114 Cal. 310 | Cal. | 1896
The appeal is from the judgment, taken within sixty days after its rendition. The- evidence is brought up for review by a bill of exceptions. The action was brought by plaintiff against Amy Landers as administratrix, and William J. Landers as administrator, of the estate of Michael Landers, deceased. The complaint charged that Michael Landers was, upon the sixteenth day of April, 1883, the owner of a certain piece of land, a lot with twenty-five feet frontage by ninety-feet in depth, situated upon Shotwell street, in the city and county of San Francisco, upon which had been erected a dwelling-house. It then averred “ that in consideration of long-continued, faithful services of plaintiff to said Michael Landers, on said sixteenth day of April,-1883, and in his lifetime, the said Michael Landers made
A decree wras sought compelling the representatives of Landers, deceased, to execute a conveyance to plaintiff of the property in question.
It is claimed that the action is one in which the aid of a court of equity, may be invoked to compel due execution of a parol gift of land, but the complaint does not sufficiently state a cause of action for this purpose. It does not aver a gift of the land, but “a gift in relation and in respect to said lot of land whereby the said Landers promised and agreed to make a good and sufficient deed to plaintiff upon demand.” Under the complaint, which must govern plaintiff's right of recovery, a case is not pleaded of an attempted gift, defective in form, which, to prevent injustice upon the donee, equity will perfect. It is an effort simply to enforce a promise to make a gift, the execution of which was never attempted to be completed by deceased in his lifetime.
The cases are numerous, and the rule maybe considered well settled, that where a parol gift of real estate is
Plaintiff’s real claim, as disclosed by his pleadings, is that he entered with the knowledge and approval of Landers, and under Landers’ promise that he would thereafter, upon demand, make him a deed, and that, relying upon that promise, he made lasting and valuable improvements upon the property. His ground for equitable relief is that because of the change in his situation brought about by the promise of Landers, it would be an injustice amounting to a fraud upon him, if Landers or his representatives were not compelled to make good the promise. This, it will be noted, is a different action from one to compel the perfection of a gift presently but incompletely made.
That equity will, however, even in such cases, and to prevent wrong, enforce the performance of such a promise, is recognized by the authorities. If a donor by promises induces the donee to change his position to his detriment, after the change is made the donor can be compelled to make his promise good. The relation between them then becomes one of contract. (Thornton on Gifts and Advancements, par. 337.) In Anderson v. Scott, 94 Mo. 637, the court had under consideration a promise very like the one at bar, and stated the rule as
But, to give the plaintiff the benefit of this rule, the expenditures must have been made upon the faith of the promise, and must be in the nature of lasting benefits and improvements to the land, tending to enhance its value over and above the value of the use of the propert)'- to the plaintiff. (Wack v. Sorber, 2 Whart. 392.) Slight and temporary improvements, or trivial outlays, made to suit the taste or convenience of the occupant, do not raise an equity in favor of the donee (Pomeroy on Specific Performance, secs. 128-31; Poorman v. Kilgore, 26 Pa. St. 361; 67 Am. Dec. 425); for, if the value of the expenditures made by the occupant does not exceed the benefit to him of the use of the land without charge or rental, then, generally, and in the absence of other circumstances of hardship shown, he not only will not have been injured, but will in fact have been advantaged by the promises made.
It is shown by the evidence that the rental value of this property is thirty dollars a month; that there was erected upon it at the time that plaintiff entered into possession of it a substantial dwelling-house; that the plaintiff has had free use and occupation of the premises for the period of four years.
The court found that lasting and permanent and valuable improvements had been made by the donee upon the property. It appears that the house was in process of construction at the time when Landers told the plaintiff that he might occupy it, and that, in anticipation of his occupancy, and for his convenience, plaintiff made some changes in the arrangement of the house, costing about three hundred dollars. During his occu.pancy, plaintiff expended about one hundred dollars for painting the house, forty-five dollars for a mantel, and
The evidence, then, in support of the findings, shows that the total expenditure of the plaintiff did not equal the rental value of the property during the time of his occupancy, and that the so-called permanent improvements were rather expenditures made to suit the convenience and taste of the occupant, and were not such as the law contemplates, of a character to enhance the value of tile realty.
The judgment is reversed, and the cause remanded for a new trial.
McFarland, J., and Temple, J., concurred.
Hearing in Bank denied.