28 S.D. 303 | S.D. | 1911
The complaint herein, omitting title, is in words and figures as follows:
*304 “(i) That on or about the ist day of September, 1909, one Ben Heidt, who its a son of the defendant Barbara E. Heilman, and who was on said date and still is in the employ of the defendant the Farmers’ State Bank of Carthage, S. D., represented to this plaintiff that, if the plaintiff had any money to loan, he could place it at interest for this plaintiff so that it would draw an annual rate of 6 per cent, per annum, and where it would be safe and cause this plaintiff no trouble in looking after same. That, relying upon such representations, this plaintiff furnished to the said Ben Heidt, to so place at interest for the plaintiff, the sum of $1,150, of the plaintiff’s own money, and that on or about the ist day of October, 1909, the said Ben Heidt sent to this plaintiff a certificate of deposit issued by the Farmers’ State Bank of Carthage, S. D., dated September 21, 1909, in the sum of $1,150, due 12 months after date, with interest at 5 per cent, per annum, and which certificate of deposit was issued to F. A. Fleilman, and Barbara Heilman, ap depositors.
.“(2) That the defendant Barbara E- Heilman had no interest in the money so delivered to the said Ben Heidt, to be placed at interest, but the said money belonged to and was the individual property of this plaintiff, all of which was well known to the defendants herein.
“(3) That J. J. Heidt, the president of the said State Bank of Carthage, S. D.., one of the above-named defendants, is also a son of the defendant Barbara Fleilman, and that the said Barbara E. Fleilman and the Farmers’ State Bank of Carthage, S. D., through its officers, who are sons of the defendant Barbara EHeilman, conspired together to defraud this plaintiff out of his property and to place the one-half thereof under the control of the defendant Barbara E- Heilman. That the plaintiff is the sole and true owner of the said certificate of deposit so issued by the Farmers’ State Bank of Carthage, S. D., to F. A. Heilman and Barbara E. Heilman, and is now in possession thereof, and that the defendant Barbara E- Fleilman has no right, title, or interest in or to any part or portion of the said certificate of deposit, or to the funds represented by the said certificate.
*305 “Wherefore, the plaintiff prays. that he have judgment adjudging that the defendant Barbara E. Heilman' has no right, title, or interest in or to the said certificate of deposit, and that the plaintiff is the sole, true, and absolute owner thereof, and further ordering that the said Farmers’ State Bank of Carthage, S. D., one of the defendants herein, pay the amount of the said certificate of deposit to this plaintiff upon maturity, and for such other further and different relief as to the court shall seem meet and proper.”
To this complaint the defendants demurred upon the grounds that the facts therein stated are insufficient to constitute any cause of action, and that there was a defect of parties defendant in that Ben Heidt was not made a party defendant. This demurrer was overruled, and the defendants have appealed, assigning as error the overruling of such demurrer.
Other than as enlarged by statute, the equitable action ■ to quiet title could formerly only be invoked when numerous persons were asserting title adverse to plaintiff, or when some one person had repeatedly asserted title by bringing numerous successive legal actions based upon such claim of title. Pom. Rem. & Rem. Rights (2d Ed.) § 369. This remedy has almost invariably been confined to the determination of titles to real property, and by statutes in many states — among them being this state — the use of this form of action has been greatly enlarged where it is the title to or an interest in real estate that is in question. So far, then, as its use in the settling of title to personal property is concerned, the old common-law rule adheres, and an action can only be brought when there is no adequate remedy in a proceeding at law. As supporting the above and as illustrative of some of the cases where courts will entertain actions to quiet title to personal