County of Trinity v. Rourke

FRIEDMAN, Acting P. J.

The determinative question in this quiet title action is the validity of a 1946 grant deed from John and Idelle Rourke to the Hayfork Valley Airport and Improvement Association. The grantee, an unincorporated association, had been founded a year earlier for the purpose of acquiring land for a local airport. Later the association was incorporated as the Hayfork Chamber of Commerce, which in 1956 conveyed the property to Trinity County, the plaintiff in this suit. Defendants, claiming title as heirs of the Rourkes, appeal from a judgment favoring the county.

Defendants’ thesis is that an unincorporated association is incapable of taking title to real property, thus that the deed failed for want of a grantee. They rely upon

Rixford

v.

Zeigler

(1907) 150 Cal. 435 [88 P. 1092, 119 Am.St.Rep. 229], which cited a “general rule” that unincorporated associations are incapable of taking title to real property.

Absent a governing statute, decisional law on the efficacy of a deed to an unincorporated association varies from state to state. Some courts adhere to the traditional common law doctrine that the deed is a nullity. Others find the doctrine too harsh and adopt ameliorative approaches to prevent frustration of the grantor’s intent. One approach is to construe the deed to vest ownership in the individuals who comprise the organization. Another utilizes equity’s power to designate a trustee for the group. When a charitable purpose is discerned, some courts resort to the rule that a charitable gift will not fail for want of a trustee. Finally, some states simply reject the common law doctrine outright, affirming the capacity of unincorporated organizations to take and hold real estate. (1 Powell on Real Property (1969 Recompilation) § 131; 6 Thompson on Real Property (1962 Replacement) § 3012; 6 Am.Jur.2d, Associations and Clubs, § 13; 7 C.J.S., Associations, § 14.)

In California the matter has been partially covered by statute. Sections 21200 and 21200.5, Corporations Code, authorize real estate holding by specific kinds of associations. The Hay-fork group was not one of the covered organizations. Probate Code section 27, allowing associations to take property by will, does not affect the

inter vivos

grant which occurred here.

Aside from statute, several California decisions have adopted the ameliorative theory that property ostensibly