Baird v. Goodrich
Baird v. Goodrich
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
The complainant, in 1860, bought a tract of land in Gibson county from C. G. Baird at the price of $3,600, which was paid in cash, and a deed executed to complainant with the usual covenants of seizin and warranty, and the covenant against incumbrances. The complainant’s vendor, C. G. Baird, has since departed this life. He left a last will and testament, “which was duly probated,” and by which he left his entire estate, both real and personal, to the defendant, Nancy, who was his widow, and who has since intermarried with defendant, Gideon Goodrich. The complainant went into possession of said tract of land under his deed, and was in possession at the time of the filing of this bill. He alleges that, at the time of his' said purchase, he supposed that the title was clear, and that no incumbrance or cloud was upon it, and that he had no intimation of such a thing from his vendor, who held the land under a decree of the Circuit Court of
The defendants demurred to the bill, on the ground that the complainants’ remedy would be at law on the covenants of his title deed, and, as there had been no eviction, no covenant of the deed had been broken; and on the further ground that the representative of the estate of complainant’s vendor is a necessary party to the cause, and he is not made such.
The demurrer was overruled, and the defendants have appealed.
• We think the Chancellor committed no error in overruling the demurrer. The equities of the complainant against the estate of his vendor are clear. He does not, it is true, allege an eviction by paramount title; nor does he allege any fraud on the part of his vendor in the sale. But he does show that the estate of his vendor has been reduced to insolvency, and that the remnant is not sufficient to reimburse him in the purchase money, and the large expenditures which have been thrown upon him, and which he is yet to pay in defense of the title, which it is the duty of his warrantor, or those who represent him, to defend and make good. The covenant of seizin, if it be false, is broken the instant it is made, and the right of action . accrues • at once to the covenantee. It is unlike the covenant of warranty, which, if untrue, the cove-nantee must await an eviction, before he can bring his
In this case the bill shows that the complainant, without the prompt aid of a court of equity, is utterly without remedy to indemnify himself against the heavy loss that is impending over him. There are other grounds, however, of equitable jurisdiction upon which the bill can be sustained, aside from the insolvency of the vendor’s estate. It may be sustained as a quia timet bill — and under circumstances which appeal with extraordinary force to the conscience of a court of equity. It is shown that of the personal property of the complainant’s vendor there is nothing left; and that of the real estate very little remains; and this the defendants are about fraudulently to sell or incumber, by which complainant will be left without the slightest chance of indemnity for his losses. If the allegations of the bill be true, a court of equity can not and should not close its doors against the complainant. Of the four remedies he invokes — the discovery, the injunction, the attachment and the rescission — two are cognizable alone in a court of equity, and without a combination of all, his remedy is inadequate. The
The complainant not having an adequate or complete remedy at law by action upon his covenant of seizin, had a right on that ground to invoke the aid of a court of equity upon the case stated in his bill: Et vide Leiber’s “ Encyclopoedia Americana,” title Equity. In regard to which it was observed by an eminent English professor, that “it states the real case with reference to what we call courts of equity much more accurately than it can be found in any English law book:” 1 Story Eq. Jur., s. 28, note 1.
The decree of the Chancellor disallowing the demurrer will be affirmed, and the cause will be remanded
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Wilson Baird v. Nancy Goodrich and others
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published