66 W. Va. 246 | W. Va. | 1909
James Laing, holding a lease of certain coal lands, executed by S. Lewis Price and others, and purporting to vest an interest or mining rights in him, and desiring to sell and dispose of the same to Geo. S. Beckwith, trustee, entéred into a written contract with the latter, on the 14th day of March, 1906, which forms the basis of this suit. As the lease did not confer certain privileges and rights, desired by Beckwith, the contract just mentioned contemplated the procurement of certain alterations in it by Laing, and the consummation of the sale was made to depend somewhat upon the result of Laing’s efforts in this behalf. The contract recited the following imperfections in, or objections to, the lease, in the condition in which it then was: It gave no right to sublet the premises; nor to haul coal through the lands from any other or adjoining lands; nor did it include all the seams of coal in the land. The contract also recited a proposition on the part of Beckwith, trustee, to purchase the lease of Laing at the price of $6,750.00, in case he should obtain the desired changes. It then recited the payment to Laing of $50'.00 by Beckwith, in consideration of
The contract of March 14, 1906, showing it had been executed to the plaintiff as trustee, was exhibited with the bill and constitutes a part thereof. While it does not disclose the names of the cestui que trustent, it establishes a fiduciary relation or status on the part of the plaintiff. In view of this, the court should have regarded the bill as defective, for want of necessary parties, and sustained the demurrers thereto. This was held to be a sufficient objection to the bill in Pyle v. Henderson, 55 W. Va. 122. In that case, Judge Dent said, after observing that one of the plaintiffs was suing as trustee, without naming the beneficiaries of the trust: “If such Miller is acting in the capacity of trustee for others and not in his individual capacity, such others are necessary parties that they may be bound by the decree entered, and that the defendants, if successful, may not again be compelled to relitigate the same matters with the beneficiaries in such trust, who, not being parties to the suit, would not be bound by such decree.” The general rule in equity, in respect to parties, is that all persons interested in the subject matter of the suit are proper and necessary parties. Burlew v. Quarrier, 16 W. Va. 108; Howard v. Stephenson, 33 W. Va. 116; Rexroad v. McQuain, 24 W. Va. 32; Bryan
On the hearing it appeared from the proof that Laing also is a trustee and the names of the beneficiaries in his trust were fully disclosed. This, too, is ground of reversal, although it may not have been brought to the attention of the court below. Ralphsnyder v. Titus, 63 W. Va. 469; Reger v. Gall, 54 W. Va. 373; Gallatin Land &c. Co. v. Davis, 44 W. Va. 109. Some of these cases are authority for the .further proposition that the omission of necessary parties may be disclosed by the evidence adduced. If it appears in any way by the record that a final decree has been rendered in the absence of necessary parties, such decree will be reversed and the cause remanded so that proper parties may be made.
Though, in such cases, the court will enter upon no inquiry as to the .merits, the cause will not be remanded, unless .the subject matter of the bill appears to be within the jurisdiction of a court of equity. It would be useless to remand, a cause, so plainly beyond the jurisdiction of the court as to make manifest the impossibility of its retention in any form. Contrary to the views expressed by counsel for the appellants we think the subject matter of this bill is one of equitable cognizance. Although the lease in controversy may. be.^ technically . personal property, it pertains to, and vests
For the reasons stated, the decree must be reversed and the cause remanded, with leave to the plaintiff to amend his bill.
Reversed and Remanded.