Stokes v. Martin
Stokes v. Martin
Opinion of the Court
(After stating the foregoing facts.) To determine the assignments of error it is necessary to consider the evidence. The plaintiff was administrator on the estate of B. M. Dent. Under an order of the court of ordinary he made a public sale of certain land of the estate on the first Tuesday in March, 1916, and Stokes, the defendant, bought the property for $1,125. Frances Smith filed a claim to the land, and in view of this fact it was agreed between the administrator and the purchaser that a deed to the land should be made to the purchaser by the administrator, and a check of the purchaser for the amount of his bid, $1,125, should be made to the administrator, and both the deed and the check should be placed in the hands of the Wrightsville Bank until the Smith claim should be settled by the administrator with the claimant. The deed and the check were'accordingly deposited in the bank. The evidence shows that the Smith claim was not settled until the early part of the year 1917, and that immediately upon its settlement the bank delivered to the administrator the cheek for $1,125, and delivered to the purchaser the administrator’s deed to the land. The administrator testified, that he rented this land for the year 1916, for two bales of cotton; that in the
In the light of the evidence we do not think the amendment constituted a new cause of action. The cause of action was the same transaction, and grew out of the administrator’s sale of the land, and was in the nature of a claim for remuneration for the rent of that land during the year 1916, and the amendment simply introduced another measure of the plaintiff’s claim. Under that portion of the evidence which is not in conflict, we think that the plaintiff, as administrator, was legally entitled to the two bales of cotton for which the land was rented for the year 1916. ‘The administrator testified that he did not surrender control of the land to the defendant as the purchaser at the administrator’s sale, but that for the year 1916 and after the sale he rented the land for the two bales of cotton, and that at the end of the year the renter delivered the two bales of cotton to him and he turned them over to the defendant on the promise of the latter to return them if he incurred any loss in the settlement of the claim made to the property. The defendant denied this, testifying that he, and not the administrator, rented the land for the year 1916, and collected the rent from the tenant. Irrespective of this question, it is conceded that the deed to the land was not to be delivered to the pur
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.