Pritchett v. Redick
Pritchett v. Redick
Opinion of the Court
December 29, 1875, Frances H. Englebert died intestate, leaving a husband and Francis Leon Englebert, a son, as her sole heirs at law. At the date of her death she was the owner in fee of lot 3, Gise’s Addition to the city of Omaha. A mortgage existed upon said lot in favor of Max Meyer & Co. and in 1881 a suit was commenced to foreclose said mortgage. A decree was entered in that case to the effect that the mortgage was a lien upon the life estate of J. Lee Englebert, the husband of Frances H. Englebert, and the life estate was ordered sold to satisfy the debt secured by the mortgage. At the mortgage sale Max Meyer and Adolph Meyer became the purchasers, and received a sheriff’s deed for the life interest for which said lot was ordered sold. The sheriff’s deed was made in 'March, 1886. August 4, 1885, Francis Leon Englebert and his father, J. Lee Englebert, conveyed an undivided half of said lot to George E. Pritchett, the plaintiff in error, and June 21, 1886, they conveyed the other undivided half of said lot to Pritchett. This gave Pritchett paper title to the whole lot, subject to the estate for the life of J. Lee Englebert held by Max Meyer and Adolph Meyer. At the date of the two deeds above mentioned, made to Pritchett, Francis Leon Englebert was a minor, and he did not attain his majority until October 11,1889. June 28,1886, Pritchett and wife conveyed the lot in question to Adolph Meyer, subject to the life estate then held by them. The consideration named in the deed was $2,000. September 26, 1886, Adolph Meyer conveyed the lot to Max Meyer & Brother, and September 27, 1886, Max Meyer & Brother conveyed the lot to John I. Redick, the defendant in error, for the consideration of $3,500. February 8, 1887, Redick conveyed the lot to Benj. F. Troxell for the consideration of $5,000. The lot comprised about one acre of ground, and after conveyance to Troxell he subdivided the same into seven lots, which is known as Troxell subdivision of lot 3, Gise’s Addition to Omaha. After subdividing lot 3, Troxell sold five
It is first insisted by Pritchett that he never had title to the premises described in his deed to Meyers; that nothing passed by that deed, as he had no title to convey; that, therefore, the covenant of warranty on which the action is based was broken as soon as made, and did not pass from Meyer to Redick. It is the settled rule in this state that where no interest whatever passes from a grantor by a conveyance, the covenant contained in the deed can not run to a subsequent assignee. In such case the covenants are merely personal and not assignable at common law,
It is 'next insisted by the plaintiff in error that the Englebert deeds Avere never delivered to him, a- 1 that Avithout delivery the deeds could pass no title. E./ some means the deeds found their Avay to the office of the recorder of deeds and were recorded. Pritchett evidently claimed title through the deeds, as it can not be presumed that he Avould knowingly convey land to which he had no title, and accept a large sum of money in payment from his grantee. Such an act Avould not only be against good morals, but in violation of our Criminal Code. The argument by which it is sought to show that the deeds were never delivered is to this effect: Pritchett never had any direct dealing with the minor relating to his purchase of this land; all his negotiations and correspondence were with the father, J. Lee Englebert, and the deeds were received from him through the mail, the two Engleberts being residents of Des Moines, Iowa, at the time. It is said
It is further urged, by the plaintiff in error, that there was no eviction under the paramount title, and that until evicted, no action can be maintained upon the covenants of the deed. As shown in the statement heretofore made, the parties purchasing from Troxell brought action against him on his covenant for title and obtained judgment. He then called upon Redick to make good the title, and Redick negotiated for and purchased the paramount title, taking a deed to four of the lots into which the tract had been divided, in the name of his son W. A. Redick, a stranger to the title, in order that the title so bought in might not inure to the benefit of Troxell’s grantees until they satisfied the several judgments they had obtained against him. .They canceled their judgments and accepted conveyance of the paramount title in satisfaction. This in law constituted an eviction. The paramount title was established by decree of the court in an action in which they, as -well as Pritchett, were parties defendant; that decree was affirmed upon appeal to this court. The grantees of Troxell then accepted the paramount title bought in by John I.
Another defense urged is the statute of limitations. As we have already seen, the deeds from Fi*ancis Leon Englebert to Pritchett, although voidable, conveyed title to Pritchett, which was good until Englebert disaffirmed his deeds. The covenant of warranty contained in the deed of the plaintiff in error to Adolph Meyer was not broken when made, nor until young Englebert elected to disaffirm his conveyance to Pritchett. This disaffirmance was not until the year 1888 or 1889, while this action was commenced in February, 1895. The statute has not run against the action.
The court directed the jury to allow interest from May 19,1894, on whatever amount they found due the plaintiff. Only $750 of the amount paid for the outstanding title was paid in.May, 1894. It is conceded that interest to the amount of $15.55 was embraced in the verdict of the jury, which, under the theory upon which the case was tried by the district court, the plaintiff is not entitled to recover. The defendant in error insists that he should have been allowed the full consideration paid to Pritchett for the lot, with interest at seven per cent, from the date of payment, and that he should not, therefore, be required to remit any amount on account of excessive interest allowed. Whether the court adopted the proper measure of damage Is not now in question, as the plaintiff has made no complaint by way of appealing from its ruling. Having acquiesced in the rule adopted by the trial court, we think the defendant in error must be limited in his recovery to the amount which a proper computation under that rule will allow.
Relating to the complaint that the defendant in error went outside the record in an unfair way in his argument to the jury, we do not think that prejudicial error is shown. We have read the statements to which objection was taken
We recommend that the defendant in error be required to remit from the judgment the sum of $15.55, and that the judgment be affirmed.
For the reasons stated in the foregoing opinion it is ordered that the judgment of the district court be reversed unless the defendant in error, Avithin thirty days from the filing of this opinion, remit from the judgment the sum of $15.55; and it is further ordered that if said defendant in error remit said $15.55 as aforesaid, then the judgment of tile district herein shall be, and is by this order, affirmed.-
Judgment accordingly.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.