Sutherlin v. Pryor
Sutherlin v. Pryor
Opinion of the Court
Opinion of the Court by
Reversing.
Richard Pryor, who died intestate February 1, 1916, left surviving him four children, the appellees, and two grandchildren, the children of a' deceased daughter, Nannie Sutherlin. About fifteen years prior to his death, he conveyed to each of his children, other than Nannie Sutherlin, eighty acres of land, and promised his daughter, Nannie Sutherlin, who with her husband and children, lived with him, to convey to her the west half of the quarter section of land upon which he lived. This he did not do, but after his death, appellees, in compliance with their father’s request, in May, 1916, conveyed to Mrs. Sutherlin’s children, the appellants, the west half of the quarter section upon which he lived, found upon survey to contain eighty-three and one-quarter.acres.
Thereafter, in June, 1916, this action was instituted by three of the appellees against appellants and one appellee to sell the remaining 280 acres, of which Richard Prior died the owner, upon the ground that it was indivisible. Answers being filed for appellants by guardian ad litem as well as by their statutory guardian, proof was heard and the land was adjudged to be indivisible and ordered to be sold, at which sale appellees, J. W. Pryor, G. W. Pryor and A. J. Pryor, became the purchasers at $7,050.00'.
Appellants, by their statutory guardian, filed exceptions to the report of sale, and also filed an answer and cross-petition in which it was alleged that, after de
Upon this appeal, it seems to be conceded by counsel for appellants that there was no error in overruling their exceptions to the report of sale, which is true, because they are in no position to complain of the sale even if, as claimed for them, they were entitled to an equitable lien upon the land, since same was not asserted before sale, and could not have .affected the-sale adversely to their interests in any way and can be satisfied out of the proceeds of the sale, which is in court undisturbed; and it is this relief which they were seeking to enforce by the answer and cross-petition that they are now insisting was erroneously denied them.
To sustain their claim to an equitable lien upon the land sold for the enhanced value thereof resulting from the construction of the barn thereon, appellants rely upon the rule thoroughly established by many cases that a person who enters upon land in good faith believing that he is the owner of it is entitled, if dispossessed, to he compensated for improvements made by him, while believing in good faith that he was the owner of it, to the extent the improvements have increased the vendible value of the land — Loeb v. Conley, 160 Ky. 91; Turner v. Davis, 180 Ky. 236 — and that this right survives to heir of the person who thus made such improvements. Burk’s Admr. v. Lane Lumber Co., 89 S. W. 686.
The land where the barn was built was in contemplation of all the parties and in fact, as much a part of the land promised by Mr. Pryor to his daughter and delivered into her possession as any other portion thereof, although it was referred to as the west half of the quarter section in the erroneous belief that such a description included-the land upon which the barn was built, ■emd having been dispossessed of a part of the land of which she was thus possessed and upon which she and -her husband erected improvements in good faith believing she was the owner thereof, her children after her death are, equitably and in good conscience, entitled to a .lien upon same in the amount its vendible value was enhanced thereby.
These facts, in our judgment, bring the case squarely within the letter as well as the spirit of the principle of law relied upon by appellants and entitled them to the relief sought in their answer and cross-petition.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.