de Everett v. Henry

Citations

• 67 Tex. 402
• 3 S.W. 566
• 1887 Tex. LEXIS 894

Syllabus

<p>1. Constructive Trust—Fraud.—A trustee acting under a power to sell, who conveys the trust property to himself, thereby constitutes himself by his own fraud a constructive trustee, and he and all who purchase from him with notice, will be regarded in equity as holding the property in trust for the original beneficiary.</p> <p>2. Same—Circumstances which might validate such a sale will not be presumed, but must be proved by the purchaser, and in a suit to recover property- thus conveyed by several trustees to one of their own number and afterwards conveyed by him to a third party, when the trustee and his vendee are both made defendants, it is not necesary to allege that the vendee knew of the decree which created the trust, or that he knew that the trustees had sold the property to one of their number. These facts were in the line of the vendee’s title, and it was sufficient to allege the title under which the vendee claimed. It was equivalent to charging him. with knowledge of the fraud which constituted his vendor a constructive trustee.</p> <p>3. Pleading.—See the opinion in this case for a statement of the allegations in a petition by one of many parties in interest, the others not joining, to recover her interest in a trust estate, purchased by the defendant from one constituted a constructive trustee by his own fraud in conveying the trust property to himself, held good on general demurrer.</p> <p>4. Same.—In such a suit it is not error to join the trustees as defendants with the last vendee, with a prayer for cancellation of the conveyances made. If the plaintiff failed to recover the land by reason of want of notice of the fraud on the part of the purchaser, she was entitled to recover of the constructive trustee her interest in the purchase money paid to him. The fact that the petition showed no ground for recovering a monied judgment against the trustees afforded no reason for dismissing the suit.</p>