Shaeffer v. Blair

Citations

• 149 U.S. 248
• 13 S. Ct. 856
• 37 L. Ed. 721
• 1893 U.S. LEXIS 2290

Syllabus

<p>By a contract in writing, A and B agreed that certain lands, for tbe sale and conveyance of most of which A held agreements of third persons, should be purchased for the mutual interest of A and B, and the legal title taken in A’s name, and conveyed by him to B; that B should advance to A the sums required to pay 'the purchase! money, as well as other expenses to be mutually agreed upon from time to time, and be repaid his advances, with interest, out of the net proceeds of sales; that A should attend to preparing the lands for sale, and sell them, subject to B’s approval, at prices mutually agreed upon, and retain a commission of five per cent on the gross amount of sales, and, until B was reimbursed for his advances, deposit the rest of the proceeds to B’s credit in a bank to be mutually agreed upon; that, when B had been so reimbursed, “ then the remainder of’ the property shall belong sixty per cent to B and forty per cent to A; ” and that the property should be prepared for sale “ by A or assigns ” within a certain time, unless extended by mutual agreement. A fraudulently obtained from B much larger sums of money than were needed to pay for the lands, procured conveyances of the lands to himself, and refused to convey them to B. Seld, that, whether the contract did or did not create a partnership, (and it seems that it did not,) the equitable title in the lands, after reimbursing B for his advances with interest, belonged three fifths to B and two fifths to A; and that A’s fraudulent misconduct, while it deprived him of the right to the stipulated commissions, did not divest him of his title in the lands.</p>