Opinion ID: 1357886
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Suit of 1943.

Text: In the suit of that year, jurisdiction of the parties defendant was obtained both by publication and by the acceptance of service in their behalf by the Alien Property Custodian of the United States, acting under the authority of Executive Order No. 9095, as amended, and in accordance with General Order No. 6, issued pursuant thereto. Upon the issues joined, a decree was entered on October 2, 1945, wherein provision was made that the decree should stand in lieu of the lost deeds, and the plaintiffs Bingham (also plaintiffs here) were adjudged to be the owners in fee simple of an undivided seven-eighths interest in the real property. By stipulation of the parties, the moiety of seven-eighths was corrected by an amendatory decree of December 21, 1945, to be six-sevenths. Turning to plaintiffs' complaint in that case, we find an allegation outlining the negotiations had by and between them and the German heirs for the purchase and sale of an undivided six-sevenths interest in the subject property. The pertinent paragraphs upon which they there rest their assertion of title, later confirmed by the decree in that suit, are: VI. That during the month of March, 1941, Robert G. Clostermann was the duly appointed, acting and qualified consul of Germany for the State of Oregon and the duly authorized and appointed attorney in fact, both by virtue of the treaty then existing between the United States of America and the government of Germany and by reason of specific appointment, for all of the heirs of Joseph Schmidt, deceased, and their respective spouses, other than Jakob [also `Jacob'] Schmidt of Spokane, Washington, and that, acting in his official capacity as consul and attorney in fact for said heirs, the said Robert G. Clostermann negotiated a sale for and on behalf of all of the heirs of Joseph Schmidt, deceased, and their respective spouses, other than Jakob Schmidt and his wife of Spokane, Washington, to the plaintiffs herein of the undivided seven-eights [sic] [later corrected to six-sevenths] interest vested in said heirs of Joseph Schmidt (being all of the heirs other than Jakob Schmidt of Spokane, Washington) in and to the real property hereinbefore described, and that on March 3, 1941, the said transaction was completed and closed by the payment in cash by the plaintiffs to Robert G. Clostermann, as consul of Germany and attorney in fact for the said heirs and their respective spouses, of the purchase price agreed upon. VII. That plaintiffs are informed and believe and on information and belief allege that thereafter all of the said heirs and their respective spouses, being all of those persons named as defendants herein, made and executed in favor of the plaintiffs herein and delivered to said plaintiffs by depositing in the mail in Germany, as and for delivery to plaintiffs, their deeds conveying the said property to plaintiffs herein, but that by reason of the intervention of a state of war between Germany and the United States, said deeds have never reached the plaintiffs herein. VIII. That by virtue of the payment of the purchase price and the execution and delivery of said deeds, plaintiffs are now the owners in fee simple of an undivided seven-eights [sic] [six-sevenths] interest in and to the real property herein described. Before we go further, it is a matter of special interest to determine by examination of the complaint and theory of and