Tellier v. Darragh

This is an action brought by the appellee, F. K. Darragh, to quiet his title to certain wild and unimproved land near Little Rock. There is involved in this appeal the title to an undivided one-third interest in the land, this third having formerly been an asset of the estate of W. P. Feild, Jr., who died in 1932. Feild's widow was named an executrix of his will, and as executrix she sold this one-third interest to herself as an individual in 1942. Mrs. Feild held the title until she conveyed to Darragh in 1950. When Darragh brought this suit a few days later he joined as defendants the various creditors of the Feild estate, including the two appellants, Grace W. Tellier and R. L. Bradley. The complaint alleges that the various defendants hold claims against the Feild estate but that the claims are barred by limitations and laches and should be canceled as clouds on the plaintiff's title. The two appellants are the only defendants who resisted the suit. Bradley filed a cross-complaint asking that the executrix' sale to herself be set aside and the land be sold to pay his claim. Mrs. Tellier does not attack the executrix' sale but does insist that the sale was subject to a lien in her favor, which should be foreclosed. The issue in each case is whether the appellants waited too long before asserting in 1950 rights that might have been enforced in 1942. The chancellor dismissed both cross-complaints for want of equity. The Feild estate was evidently insolvent. In 1938 the probate court, in order to pay debts, ordered the executrix to sell at public sale this one-third interest in [220 Ark Page 365] land, which seems to have been the last remaining asset of the estate. In 1942 the executrix reported that at the public offering no one had bid two-thirds of the appraised value of the property. The court then authorized her to sell the land by private sale. Under that authority the executrix sold the property to herself in satisfaction of administration expenses which she had advanced and of the funeral bill, which she had paid, the total of these items being $883.28. The deed, which was approved by court order, recites that the conveyance is subject to a lien to secure the fee of $900 previously allowed by the court to J. A. Tellier as attorney for the executrix. This is the lien now asserted by Mrs. Tellier, who is the widow of J. A. Tellier and a lawyer herself.