Douglas v. Schneider
Douglas v. Schneider
Opinion of the Court
The facts in this case are somewhat unusual. In 1948, Mrs. Laura B. Parker, of Baxter County, owned all of the lands in question in this litigation. A creek ran through this property, and Lee Douglas and wife, appellants herein, desired to purchase that portion of the lands east of the creek, and also enough land west of the creek to enable appellants to enclose their property without running the risk that the fence would be washed away by a rise. A survey was made by the County Surveyor, establishing a boundary on the west side of the creek.
In April, 1958, Van Schaik and wife agreed to sell the lands to Wesley W. Schneider and wife, also appellees herein. At that time, a mistake in the description in the deed (Douglas to Van Schaik) was discovered. To correct the mistake, the Douglases executed a correction deed to the Van Schaiks on April 23, 1958. However, this deed likewise was erroneous, and specified the creek as the east boundary, rather than following the surveyed line.
It is clear that Mr. and Mrs. Douglas had no intention of conveying to the Van Schaiks any lands other than those conveyed by the Parker deed of August 29, 1951, i. e., appellants did not intend to include any of the land which had been purchased for their own use in 1948. In fact, it is not argued otherwise. However, Van Schaik testified that he thought he was buying to “the creek,” and he intended his conveyance to Schneider to show the creek as the boundary. As to the July, 1958, correction deed from the Douglases to him, the witness stated that he did not know whether Douglas ever delivered him a correction deed or not, but he did say that he knew he was not advised that the boundary was being changed, and that he signed the correction deed to Schneider with the assurance that the creek was the east boundary of the property; that this assurance was given by either Mr. Douglas, or Mr. Gibson. He could not state definitely, but was under the impression that he might have signed this deed in blank.
Douglas testified that he paid a Mountain Home attorney to make the first correction deed, and that he went back to the same attorney to have the second correction deed made in July. Douglas recorded both July deeds, from himself and wife to the Van Schaiks and from the Van Schaiks to the Schneiders, and paid for same. Admittedly, Douglas never had any conversation or transactions with Schneider prior to the July correction deed, nor did he advise appellees that he had recorded these instruments.
Jim Gibson, who was engaged in the real estate business in Mountain Home in 1958, handled the Schneider purchase. Gibson testified that he represented the property line to be “just short” of the creek; subsequently, the witness said that he did not remember just what he told Schneider. He stated that sometime after the April deed, Douglas told him that part of his (appcllant’s) own land had been deeded, for the deed named the creek as the boundary. Gibson stated that he believed that he delivered the July Van Schaik-toSchneider deed to the latter.
Schneider testified that when he purchased the lands he was of the opinion that he was buying all lands on the west side of the creek. He stated that he never had any knowledge of any deeds, affecting his title, after the correction deed of April 23, 1958, and that he did not know of any claim that anyone was making to this land until the previous fall when he was advised that Douglas and some surveyers were on his property, and, upon making inquiry, was told by Douglas that a mistake had been made in the deeds, and “you don’t even know what property you got.” Thereupon, Schneider consulted his attorney.
The 'Chancellor found that the Schneiders, relying on the record title, and in good faith, purchased the lands in question from the Van Schaiks on April 25, 1958; that the correction deed from Douglas and wife to Van Schaik and wife, of July 3, was executed without the agreement of the Van Schaiks; that Schneider and wife had no knowledge of any July correction deed from the Van Schaiks, and that such an instrument was never delivered to, or accepted by them. Of course, the trial court had the advantage of observing every witness that testified, and thus was in a position to know the reaction of each witness to the questions propounded. Here, people were testifying about events which had happened a number of years earlier, and accordingly, the trier of the facts had a particular advantage (over this court) in observing how they seemed to recall these past events, %. e., whether they were positive—or doubtful—sure—or unsure. However, we do not deem it necessary to discuss the law relative to the effectiveness (or lack of it) of an undelivered deed, or the law relating to the recording of deeds where delivery is not established, for we are of the opinion that the record reflects that the Schneiders purchased the lands in question in good faith, and had no notice that Mr. and Mrs. Douglas were claiming any part of these lands. Appellants controvert this finding- by pointing out that the original contract between Van Schaik and Schneider, entered into on April 15, 1958, provided that the Schneiders would purchase from the Van Schaiks:
“All acreage covered in deed from Lee Douglas and Wilma Douglas to Fred Van Schaik and Katherine J. Van Schaik, located in Independence Acres tract as platted by Surveyor of Baxter County, as recorded in Surveyor’s record “C” at page 261 of Baxter County Arkansas. ’ ’
It is undisputed that the Schneiders never saw the instruments or documents referred to, and we do not agree that, under the circumstances of this case, the failure of the Schneiders to go to the courthouse and check these records deprives them of the status of innocent purchasers. The Schneiders did what every purchaser should do before buying property. They employed an attorney to examine the abstract of title; they were aware of the correction deed given by Mr. and Mrs. Douglas to Mr. and Mrs. Van Schaik on April 23 (two days before they completed the purchase), and that it had been given to correct an error in an earlier deed. There was no reason for them to suspect any error in the correction deed, and accordingly no reason to “look behind” that deed. The description by which the property was conveyed to them is exactly the same as in that correction deed. The Schneiders only paid their money after receiving the attorney’s opinion that Van Schaik and wife held a good and merchantable title to the lands being purchased.
Really, it would appear that both the Schneiders and Douglases were innocent parties, but Douglas’ error actually was responsible for the situation that arose. Appellants state, “Douglas simply acted as a go-between at the request of Van Schaik, to save Van Schaik some money, and is being penalized under the court’s order because he just happened to own the adjoining land.” It might be pointed out, however, that Mr. Douglas’ efforts were not entirely a matter of being “neighborly,” or ‘ ‘ for accommodation, ’ ’ since he testified that he purchased the property from Mrs. Parker for either $900.00 or $1,000.00, and sold it to the Van Schaiks for $1,500.00. Accordingly, he made $500.00 or $600.00 on the transaction.
We are unable to say that the Chancellor’s findings were against the preponderance of the evidence.
Affirmed.
This survey line followed the meandering- of the creek, and ranged from several feet to fifty feet from the west bank of the creek at the time of the survey.
It was also erroneous in that it described the land to be located in the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter, instead of the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter. The deed was reformed by the court to correct this error, and that is not at issue here.
Mr. Douglas said, *'I never read it, I didn’t have my glasses with me * *
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.