Cramblitt v. Sherwood

Citations

• 109 Kan. 458
• 199 P. 925
• 1921 Kan. LEXIS 297

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>Conveyance — Warranty Against Incumbrances — Annual Drainage District Assessments Not An “Incumbrance” Within the Covenant. The plaintiff exchanged his Kansas farm for .the defendant’s Missouri farm. The defendant .covenanted that his farm was “free and clear of all incumbrance” except a specified mortgage. The Missouri farm was included in a drainage district where drainage ditches had been constructed. All the real estate in the district was subject to .a statutory lien for the cost of the drainage improvements. This cost was apportioned to the several properties in the district, and was payable in future annual assessments during a period of twenty years, and could not be otherwise discharged at the time the farms were exchanged. The annual assessments were payable at the same time and in the same manner as ordinary taxes, but no such annual assessment was due when the contract of exchange was affected. Held, that this statutory lien on the farm for the future payment of annual assessments for the drainage improvements was not an incumbrance in breach of the covenant within the fair, reasonable, and common meaning of an incumbrance, as that term is used in an ordinary contract for the exchange of farms.</p>