Property Law and Real Estate Commons^™

Deeds - Effectiveness Of Deeds Delivered With Blank For Name Of Grantee

Michigan Law Review

In an action upon an oral contract to recover the purchase price of an equity in realty, it appeared that the plaintiff executed a deed with a blank left for the name of the grantee and delivered it to the defendant, whereupon the latter refused to make the promised payment, and suit was brought. The Statute of Frauds being interposed as a defense, on the theory that the contract, being oral, was unenforceable in the absence of a showing of part performance, it was held, that the delivery of the incomplete deed, giving the defendant implied authority to fill …

Equity - Rescission Of Contract Induced By Fraud - Money Judgment As An Alternative To Specific Restitution

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff entered into an agreement for the exchange of interests in real estate with one of the defendants. After payment of part of the boot money agreed upon, the plaintiff defaulted and sued to have the agreement rescinded for fraud. The trial court rendered a money judgment for the amount at which the plaintiff's property had been taken on the trade. Held, that defendant's wife, to whom the property had been conveyed, should have been joined, and that the decree should be modified to order a reconveyance to the plaintiff. Bacon v. Fox, 267 Mich. 589, 255 N. …

Eminent Domain --Valuation Of Leaseholds -- Apportionment Of Award Between Landlord And Tenant In Long-Term Lease

Michigan Law Review

The Michigan Supreme Court had before it last fall a very unusual case involving the apportionment of a condemnation award between landlord and tenant. Only a portion of the leasehold premises was condemned. The lease still had approximately eighty years to run; it had no market value due primarily to the depression; and it constituted the sole assets of the lessee. The lease contained a clause. providing for rent abatement in case part of the premises was condemned. The lessors insisted that the lessee must be content with this rent abatement and that they were entitled to the whole award. …

Easements - Extinguishment By Adverse Possession Of Servient Owner - Character Of Acts Necessary

Michigan Law Review

In I 902, Y, the owner of riparian land, granted to W, by deed then recorded, the flowage rights over such land. Some years later by general warranty deed containing no reference to the easement, the servient land was conveyed to L, from whom by similar successive conveyances it came to the plaintiff. In the interval the flowage rights had passed to the defendant, and in 1931 the latter erected a dam across the river and flooded the plaintiff's land. Thereupon the plaintiff brought this action for damages. The trial court held that, though all the owners …

Recording - Operation Of The Recording Acts On Quitclaim Deeds

Michigan Law Review

A conveyed two specific lots in Harris County to B. Before that deed was recorded, and while the lots were still vacant, A conveyed several specific tracts of land to C and added a blanket clause of "all other lands and interest in lands belonging to A in Harris County"; C made a like conveyance to D; D conveyed the two specific lots in question to E by warranty deed; E conveyed the two lots to plaintiff by warranty deed sixteen years after the deed to C. All the deeds in the second chain of title were …

Taxation - Assessment For Property Taxes

Michigan Law Review

In 1926 the plaintiff purchased a lot with the building thereon for $41,000 and expended $ 10,000 in the improvement of the premises. In the same year the property was leased for a period of fifteen years under an agreement that the rent was to be $6,000 for the first five years, $8,000 for the second five, and $10,000 for the third. Plaintiff objected to the tax assessment of $68,660 for the years 1929, 1930, 1931, and 1932 on the grounds that the court based its valuation on (1) actual earnings instead of earning capacity, and on (2) gross, as …

Rights In Land - Lateral Support - Statute Increasing Common Law Rights And Duties - Constitutionality

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff sued for damages to his building which collapsed during excavating operations on defendant's adjoining land. A Michigan statute makes it the duty of land owners excavating to a depth of 12 feet or more below grade level to furnish sufficient lateral support to protect adjacent land and structures thereon from injury "due to the removed material in its natural state, or due to the disturbance of other existing conditions caused by such excavation," and imposes liability for injuries due to failure to comply with the act. The excavation on defendant's land, reaching a depth of 14 feet below grade …

Conflict Of Laws - Foreign Marriage - Dower

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff was divorced in the District of Columbia on the ground of her adultery with defendant's intestate. A statute of the District provided that the innocent party only may remarry. With no intention of evading the statute, plaintiff and defendant's intestate established a domicil in Florida and were there married. On the death of the latter in the District of Columbia, plaintiff claimed a dower interest in real estate located there. Held, plaintiff can recover. Loughran v. Loughran, 292 U. S. 216, 54 Sup. Ct. 684 (1934), reversing Loughran v. Loughran, (App. D. C. 1933) 66 F. …

Recording - Preservation Of Priority By Recording Within Statutory Period

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff sued to foreclose a motor vehicle lien filed under the provisions of sections 8524-8528, Mason's Minn. Stat. (1927). Intervener interposed a claim as bona fide purchaser of the automobile before the lien was recorded. Plaintiff did record within the sixty day period fixed by the statute for that purpose. Held, the lien is superior to the title of intervener, even though latter bought the automobile without knowledge or notice, actual or constructive, of the lien. Pratt v. Armstrong et al. (Bud Johnson, Inc., Intervener), (Minn. 1934) 255 N. W. 91.

Vendor And Purchaser - Mortgaging Of Land By Vendor - Effect On Vendee's Duty To Continue Installment Payments

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiffs agreed in writing to purchase a tract of land from the defendant, the purchase price to be paid in stated installments or in full at any time at the option of the plaintiffs. Two days after the formation of the contract the defendant mortgaged the land, and about eight months later placed a second mortgage on it. Plaintiffs denied having any knowledge of the mortgages until attempts were made to foreclose them. Previous to this, however, they had defaulted in their payments. In an action in general assumpsit to recover the amount of the installments paid it was held …

Municipal Corporations - Immunity Of City From Tort Liability - Attractive Nuisance

Michigan Law Review

The minor plaintiff, a child of eleven, was injured when she fell from a swing in a playground maintained by the defendant, and struck a jagged stone which protruded from the surface of the earth about eight feet beyond the base of the swing. She and her parents joined as plaintiffs in this suit, alleging that the defendant was negligent in failing to keep the ground around the swing in a reasonably safe condition and free from dangerous objects upon which a child might fall. Held, the defendant is liable for its failure to keep the earth around the …

The Vendee's Lien- On Land And Chattels

Michigan Law Review

The vendee's lien is now firmly established as an equitable device to insure full restitution to the purchaser of land on his rescission for the vendor's fraud or default. It first appeared in a dictum in an early English case where it was suggested as a possible analogy to the implied vendor's lien for the purchase money. But it was 1855 before the question was presented squarely to an English court of record, and 1860 when the House of Lords definitely approved it. Long before this, however, courts of equity in the United States had begun to μse this device …

Trusts - Change Of Circumstances As Basis For Variation Of Trust Instrument

Michigan Law Review

The testator left his estate to trustees with directions to pay the income to his widow and three sons in equal shares, the principal to vest in the sons upon his widow's marriage or death. The widow in addition was given the use of the family homestead or the use of a new home not to exceed the price of $25,000. The homestead, valued at $200,000, became undesirable for residential purposes due to the growth of the business center of the city. The widow petitioned the court to direct the trustees to pay her $15,000 a year from the trust …

Contracts - Consideration - Agreement To Reduce Rent Reserved In Lease

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff sued defendants, who were trustees of a business trust, to enforce personal liability upon them for accrued rent due under a lease. When the lessee company, which was losing money because of the depression, threatened to vacate the premises, the plaintiff acquiesced in the lessee's demand that the rent be reduced for the balance of the term. Plaintiff sought to recover the amount due under the lease, claiming that the agreement for reduction was without consideration and therefore a nullity. Held, that in view of plaintiff's knowledge of the lessee's financial condition, the latter's agreeing to remain in …

Stare Decisis -The Retroactive Effect Of An Overruling Decision

Michigan Law Review

In 1923 the Supreme Court of Michigan ruled, in Kavanaugh v. Rabior, that property lying between the meander line and the waterline of the Great Lakes belonged to the State. The defendant, after this decision and upon the advice of the State Conservation Department, refused to pay rent to the plaintiff, the littoral proprietor. In 1930 the court, overruling the Kavanaugh case, held, in Hilt v. Weber, that such property belonged to the littoral proprietor. On the basis of this decision the plaintiff brought suit for use and occupation. Held, in the principal case, that the overruling …

Landlord And Tenant - Liability Of A Mortgagee In Possession Of Mortgaged Leasehold For Rent

Michigan Law Review

On default of payments under a mortgage of a leasehold, the mortgagor and mortgagee agreed that the latter was to go into possession of the premises and manage them with a view to meeting the requirements of the mortgage. The mortgagor also executed a warranty deed of the premises to the mortgagee. On default of rent payments the landlord sued the mortgagee. Held, the defendant mortgagee was in possession merely as agent of the mortgagor and as such was not liable for the rent. Cleveland v. Detroit Trust Co., 264 Mich. 253, 249 N. W. 842 (1933).

Bankruptcy - Proof Of Claim For Loss Of Future Rents

Michigan Law Review

A covenant in a lease provided:

" . . . that the filing of any petition in bankruptcy or insolvency by or against the Lessee shall be deemed to constitute a breach of this lease, and thereupon, ipso facto and without entry or other action by the Lessor, this lease shall become and be terminated; and, . . . the Lessor shall forthwith upon such termination be entitled to recover damages for such breach in an amount equal to the amount of the rent reserved in this lease for the residue of the term hereof less the fair rental value …

Bankruptcy - Proof Of Claims For Unaccrued Rent

Michigan Law Review

In the very recent case of Manhattan Properties, Inc. v. Irving Trust Co., the Supreme Court for the first time authoritatively passed on the validity of a claim in bankruptcy by a lessor against the bankrupt estate for loss of future rents due after the filing of the petition. The Court, affirming the decision of the Circuit Court of Appeals, ruled that the landlord's claim was not provable. Mr. Justice Roberts, delivering the opinion of the Court, reviewed the long history of litigation on the subject and was impressed by the fact that although the great majority of the …

Highways - Underpass As Highway Use

Michigan Law Review

The defendant was the owner of a gravel pit, separated from his railway shipping facilities by a highway, the fee of a portion of which was owned by the plaintiff. A bill was filed to restrain the construction under the highway of a passageway between the railroad and the gravel pit, permission for which construction had been granted by the state highway commissioner. The bill was dismissed, and on appeal, held, by an evenly-divided court, that the judgment be affirmed. Grand Rapids Gravel Co. v. William J. Breen Gravel Co., 262 Mich. 365, 247 N. W. 902 (1933).

Future Interests - Federal Estate Tax - Admissibility Of Evidence Of Barrenness Of Devisee

Michigan Law Review

In an inquiry as to the value of an executory bequest to charitable institutions, conditioned on the death of the testator's daughter without issue surviving her, was evidence that at the time of the testator's death she had been rendered incapable of bearing children admissible for the purpose of determining the amount of a deduction from the federal estate tax? Held, that such evidence was admissible. United States v. Provident Trust Co., (U. S. 1934) 54 Sup. Ct. 389.

Torts - Negligence - Liability For Damages Accruing To Another By Act Done To Save One's Own Property

Michigan Law Review

Defendant was negligent in allowing a wooden barge to be loaded with crude oil without adequate fire protection. After the ship had been set afire by lightning, defendant had it cast adrift to save its wharf from destruction. The floating vessel later damaged plaintiff's property two miles distant. Held, defendant committed an actionable wrong. Swan-Finch Oil Corp. et al. v. Warner-Quinlan Co., (N. J. 1933) 167 Atl. 211.

Constitutional Law - Moratory Legislation

Michigan Law Review

A Minnesota statute, in view of the economic emergency, provided, among other things, that courts might, upon petition of a mortgagor, extend the period of redemption from mortgage foreclosure sales for a definite time not beyond May 1, 1935. If a court took such action, the mortgagor was to remain in possession of the premises and pay a reasonable rental to the mortgagee. Held, by the United States Supreme Court in a five-to-four decision, that this statute did not violate the contracts, or due process, or equal protection clauses of the Constitution. Home Building and Loan Association v. Blaisdell …

Contracts - Liability Of The Assignee Of A Land Contract - Reformation By Extrinsic Evidence

Michigan Law Review

Defendant Campbell assigned a contract to purchase land from the plaintiff to the defendant bank, the evidence being undisputed that the assignment was additional security for an existing indebtedness of Campbell. A printed form containing a promise by the assignee to pay the purchase price was used. The name of the assignee was left blank in order that the name of a prospective purchaser could be filled in if an anticipated sale materialized. In an action to foreclose the land contract the vendor asked for a deficiency judgment against the defendant bank. Held, that the vendor was not entitled …

Equity - Election Of Remedies - Proof Of Claim In Receivership

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff sold certain chattels under a conditional sales agreement to a partnership which later went into receivership. The purchase price not having been paid, plaintiff filed a general claim with the receiver, which was allowed. Six months later, no dividend having been paid, plaintiff filed a petition to have the general claim withdrawn and a preferred one substituted, based on the title-retaining contract. The court held that by filing and allowance of the general claim plaintiff made a final election between inconsistent remedies which barred rescission and restitution of the specific property. The court held that the inexperience of plaintiff's …

Fixtures - Rights Of Conditional Vendors Against Mortgagees Of Realty

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff sought to foreclose a mortgage with an after-acquired property clause on an industrial plant in which were installed various pieces of machinery sold by the defendant vendors under a conditional sale to the mortgagor after the execution of the realty mortgage. The machinery was so attached as to become fixtures and was evidently necessary to the continuance of the enterprise, but was removable without damage to the building as it stood before the machinery was installed. It was held that the conditional vendors could remove the machinery. People's Savings & Trust Co. v. Munsert, (Wis. 1933) 249 N. …

Future Interests -Transferability Of Right Of Entry For Breach Of Condition

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff's ancestor conveyed land to the city, on the express condition that the city should construct and forever maintain a "speedway" on the premises conveyed, reserving to himself, his heirs and assigns a right of entry for breach of the condition. Subsequently, before the condition was broken, he conveyed to a third party all his remaining land adjoining the Speedway, "together with all the right, title and interest of the party of the first part, in said Speedway." The breach of the condition having since admittedly occurred, the plaintiff, the heir of the original grantor, sought to assert the right …

Mortgages - Necessity Of Making A Lessee A Party To The Foreclosure Of A Prior Mortgage

Michigan Law Review

A mortgagee foreclosed by a bill in equity without making a lessee, under a lease executed subsequent to the mortgage, a party. In a suit by the purchaser at the foreclosure sale to recover rent from the lessee the court held that the foreclosure put an end to the term and the obligation to pay rent notwithstanding the fact that the lessee was not made a party to the foreclosure proceedings. Dolese v. Bellows-Claude Neon Co., 261 Mich. 57,245 N. W. 569 (1932).

Equity- Declaratory Judgment -Injunction To Protect Right In Easement

Michigan Law Review

Defendant owned a piece of land in a city block, and plaintiff owned an ad joining piece of land together with an easement for light and air upon a contiguous strip of defendant's land 4 feet wide and 90 feet long. Plaintiff's land alongside the strip was vacant, and he had no immediate intention of building thereon. Defendant erected an office building on his land, constructing an outside stairway on the 4 x 90 foot strip. Plaintiff asked for a mandatory injunction compelling defendant to remove the stairway, stating in his argument before the court that though he had no …

Fixtures - Fraud As Basis Of Implied Contract To Retain Status Of Personal Ty After Annexation

Michigan Law Review

S, owner of a farm upon which the defendant held a first mortgage, purchased from the plaintiff, a lumber dealer, building material for the definite purpose of constructing a substantial barn upon the farm. Plaintiff was induced to make the sale in reliance upon fraudulent representations made by S. After the barn was built the plaintiff discovered the fraud. He then brought suit to establish his right to remove the barn, contending that the fraud constituted an implied agreement that the building was to be personal property. Held that, under the circumstances, as a matter of law the …

Mortgages - Assignment Of Rents And Profits - Michigan Statute

Michigan Law Review

There may be times when legislative action is so obviously dependent upon contemporary circumstances, or when its roots lie so near the chronological surface, that no study of background is possible or necessary. Such is not the case, however, with anything relating to mortgage law; it is too deeply imbedded in our legal system. And though its history be familiar it is felt that a brief review will not be out of place in considering a comparatively recent Michigan statute authorizing the assignment of rents and profits.