205 Ky. 502 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1924
Reversing.
Appellees, E. P. Barnes, et al., partners doing business under the firm name of Barnes & Metcalfe, sought by filing their petition in equity in the Christian circuit court to have the title of a business house known as the Summers Building, in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, conveyed to them by appellants, William Kimmons and wife, and in the event that could not be done to recover the value of repairs and improvements to it made by them. Bv their petition they alleged that appellant, William Kimmons, was their close personal and business friend and confidant; that they procured him to purchase the house for them, and that he, violating the confidence reposed in him and his agreement with them that he would purchase it for them, purchased it and took the title to himself. They alleged that after he so purchased the building he informed them that he had purchased it for them and advised them that he would turn it over to them at any time and, while holding out to them that he had purchased it for them, discussed fully with them their plans to purchase the outstanding leases on the building and the repairs and improvements that they were planning to make, and stood by and suffered them to spend $8,319.25 in purchasing the outstanding leases and in making repairs and improvements.
Appellant, William Kimmons, denied that he bought the building for appellees or that they ever said anything to him about the purchase of the building and claimed to have bought it as an investment for his wife, and she claimed that her husband had purchased the building for her and that the money invested in same was her own money, the proceeds of her home inherited by her from her father, ami that it was bought for her and conveyed to her without any knowledge of the claims of appellees, and therefore she was entitled to hold the same as an innocent purchaser.
The three members of the firm of Barnes & Metcalfe sustain the allegations of their petition by their testimony, and in addition they took the testimony of some seven or eight other witnesses which tends to establish that appellant, Kimmons, purchased the building in question for them. However, it is admitted by all parties concerned that Barnes & Metcalfe furnished no part of the purchase price paid for the building when purchased,
Appellees contend, however, that inasmuch as appellant, Kimmons, subsequent to his purchase and payment of the purchase price of the Summers building reported to appellees that he had purchased it for them and that they might proceed to buy the outstanding leases on the building and repair it to suit themselves, with full assurance that he would deliver the property to them at any time they might want it,' and inasmuch as they, relying upon his statements to that effect, spent $8,319.25 in
In view of these facts, which are made to appear from the testimony of appellees themselves, we can not hold that the acts of the parties subsequent to the purchase of the building by appellant so changed the status of the case that a court of equity should construct a trust in favor of appellees and compel the conveyance of the Summers building to them, and in view of the fact that virtually all the expense of repairing and improving the Summers building was incurred by appellees after they admit they had actual knowledge that appellant claimed to have bought the building for himself and that it was his, and in view of the fact that the title was in him, as we have heretofore seen, we cannot hold with appellees’ contention that they at least are entitled to recover the amount the improvements and repairs put upon the building by them enhanced its vendible value. With reference to the expense of purchasing the outstanding leases on the Summers building and the improvements and repairs put upon it by them, Barnes & Metcalfe are in no better position than they would have been if Kimmons had been its owner in the first place and had orally agreed with them that he would sell it to them. The decisive fact of this case is the fact about which there is no controversy, that Kimmons paid his own money for the Summers building. Eliminating appellant’s testimony, considering that of appellees’ alone, when they
- This proceeding has been in equity. Our consideration of the record leaves us with the conclusion, however, that in equity and good conscience appellees, Barnes & Metcalfe, in view of all the circumstances of the parties and their transactions', should be permitted to remove from the Summers building the counters, balcony, shelving and electric light fixtures placed in it by them. In reaching that conclusion, we take into account the emphatic testimony of appellant and his witnesses that such improvements have in no wise enchanced the value of the building.
For the reason herein indicated, the judgment is reversed and this cause remanded for further proceedings consistent herewith.