Hood v. Webster

Florence Hood held an unrecorded 1913 deed and side agreement giving William Hood (plaintiff) her farm after her death in exchange for $200 annual payments, which Hood never actually paid; her nephew Webster (defendant) instead moved in to help her, and in 1928 Florence executed and recorded a new deed granting the farm to Webster and her brother Farwell (defendant) for recited but unproven "one dollar and other good and valuable consideration." After Florence died, Hood recorded his older 1913 deed and sued to annul the 1928 deed; the trial court ruled for Hood, and on appeal the parties agreed a recording statute voiding unrecorded conveyances against good-faith, valuable-consideration purchasers with recorded deeds governed the outcome.