Cota v. Jones
Cota v. Jones
Opinion of the Court
After sustaining a demurrer to the complaint in this action, the court below dismissed the action, and from the judgment of dismissal comes this appeal.
Substantially, the complaint shows that the plaintiff and defendant Ramona Jones are sisters, and two of eight heirs at law of Juana Lugardo Malo, deceased; that the defendant D. W. Ap Jones is the husband of his codefendant Ramona, brother in law of the plaintiff, and administrator of the estate of the deceased Juana Lugardo; that the plaintiff, as an heir at law of the deceased, and entitled to an undivided one-eighth interest of the estate, was wholly ignorant of the condition of the estate, and of the value of her interest therein; and, being
The grounds of demurrer upon which defendants rely are that the complaint does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action, that the court has no jurisdiction of the subject matter, that the cause of action is barred by the statute of limitations, and that the complaint is ambiguous and uncertain.
Being an action for relief on the ground of fraud, the plaintiff is not estopped by the fact that the defendants claimed and received, in the distribution of the estate, the share of the plaintiff in the estate by virtue of the conveyance obtained from her by fraud. It was incumbent on the probate court in making partition or distribution of the estate to assign the share of the plaintiff to the person holding her conveyance (Code Civ. Proc., see. 1678); but that did not clothe the assignee with a new title to the property of the plaintiff if the conveyance under which it was assigned to him had been obtained from the plaintiff by fraud; nor did it, in any way, affect the jurisdiction of a court in equity to grant relief against the fraudulent conduct of the assignee in obtaining the title to the property. A person injured by the fraud of another is not affected by his subsequent acts in obtaining, or enjoying, possession of the property acquired by the fraud, unless he has allowed his claim for relief to become stale or to be barred by the statute of limitations.
But in the case in hand the facts do not disclose a stale claim; and the cause of action is not barred by the statute of limitations, if the plaintiff was ignorant of the fraud which had been practiced upon her, and did not discover it until two months before the commencement of the action: Code Civ. Proc., subd. 4, sec. 338.
On this subject of discovery, however, it is urged that the complaint does not show how the alleged discovery was made. The allegation is “that the fraud perpetrated by the defendants was brought to her knowledge by the investigation of counsel.”
We think as a pleading the complaint is sufficient: Moore v. Moore, 6 Pac. O. L. J. 444.
Judgment reversed, with direction to the court below to overrule the demurrer.
We concur: McKinstry, J.; Ross, J.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- COTA v. JONES and Wife
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Superior Court’s Jurisdiction—Breach of Confidence.—The constitution clothes the superior courts with jurisdiction of all cases where breach of confidence is shown. Fraud.—In a Suit by a Cestui Que Trust Against a Trustee, a complaint that sets out fraud and asks accordingly for a restoration of property as the relief states facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. Estates of Decedents.—A Conveyance Fraudulently Obtained, in deference to which the probate court has distributed the grantor’s share of the estate to- the grantee, does not estop the grantor, proceeding without undue delay, to sue for a restoration, setting out the fraud in his complaint. Fraud—Laches—Limitation of Actions.—There is no stale claim disclosed and the statute of limitations is no bar, if a plaintiff, in an action for relief from a fraud practiced upon her, discovered the fraud only within two months of bringing suit. Fraud—Laches—Discovery by Counsel.—In a complaint setting out fraud and objected to as revealing delay in bringing the action, it is sufficient to refer to investigation by counsel as the means whereby the fraud was unearthed, when the plaintiff is unused to business, ignorant, and unacquainted with the language.