Court Opinion

ID: 9558515
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:11:18.380332+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:09:21.331447
License: Public Domain

Hamilton, J.
(concurring in part, dissenting in part) — I concur in the overruling of Ashford v. Reese, 132 Wash. 639, 233 P. 29 (1925). I dissent, however, from the majority's rejection of the doctrine of equitable conversion.
The great majority of jurisdictions in this country recognize and follow the doctrine of equitable conversion in land sale contracts.1 Panushka v. Panushka, 221 Ore. 145, 149-50, 349 P.2d 450 (1960), describes the operation of this equitable doctrine.
*787An equitable conversion, therefore, takes place when a contract for the sale of real property becomes binding upon the parties. Thenceforth, the purchaser of the land is deemed the equitable owner thereof, and the seller is considered the owner of the purchase price. Upon the execution of the contract, the two contracting parties change positions. The purchaser's interest is "land", and the right and interest conferred by the contract upon the vendor is "personal property," i.e., ownership of the right to receive the purchase money. The naked legal title, which the vendor holds in trust as security for the payment of the purchase money, descends to his heirs to be held by them for the benefit of the purchaser, but the vendor has no interest in the land which is subject to descent. Upon the vendor's death, his interest in the purchase money passes to his personal representative as personalty, and is distributable among the deceased vendor's next of kin. In short, as a result of the equitable conversion, the vendor holds an encumbered legal title, charged with the equitable interest of the purchaser, which is subject to be defeated by the purchaser's performance of the contract but so long as the contract remains executory, no title to the land is conveyed in law to the purchaser.
With the wealth of authority applying the doctrine in the variety of circumstances that can arise in land transactions, *788our acceptance of it would lend some certainty in the real estate contract field now that Ashford v. Reese, supra, is no more. By rejecting the doctrine, I fear the majority has left a void which will cast attorneys, title companies, vendors, vendees, judgment creditors and debtors, and assignors and assignees upon a sea of uncertainty. To avoid these troubled waters, I would prefer to adopt the well-established doctrine of equitable conversion.
Utter and Horowitz, JJ., concur with Hamilton, J.

See Department of Revenue v. Baxter, 486 P.2d 360 (Alas. 1971); Lebrecht v. Beckett, 96 Ariz. 389, 396 P.2d 13 (1964); Snow Bros. Hardware Co. v. Ellis, 180 *787Ark. 238, 21 S.W.2d 162 (1929); Strauss v. White, 66 Ark. 167, 51 S.W. 64 (1899); In re Estate of Reid, 26 Cal. App. 2d 362, 79 P.2d 451 (1938); Dwyer v. District Court, 188 Colo. 41, 532 P.2d 725 (1975); Eddington v. Turner, 27 Del. Ch. 411, 38 A.2d 738, 155 A.L.R. 562 (1944); Liberty Nat'l Bank v. Smoot, 135 F. Supp. 654 (D.C. Cir. 1955); Hull v. Maryland Cas. Co., 79 So. 2d 517 (Fla. 1954); Shay v. Penrose, 25 Ill. 2d 447, 185 N.E.2d 218 (1962); Board of Comm'rs v. Midwest Associates, Inc., 144 Ind. App. 264, 245 N.E.2d 853 (1969); H.L. Munn Lumber Co. v. Ames, 176 N.W.2d 813 (Iowa 1970); In re Estate of Snyder, 199 Kan. 487, 430 P.2d 212 (1967); C.H. Brown Banking Co. v. Stockton, 107 Ky. 492, 54 S.W. 854 (1900); Adams v. Harris, 47 Miss. 144 (1872); In re Estate of Briebach, 132 Mont. 437, 318 P.2d 223 (1957); Buford v. Dahlke, 158 Neb. 39, 62 N.W.2d 252 (1954); In re Estate of Seifert, 109 N.H. 62, 242 A.2d 64 (1968); Butterer v. Santoro, 24 N.J. Super. 361, 94 A.2d 525 (1953); Mutual Bldg. & Loan Ass'n v. Collins, 85 N.M. 706, 516 P.2d 677 (1973); Scott v. Jordan, 235 N.C. 244, 69 S.E.2d 557 (1952); State Life Ins. Co. v. State ex rel. Kehn, 192 Okla. 271, 135 P.2d 965 (1942); Bauer v. Hill, 267 Pa. 559,110 A. 346 (1920); Capwell v. Spencer, 48 R.I. 401,137 A. 699 (1927); Pinson v. Pinson, 150 S.C. 368,148 S.E. 211 (1929); Southern Ice & Coal Co. v. Alley, 127 Tenn. 173, 154 S.W. 536 (1912); Lampman v. Sledge, 502 S.W.2d 957 (Tex. Civ. App. 1973). In fact, my research discloses no jurisdiction which totally rejects this equitable doctrine.