Hart v. Erickson

SHINN, J. In 1926 Ella Horner was the owner of a small home in Los Angeles. She and John B. Hart (plaintiff) entered into an agreement, by the terms of which they agreed to intermarry, John agreed to pay off a certain mortgage on the home, to make all necessary repairs and improvements thereon, to pay all city and county taxes assessed against it, and to care for and provide for Ella, and she agreed to convey to him an undivided two-fifths interest in the home. They married May 11, 1926, and lived together until Ella’s death in August, 1941. John paid off the mortgage and in all respects kept his part of the agreement. On September 3, 1926, Ella and John went before a notary and Ella signed and acknowledged a deed which in terms conveyed to John an undivided two-fifths interest in the home property. She did not deliver this deed to him or record it and no one appeared to have known what became of it. The court found that Ella did not intend that the deed should then convey to John an interest in the property but that John then and at all times thereafter believed that she had done so and that he owned a two-fifths interest in the property, and that he fulfilled the agreement on his part in the belief that Ella had conveyed [721]or would convey to him the interest as agreed. There was evidence as to a written agreement between them at that time which we shall mention later. However, in January, 1935, Ella again went to a notary and signed and acknowledged a deed of gift of the property in favor of her nephew, defendant Andrew Erickson. She left this deed in the possession of the notary, with instructions to record the same upon her death, which was done according to instructions. John knew nothing of this deed until after his wife’s death.

John had himself appointed administrator of his wife’s estate and brought suit as administrator and also individually against Erickson to quiet title and to cancel the' deed to Erickson. He sought to recover a two-fifths interest in the property for himself and a three-fifths interest for the estate. Erickson filed a cross-complaint by which he sought to have his title confirmed, to recover possession of the property, and certain other relief to be hereinafter mentioned. The court found the facts as we have stated them, although much more fully, adjudged title to be in Erickson and declared a lien in favor of John B. Hart for the sums he had expended in improvement of the property and for taxes, in the amount of $3,054.61, less certain deductions, and ordered that the property be sold to satisfy the lien if the sum of $2,452.61 should not be paid within 90 days after entry of judgment. Erickson appeals.