and of Little to plaintiff in error.

As to the tax deeds, it wa.s found that one was issued upon a sale made for the taxes of a year when the land was not assessed for taxes, and that neither of them was “sealed 'by the county treasurer with his official seal, nor did the county treasurer then have an official seal.” The Circuit Court held that under the decisions of the Supreme Court of Nebraska, these tax deeds were void for want of the seal, and cited many decisions of that court to that effect. In Gue v. Jones, 25 Nebraska, 634, 637, January term, 1889, the court say : “At the trial the defendant, produced a tax deed covering the premises in question, issued to Smith by the treasurer of Douglas County, August 4, 1865, for the taxes of 1862. This deed

No title, therefore, was transmitted by- these deeds; but a tax deed, though void upon its face, is sufficient color of title in Nebraska to support an adverse possession to the property therein described'; Gatling v. Lane, 17 Nebraska, 77; while a tax certificate is not. McKeighan v. Hapkins, 14 Nebraska, 361, 364. The possession, however, which bars a recovery, must be continuous, uninterrupted, open, notorious, actual, exclusive and adverse.. Armstrong v. Morrill, 14 Wall. 120 , 145. From the findings it appears- that Little was holding in January, 1875, which was within ten years prior to the commencement of this suit, under a tax certificate; that up to the year 1876 the possession of the land in dispute was “mixed,” but it “ was open, vacant and unoccupied except by the city pest-house, and was used as a common; ” that some portions of the whole -tract were in possession of squatters, some portions' in possession of parties holding under Mrs. Irwin, and a part in the possession of the grantee in the tax deeds or under him; and the jury find the possession of the premises deliv

The plaintiff in error also asserted title under a conveyance by Donavan as her attorney-in-fact. The 2d, 3d, 4th, 13th, 14th, 16th, 28th, 29th, 30th, 37th and 40th findings present the facts on this branch of the case, and establish that on the 31st day of March, 1874, Jane Y. Irwin entered into a contract with Scott, Boyd and La Master for the subdivision and sale of this and other land, and that they entered upon, platted and surveyed it by the last of May, 1875 ; that, (4th and 28th,) “on the 12th of August, 1875, Jane Y. Irwin and her husband executed a power of attorney to William T. Donavan, to enable him to make conveyances to purchasers when sales were made by Scott, Boyd and La Master, and to facilitate their operations under their contract of March 31, 1874; ” that on the 25th day of October, 1879, a deed was. executed by Donavan, as attorney-in-fact, for tracts which included that in dispute, to one Lantz, for “the purported consideration, as expressed upon the face of said deed, of $1000,” and on the same day Lantz, “ for the consideration of $1000, as expressed in said deed, paid by Samuel W. Little to said John P. Lantz,” conveyed the same to Little; that these deeds were parts of one transaction, and the entire

Even if the power had been general the conveyance was found fraudulent, and no estoppel arises in favor of plaintiff in error in the absence of findings that he paid value without notice.

It is impossible to conclude that the Circuit .Court erred in putting aside this attempt to bolster up the title by the deed ■of Donavan. •

In addition to the Donavan deed and the tax deeds, it is urged on behalf of the plaintiff in error that he made out title under a sale on execution. One Sessions on May 19, 1877, recovered a judgment in the District Court of .Lancaster County, Nebraska, against Jane Y. Irwin, upon which execution was issued and levied on forty acres, of which the.premises in controversy were a part, and sale made to one Curson' for- $30, which sale was confirmed October 10, 1877, and a

The .opinion of the Circuit Court upon this point is as follows: “It is the settled law of Nebraska that the title of a purchaser at an execution sale depends not alon¿ upon his bid or payment of the purchase money, but upon the confirmation of the sale; also that one purchasing at an execution sale, submits himself to the jurisdiction of the court as to matters affecting that sale, and that a court has power during the term to vacate' or modify its- own orders or to rescind decrees. Phillips v. Dawley, 1 Nebraska, 320; Bank v. Green, 10 Nebraska, 134; Volland v. Wilcox, 17 Nebraska, 50; Gregory v. Tingley, 18 Nebraska, 318, 322. It follows from these facts and decisions that, the sale, though temporarily confirmed, was finally set aside, and that no rights' of a third partjr accrued during the time that the sale was apparently confirmed. Hence this chain of title presented by defendants must fail.”. We are entirely satisfied that this expresses the law on the subject in the State of Nebraska. In State Bank v. Green, 10 Nebraska, 130, 134, the Supreme Court of Nebraska says: “Under- our law governing sales of real property on execution the title of the purchaser depends entirely upon the sale being finally confirmed by the court under whose process it was made, and until this is done, the rights of .the execution debtor are not certainly divested.” The final order confirming is subject to review as the confirmation of a sale in equity is, Parrat v. Neligh, 7 Nebraska, 456, 459; and the purchaser submits to the jurisdiction of the court as to all matters connected with such sale or relating to .him, in the Aharacter -of purchaser. This order of confirmation Avas va-sated before there was any change in the relation of the parties, rnd the sheriff’s deed fell Avith it. Counsel for plaintiff in

The cases cited by the' circuit judge show that the purchaser can move for confirmation or to set the sale- aside, and can appeal from the order thereon ;■ that he may be compelled to perform his bid, and that he is concluded by the result-of the proceedings to confirm' or annul the same. And see Paulett v. Peabody, 3 Nebraska, 196, 197; Shann v. Jones, 4 C. E. Green (19 N. J. Eq.) 251; Requa v. Rea, 2 Paige, 339; Barker v. Richardson, 41 N. J. Eq. (14 Stewart) 656. That such is the rule in Nebraska is quite., convincingly shown by the case, of Sessions v. Irwin, 8 Nebraska, 5, which was an appeal,by Curson from the order setting aside the confirmation and the sale under consideration here, which order was, however, affirmed. If Sessions, the judgment creditor, received $30 from Cursofi, respecting ■ which there is no finding, he became Curson’s debtor to that amount, and, as argued for defendant in error, Curson might have a right-to be compensated out of the' moneys collected upon the judgment, but the operation of the Order setting aside, the confirmation was to defeat -any claim of title on the part of Curson or his grantee. This accords with the decisions and settled practice of the state courts in reference to sales under process issuing out of them.

Finally,- it is said' that the judgment embraces, property not described in the petition. The description was “ the west half of the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section twenty-four.”

There being no error, the judgment is

Affirmed.