Aaron Frank Clothing Co. v. Deegan
Aaron Frank Clothing Co. v. Deegan
Opinion of the Court
This suit was instituted by appellant against J. L. Deegan and Ordelia Deegan, his wife, and the Scottish-American Mortgage Company, to recover the sum of $3,190.15, and to foreclose alien on certain property in San Antonio, Tex. Ordelia Dee-gan, for herself and as executrix of the will of J. L. Deegan, answered by numerous exceptions and denials of the truth of the allegations of the petition. The petition is quite 1 voluminous, but from which we glean the allegations that J. L. Deegan owned certain shares of stock in the appellant corporation and was an officer and employé thereof; that appellant advanced certain sums of money to him which were used to purchase the lots described and to improve the same ; that there whs a verbal agreement between/ Deegan and appellant on March 10, 1910, that Dee-gan would repay the money'advanced to him, and that if not repaid that he would convey the property to appellant; that title to the land was taken in the name of Ordelia Dee-gan; that $700 in cash was paid by Deegan on the property, and vendor lien notes were executed for the balance of the purchase money; that subsequently Deegan made another payment of $700 on the land; that the lien notes were paid with funds advanced to Deegan by appellant; that improvements were made on the land, and a mechanic’s and materialman’s lien was given to secure $3,700, the price of improvement, which debt and lien eventually passed into the hands of the Scottish-American Mortgage Company, Limited, and it was for that reason made a party. Appellant claimed that the verbal agreement with Deegan made appellant the equitable owner of the property, and that a “resulting trust, fiduciary trust, express trust, and implied trust were by reason of said agreement and advancements created in favor” of appellant, and that it was subrogat-ed to the vendor’s lien paid off with its advancements. The court, after hearing the testimony, instructed the jury to return a verdict for appellees, which was accordingly done and judgment rendered thereon.
“There must be an actual payment from a man’s own money, or what is equivalent to payment from his own money, to create a resulting trust. And the money must be advanced and paid in the character of a purchaser; for if one pay the purchase money by way of loan for another, and the conveyance is taken to the other, no trust will result to the one who thus pays the purchase money.”
The particular land was in view when the money was loaned and became the property of Deegan. The suit is founded on a contract to repay the money. “Resulting trusts are not creative of contract. They arise from the acts of the parties, and not from their agreement.” Boehl v. Wadgymar, 54 Tex. 589. In order to create a resulting *472 trust, the payment must be made at time of purchase. Oury v. Saunders, 77 Tex. 278, 13 S. W. 1030. In the case of Ruhl v. Kauffman, 65 Tex. 723, Kauffmian loaned Ruhl $5,000, with a view that the latter should purchase a certain lot. The lot was purchased, deed being made to Ruhl. There was no agreement that Kauffman should have a lien, and the court held the relation of vendor and vendee was not created, and that Kauffman had no lien on the property to secure his debt. To the same effect are Caldwell v. Bryan, 20 Tex. Civ. App. 168, 49 S. W. 240; Jordan v. Jordan, 154 S. W. 359; and Hatton v. Bodan Humber Co., 57 Tex. Civ. App. 478, 123 S. W. 163.
In the ease of Sullivan v. Doyle, 108 Tex. 368, 194 S. W. 136, which is relied on by áppellant, Sullivan furnished money to McKinley, an assignee of the vendee, to pay off a vendor’s lien note, with the understanding that Sullivan should hold the note for security. When the note was taken up by McKinley, the bank marked “Raid,” across its face. Doyle was the original vendee, and he sold to McKinley, and Sullivan sued both of them on the note. The Supreme Court held that, as to the vendor of Doyle who held another note, there was no subrogation for Sullivan; but, under the agreement between Sullivan and McKinley as to the note being held by Sullivan as security, the latter was subrogafed to the lien to the amount of the note. That case is not a parallel one to this case. There was no agreement as to a lien between appellant and Deegan. None of the cases cited by appellant are applicable to the case made by facts herein.
The judgment is affirmed.
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