Williams v. Rice

SCHOTTKY, J. Lyle G. Williams, plaintiff above named, has appealed from a judgment declaring that he has no interest in certain real property.

In 1946 J. C. Janes and Juanita C. Janes entered into a contract to sell certain real property to Lyle G. Williams and his wife, Gladys I. Williams, for the sum of $2,235. The agreement provided that the Williamses would pay the amount due on the property, after a small down payment, at the rate of $20 per month. Later another parcel of land was added to the agreement and the payments were increased to $25 per month. The contract provided that no assignment would be valid without the written consent of the sellers. J. C. Janes died and Juanita Janes succeeded to his interest. Lyle Williams has succeeded to the interest of his wife.

In January, 1951, Williams entered into a contract of sale of the property for the sum of $4,000 with one Biddy James (now Biddy James McGeorge) and her husband. Shortly thereafter, on April 23, 1951, Mr. and Mrs. James signed an instrument purporting to assign all their interest in the Williams-James contract to James B. Rice. Williams consented to this assignment but the trial court found that James B. Rice did not.

On May 3, 1951, Williams executed an assignment stating [15]that he assigned and transferred to James B. Rice “that certain Agreement for the Sale of Real Property, and all my right, title, and interest in said real property, which said contract of sale is between the undersigned and Gladys Williams, buyers, and J. C. Janes and Juanita C. Janes, sellers, dated January 15, 1946.” This assignment was assented to by Juanita C. Janes, and James B. Rice executed an acceptance of it in which he stated: “I, . . . do hereby accept said Assignment and do further agree to abide by all of the agreements and obligations of the original contract, and do hereby further agree to pay to said Juanita C. Janes the balance of $1438.27, due under said Agreement, upon the terms and conditions in said original Agreement contained.”

Williams did not receive any money or property for this assignment. He had occupied the property for about five years during which time he had made substantial improvements on a house which was on the property. There was testimony that he had been delinquent in his payments at various times and was delinquent at the time of the assignment to James B. Rice. James B. Rice subsequently paid Mrs. Janes the balance due on the Williams-Janes contract and received a deed to the property. Mr. Rice later deeded the property to his son, John Rice.