Court Opinion

ID: 9534938
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:43:56.623418+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:33:08.606940
License: Public Domain

PETERS, J.
I dissent:
The majority opinion adopts a double standard that is neither moral nor legal. It tells us that a woman who has *669“sinned,” by knowingly entering into a meretricious relationship, is not to be permitted to share in property that she helped to accumulate, and that all such property is to go to the man involved, even though he has also “sinned,” at least in equal degree. In other words, the majority opinion says that even though the property before the court may have been acquired, in part, as a result of the nonmarital and valuable services of the plaintiff, as a matter of law, she has no legal or equitable right in that property because she knowingly entered into a meretricious relationship. That is not and should not be the law.
The facts, generally, are correctly set forth in the majority opinion, although the key facts are there under-emphasized. These parties lived together as husband and wife for nearly the entire period from 1938 to 1956. Undoubtedly, the relationship was meretricious, and the finding that both parties knew that it was is supported by the evidence. During this period the plaintiff managed the household and performed all the customary duties of a housewife. But the court found, and the finding is supported, that she did much more. It found that from 1938 to 1946 “plaintiff did perform work and labor for the mutual benefit of defendant and plaintiff on a certain ranch situate in Butte County, California, standing of record in the name of and owned by defendant, said services consisting of helping in the performance of farm labor, including the raising of turkeys, chickens, sheep, cattle, the clearing of land, the sowing, raising and harvesting of grain crops and the growing and harvesting of nut crops. The court further finds that on a few occasions during the years 1947 through 1956, the plaintiff assisted defendant in connection with the operation of his real estate brokerage business, furniture business and the buying and selling of real estate, timber and timber lands.”
This finding is amply supported by the record. Even the defendant testified that some such services were rendered.
There is substantial evidence that during the period the parties resided on defendant’s ranch—1938 to 1946—a large commercial turkey flock was purchased and maintained by them, and that this flock was entirely cared for by the plaintiff. Other poultry kept on the farm were taken care of by plaintiff, and during the lambing seasons (a large number of sheep were maintained on the ranch) plaintiff took care of the numerous “orphan” lambs that otherwise would have died. There is also evidence, substantiated by apparently dis*670interested witnesses, that she helped to herd or drive the cattle on the ranch kept there for commercial purposes. There is substantial evidence that she helped to clear certain areas of the ranch by working with the men to clear off rocks, and thus made these areas available for cultivation. There is also substantial evidence that she not only grew and maintained a large vegetable garden, but that she helped sow and harvest the commercial crops, including not only grain but nut crops as well. These are not the customary duties of a housewife.
In 1946 defendant sold the ranch, which he had owned prior to the inception of his relationship with plaintiff, and from then until 1956, engaged in the real estate and furniture businesses, or spent his time traveling about the country for pleasure with plaintiff. There is evidence that during this period the plaintiff assisted defendant to some extent in those businesses.
The extent, if any, that these activities may have enhanced the value of the fund before the court does not appear. The parties stipulated, and the trial court agreed, that the parties should first try the issue of whether, under the facts, plaintiff was entitled to anything. In the event it was found that she was entitled to nothing, then no further proceedings would be held, but in the event it was determined that she was entitled to something then the extent of defendant’s property, and the amount, if any, that this property was enhanced by the efforts of plaintiff, would be tried. Since the trial court found that plaintiff was entitled to nothing, the evidence on those issues was never presented. The record does show, without conflict, that defendant owned a run-down ranch as his sole and separate property prior to 1938 and prior to the time he met the plaintiff, and that this ranch, vastly improved, and all the flocks and herds and property on it, were sold in 1946 for a very substantial figure. How much, if any, the amount secured was due to the extramarital services of the plaintiff does not appear. But the fact is that there is a fund of money before this court that was created by the joint efforts of the parties.
The trial court found and concluded that, as a matter of law, plaintiff was entitled to no portion of this jointly earned fund. The majority opinion affirms this result. It reasons that, in the absence of an agreement of joint venture or partnership, the plaintiff is without remedy because she knowingly entered into the meretricious relationship. In reaching this result the majority opinion purports to follow the rule of *671Vallera v. Vallera, 21 Cal.2d 681 [134 P.2d 761]. That case announced no such rule, but, in fact, announced a rule quite to the contrary.
In Vallera, as in the instant case, the parties entered into the relationship both knowing that they were not married. In Vallera, during the period of the illicit relationship, unlike the instant case, the plaintiff contributed only normal marital services. Three of the members of this court (I was one, then sitting as a pro tern, justice) were of the opinion that, even in such a case, the plaintiff should be permitted to share in the property jointly acquired during the period of cohabitation. The four justices constituting the majority, apparently feeling bound by prior decisions, held that marital services alone were not sufficient to permit the woman to share in the property. If it be assumed that the rule announced in Vallera by the majority correctly states the law of this state, an assumption I think is incorrect, that rule offers no help to the majority in the present case.
In Vallera, after holding that a woman who lives with a man in the good faith belief that a valid marriage exists may share in the property acquired by them during the existence of the relationship, the court posed the specific problem involved as follows: ‘ ‘ The controversy is thus reduced to the question whether a woman living with a man as his wife but with no genuine belief that she is legally married to him acquires by cohabitation alone the rights of a co-tenant in his earnings and accumulations during the period of their relationship. It has already been answered in the negative. [Citation.]” (21 Cal.2d at p. 684.)
This is the rule that the majority believes is controlling in the present case. But note that the quoted rule merely holds that the plaintiff is not entitled to share in their accumulations by reason of “cohabitation alone,” and Mr. Justice Traynor, speaking for the majority, was very careful to so limit the rule. He also was very careful to point out that where, in addition to “cohabitation alone” the woman contributes to the joint acquisition her own funds or property, she is entitled to share in the property in the proportion that her funds or property contributed towards its acquisition. It is submitted that the majority also held that the same rule applies where the woman’s contribution, in addition to “cohabitation alone” also consists of services in excess of normal marital services. The exact words used by the court were these (p. 685) :
*672“Plaintiff’s lack of good faith in alleging the belief that she had entered into a valid marriage would not, however, preclude her from recovering property to which she would otherwise be entitled. If a man and woman live together as husband and wife under an agreement to pool their earnings and share equally in their joint accumulations, equity will protect the interests of each in such property. [Citations.] Even in the absence of an express agreement to that effect, the woman would be entitled to share in the property jointly accumulated, in the proportion that her funds contributed toward its acquisition. (Hayworth v. Williams, supra, 102 Tex. 308 [116 S.W. 43] ; Delamour v. Roger, 7 La.Ann. 152.)”
The key word in that quotation, so far as the instant problem is concerned, is “funds.” By the use of that term did the majority in Tallera intend to include extramarital services as well as money and perhaps negotiable paper? The word “funds” could, of course, mean only money, and perhaps negotiable paper. The majority, in the instant case, so interpret the term by referring at some length to its dictionary definitions, and by disregarding the holdings of the two cases cited by Mr. Justice Traynor as indicative of the meaning of the term “funds” in the quotation in question. Those two cases—the Hayworth and Delamour cases—make it crystal clear that as used in that quotation the term was intended to include services as well as money or tangible property. In one of those eases (the Hayworth case) the “funds” contributed were services alone, while in the other (the Delamour case) services and money were both contributed. In both eases it was held that, just as where the woman contributes money towards the acquiring of the accumulations, she is entitled to a proportionate share of those accumulations, where her contribution consists of services, other than the normal services of a wife.
The theory of these cases is sound and is based on sound public policy. Obviously, if the two were not illegally living together, the woman could recover. In that event it would be a plain business relationship and a contract would be implied. Illicit cohabitation does not invalidate an otherwise valid relationship. The man is not entitled to benefit from such nonwifely services simply because the two have illegally cohabitated. (See Succession of Llula, 44 La.Ann. 61 [10 So. 406, 407] ; Succession of Pereuilhet, 23 La.Ann. 294, 295 [8 Am.Rep. 595] ; Viens v. Brickle (La.) 8 Mart. (O.S.) 11 ; *673Babb v. Carroll, 21 Tex. 765 ; Bracken v. Bracken, 52 S.D. 252 [217 N.W. 192, 194] ; West v. Knowles, 50 Wn.2d 311 [311 P.2d 689, 692] (concurring opinion) ; Smith v. North Memphis Savings Bank, 115 Tenn. 12 [89 S.W. 392] ; Casini v. Lupone, 8 N.J. Super. 362 [72 A.2d 907].)
The majority opinion, with some apparent reluctance, concedes that where the sinful plaintiff contributes money or property towards the joint acquisition she may proportionately recover in spite of the meretricious relationship. It reaches this conclusion not only by adopting a very limited definition of the term “funds” as used in Tallera, but also purports to reach the same result by an interesting but inapplicable discussion of the law of trusts. The majority would permit a recovery, apparently on the theory of resulting trust, when the plaintiff contributes money or tangible property towards acquisitions taken in the name of defendant. In other words, if the woman contributes cash or tangible property worth $1,000 towards the creation of a fund of $2,000, she could, upon termination of the relationship, recover one half of the property. But if she renders nonmarital services worth $1,000 and the man contributes $1,000 in property towards the fund, she can recover nothing. In such event, the majority would say that she has furnished no “consideration” towards the acquisition of the property that is before the court. Services, of course, as well as money or property, can constitute “consideration.”
The problem is very simple. There is before the court a fund in the name of defendant. The plaintiff seeks to establish an interest in that fund. That fund consists largely of money received from the sale of defendant’s ranch and the sale of turkeys, sheep and cattle. How much, if any, the value of that ranch, and of the value of the turkeys, sheep, and cattle was created or increased by the services of plaintiff does not appear in the evidence, because of the stipulation under which the case was tried. The majority opinion simply holds that, assuming that the fund was created in substantial part by the nonmarital services, plaintiff as a matter of law is entitled to nothing.
The majority seem greatly concerned about the legal theory upon which the plaintiff may recover, and indulge in a highly technical discussion of the law of resulting trusts in order to demonstrate that no such trust exists. I find no difficulty in finding a remedy. It is of little importance whether we say that plaintiff’s rights may be enforced on the theory of a *674resulting trust, or a constructive trust, or upon the theory of an equitable lien. The three are frequently confused (49 Cal.Jur.2d, § 349, p. 188). In Holder v. Williams, 167 Cal.App.2d 313, 315 [334 P.2d 291], it was stated:
“Resulting trusts, constructive trusts and equitable liens are very much akin to each other, and their basic purposes to identify and impress upon certain property the beneficial rights that have arisen in an innocent party who in some way contributed to the acquisition, protection or improvement of that property are, in general, the same.”
The essential principle is one of equity. Where the “consideration” for property, real or personal, is wholly or in part furnished by one party and title is taken in another, and the circumstances negative the concept of a gift, equity will intervene to protect the rights of the first party. Usually we refer to this as a resulting trust, raised by operation of law, based upon the presumed intention of the parties to deal fairly with one another. This rule is codified as to real property in this state (Civ. Code, § 853), but “[a]lthough the statute specifies real property, the presumption is equally applicable in the case of personal property.” (49 Cal.Jur.2d, § 358, p. 199.)
It is quite elementary that under the circumstances here involved an inference arises that defendant holds the joint fund in trust in part for plaintiff. This is an inference based on common sense and on the implied intent of the parties. It certainly does no lasting harm to the law to indulge in the mild presumption that parties intend to deal fairly with each other and that such presumption will be enforced by presuming the intent to create a trust. (See, generally, 54 Am.Jur., § 195, p. 153; § 203, p. 158.)
The real question in all such presumed trust situations is whether “consideration” was furnished in whole or in part by one person and title taken in the name of another. “Consideration” is the essential fact that is determinative of equitable ownership by whatever name it is called. The concept that “consideration” can only exist when it is something tangible, a concept inherent in the majority opinion, violates fundamental contract and trust principles. American Jurisprudence states the principle as follows: “Such equitable consideration may in general be any consideration of value, property, or labor. ...” (Italics added. 54 Am.Jur., § 194, p. 153.) Again at page 159, section 203, it is stated (citing many cases) : “It is essential that there be an actual payment *675of money, property, or services, or an equivalent, constituting valuable consideration.” (Italics added.)
In 3 Scott, Trusts (1939 ed.) page 2296, it is stated: “where A performs services in consideration of which land is transferred to B, B presumptively holds upon a resulting trust for A; and if the services are a part of the consideration, B holds upon a resulting trust pro tanto.” (Italics added.)
In 49 California Jurisprudence, Second Edition, section 362, at page 203, it is stated that the trust arises when consideration is paid by one person and the title is taken in another, and that “it makes no difference in principle whether the consideration be money or other property. It may be the performance of services. ...” (Italics added.) (See also Dougherty v. California Kettleman Oil Boyalties, Inc., 9 Cal.2d 58 [69 P.2d 155] (services in procuring oil permit), and Osborne v. Endicott, 6 Cal. 149 [65 Am.Dec. 498] (services as attorney).)
In White v. Sheldon, 3-4 Nev. 739, at page 746, the principle is stated in the following clear language: “Upon these facts it is argued that the services performed by White did not raise an implied trust in his favor. Counsel attempt to make a distinction between the payment of money in cases of this kind and the rendering of services, but we apprehend the distinction is one not recognized in the books nor maintainable on principle. Equity looks to the consideration, and creates a trust in favor of him who furnishes it, regardless of whether such consideration be money or labor, or property given in exchange. Implied trusts are based upon the broad principle that he who furnishes the consideration is entitled to the property, and equity does not permit any unsubstantial distinctions to defeat the operation of its liberal and rational rules. We know of no principle of ethics or equity which would justify the creation of a trust in favor of him who furnishes money wherewith to purchase property, that would not also create it in favor of him who renders services or labor for the same purpose.”
Of course, the burden of proving how much her services contributed to the fund rests on plaintiff. But the law, equity, and principles of justice and morality all dictate that plaintiff should be given the opportunity to prove her point if she can.
I would reverse the judgment.
Appellant’s petition for a rehearing was denied June 13, 1962. Peters, J., was of the opinion that the petition should be granted.