121 F.2d 875 | D.C. Cir. | 1941
Appellant was plaintiff in the court below. He is a carpenter by trade. His complaint alleges that in March, 1937, he owned a home in or near Hyattsville, Maryland, of the value of about $3,000; that he owed Hyattsville Building Association $400 secured by deed of trust on his property and was then in arrears in his installment payments; to avoid threatened foreclosure he engaged the services of appellees Gladman and Backer, residents of the District of Columbia, as his agents to handle negotiations with the Association; Gladman and Backer orally agreed they would take what
There was a motion to dismiss on the ground (1) the trial court had no jurisdiction because the lands are located in Maryland; and (2) because the oral agreement relied on violated the statute of frauds. The trial court dismissed the complaint. We think this was error.
1. The proper parties were before the court, and in such a case it is within its power to make a decree on an equity subsisting between the parties respecting property situated out of the jurisdiction.
2. It is also a settled rule that if a person acquires title to lands by means of an intentionally false and fraudulent verbal promise either to hold the same for a specified purpose or to convey or reconvey to a designated individual and, having thus fraudulently obtained title, retains the property as his own, equity will regard such person as holding the property charged with a constructive trust and will compel him to fulfill the trust by conveying according to his engagement.
Reversed and remanded with instructions to proceed in accordance with this opinion.
Massie v. Watts, 6 Cranch, 148, 3 L.Ed. 181; Cole v. Cunningham, 133 U.S. 107, 117, 10 S.Ct. 269, 33 L.Ed. 538; New Jersey v. New York City, 283 U.S. 473, 482, 51 S.Ct. 519, 75 L.Ed. 1176; Caldwell v. Ulsh, 184 Ind. 725, 731, 112 N.E. 518; Meador v. Manlove, 97 Kan. 706, 156 P. 731; Apple v. Smith, 106 Kan. 717, 190 P. 8; Mead v. Brockner, 82 App.Div. 480, 81 N.Y.S. 594; Watkins v. Watkins, 160 Tenn. 1, 7, 88 S.W.2d 1.
Ammonette v. Black, 73 Ark. 310, 83 S.W. 910; Eason v. Wheeler, 167 Ark. 320, 268 S.W. 29; Thomas v. Goodbread, 78 Fla. 278, 82 So. 835; McNinch v. American Trust Co., 183 N.C. 33, 110 S.E. 663; Rice v. Rice, 107 Mich. 241, 65 N.W. 103; Thompson v. Thompson, 30 Neb. 489, 46 N.W. 638; and see 42 A.L.R. pp. 82, 85, 86, where many cases are cited on the rule.