Trout v. Taylor

THE COURT.

A hearing was granted in this case, on petitions of both plaintiff and defendant Archer, after decision by the District Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District. We now adopt, as part of our decision, the following portions of the opinion rendered therein by Mr. Justice pro

tern.

Morton.

“Plaintiff, an elderly woman, without business experience, and of very limited schooling and education, was induced by an agent of R. H. Taylor Corporation on April 18, 1927, to exchange her two acres located in Sawtelle, Los Angeles county, of a reasonable market value of $12,500, for 110 shares of Running Springs Park, Inc., having property in San Bernardino county. This stock was represented to her as having a value of $30,000 and she was assured that it would pay her $5,000 every six months commencing September 1, 1927, and until she had received $30,000. The

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stock was in fact of no value whatever and paid no returns. The deed signed and acknowledged by plaintiff to her lots was in blank as to a grantee which was not discovered by her at the time. Subsequently the names of A. H. Taylor and Mae Taylor were inserted as grantees pursuant to certain alleged transactions with the R. H. Taylor Corporation, Inc. After recording the deed a trust deed was placed on lot 1 securing a promissory note for $4,000 in favor of the notary who took the acknowledgment of plaintiff’s deed, and a trust deed was placed on lot 2 securing a promissory note for $3,000 in favor of the agent who induced plaintiff to enter into the deal. Both notes were sold to defendant R. P. Archer for $6,660. A. H. Taylor and wife defaulted on the $4,000 note secured by a trust deed on lot 1 and at the foreclosure sale defendant R. P. Archer bid in the property. They paid off the $3,000 note secured by the trust deed on lot 2 and thereafter executed a new note for $2,500 payable to L. E. Arnold secured by a trust deed on this lot. Since bidding in lot 1 defendant Archer has expended for assessments and taxes $521.51. On November 5, 1928, plaintiff served notice of rescission; she did not discover, however, that the deed executed by her was in blank until the taking of the deposition of R. H. Taylor on March 23, 1929. The trial court decreed the deed executed by plaintiff to be null and void and cancelled and held that no interest or title passed thereby. Defendant R. P. Archer was adjudged to be entitled in equity to the return of his $521.51, together with interest and also $4,611.16 with interest at 7 per cent from June 23, 1928, that being the, amount due at the foreclosure sale of that date. To secure the payment of these amounts defendant R. P. Archer was awarded a lien against lot 1. Defendant L. E. Arnold was declared by the judgment to have a lien on lot 2 in the sum of $2,500, together with interest, less any amounts paid to him on principal or interest. Plaintiff is willing to repay to defendant Archer the $521.51 together with interest but appeals on the judgment roll from the Archer judgment for $4,611.16 with 7 per cent interest from June 23, 1928, and also the Arnold judgment of $2,500 plus interest. The court found that R. P. Archer and L. E. Arnold acted in good faith and relied on the record title. Because the grant deed to A. H. Taylor and wife was a nullity, plaintiff contends that neither R. P.