Court Opinion

ID: 7811987
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-09-07 17:13:52.283148+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:30:29.964687
License: Public Domain

Hart, J. (after stating the facts). The judgment of the circuit court sustaining Mrs. Pannell’s plea of res judicata was correct. A comparison of the statement of facts made by the court in the suit brought in equity by Wilson against Mrs. Pannell to quiet his title to the lot with t.lie statement of facts in the present case will show that they are in all essential respects the same. In the equity case Mrs. Pannell defended on the ground that she had the equitable title to the lot in controversy, and for that reason Wilson could not prevail in his suit to quiet title. The court dismissed the complaint on the ground that the equitable title to the lot was in Mrs. Pannell. This is clearly shown by a quotation from the opinion in the equity case as follows: “Appellant insists that the court erred in dismissing his bill for want of equity. This must depend upon whether his grantor, W. G. Pannell, was in position to assert his legal title as against the equitable rights of Mrs. S. A. Pannell in a court of equity, for appellant cannot be regarded as an innocent purchaser, as the record reflects that he had a personal acquaintance with his grantor, W. G. Pannell, and-the appellee, Mrs. S. A. Pannell, and understood that they had lived apart for twenty-three years; that said appellee had been in the actual possession of the lot during that period, paying taxes thereon and claiming ownership thereto.” Wilson v. Pannell, 149 Ark. 81. It is true that the court denied the right of Mrs. Pannell to have her equitable title in the lot quieted. This was not done, however, because the court was of the opinion that the equitable title was not in her, but relief was denied her on the specific ground that her husband had not been made a party to the suit, and that therefore it was a technical error for the court below to quiet the title in her. As above stated, however, the court held in the equity case that Mrs. Pannell had the equitable title to the lot, and for that reason denied the prayer of Wilson to have his title quieted, holding that he was not an innocent purchaser and had no greater right in .the lot than his grantor, the husband of Mrs. Pannell. Therefore in a suit between the same panties for the same property,under a state of facts essentially the same, the court having held that the equitable title was in Mrs. Pannell, her plea of res judicata is fully established. Under our Civil Code a defendant may set forth in his answer as many grounds of defense, whether legal or equitable, as he shall have. Crawford & Moses’ Digest, § 1194, 4th subdivision. Under this provision of the Code it is well settled that the defendant in an action at law must interpose all defenses, legal and equitable. Daniel v. Garner, 71 Ark. 484, and Wales-Riggs Plantations v. Banks, 101 Ark 461. Therefore it necessarily follows that if the equitable title of Mrs. Pannell was sufficient to prevent Wilson from maintaining a suit to quiet title in the lot, it would also be sufficient, in a suit between the same parties,under substantially the same facts, to prevent him from maintaining an action of ejectment whereby he would recover possession of the lot and thus defeat the equitable title of Mrs. Pannell. In short, it would do no.good to hold that the equitable title to the lot was in Mrs. Pannell, if she could not interpose it to a legal as well as equitable suit for the property against one who had purchased the lot from her husband with full knowledge of her rights. It follows that the judgment must be affirmed.