Norton v. McGonagill
Norton v. McGonagill
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
This judgment must be reversed for two reasons: 1. Because the appellee was a lis pendens purchaser. 2. Because he had actual notice of Norton’s claim before or at the time the purchase was made. The litigation between the administrator and heirs of Jones on the one side and Flanery on the other, in which the latter claimed that the lots in controversy were purchased for the joint benefit of Jones & Flanery, was pending when the action of Bell’s heirs was instituted. They were compelled to take notice of that litigation, and the compromise entered as the judgment of the court in the case of Jones’ Heirs v. Flanery concluded the rights of all these parties. There is no allegation of fraud or any suggestion in the pleadings of the appellee,, in the first place, that Jones and Flanery or the as
It is said, however, that the action was dismissed and therefore no lis pendens existed. We do not so understand the judgment. Partition was to be made by commissioners and conveyances executed by the parties, and the case was to be stricken from the docket, not at the time the judgment was rendered but when the decree or judgment was fully executed; all matters being settled the case was to go off without further litigation. The case has never been stricken from the docket. If this be an erroneous view of the judgment then it clearly appears from the testimony of Geiser and Tinsley that the appellee had actual notice of the claim of Norton, or of the commercial bank of whom Norton purchased. Givens said to the appellee when the property was being sold that the commercial bank owned one-half of the property, and the latter replied, in substance, that it was going cheap enough anyhow and concluded his bid. The commercial bank was then the owner of the interest of Flanery, he having-assigned the bond on Jones to the bank, and the bank had consented in open court to the agreed judgment. The attorney for the bank knew nothing of the pendency of the Bell suit until after the sale, and he testifies that before the confirmation of the sale his recollection is that he notified appellee of the bank’s interest and had frequent conversations with him in regard to the matter, but whether any of the conversations were before the appellee paid the purchase-money the witness is unable to state. The weight of the testimony conduces to show notice of the bank’s claim and we think on both propositions the law as well as the equity of the case is with the appellants. The attorneys for Jones & Flanery or the bank, after the agreed judgment had been entered, were talking of having the commissioners
The judgment is reversed with directions to cancel the conveyance to the appellee to the extent of Norton’s interest in the property as fixed by the judgment in the case of Jones v. Flanery and for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.