Massey v. Prothero

Siblings held land as tenants in common under an agreement that whoever occupied the family home would pay property taxes and maintain it rent-free; when one cotenant let taxes lapse, the next occupant, Lewis Prothero (defendant), learned of the delinquency during a 1967 county tax sale and, on the tax assessor's advice, simply bought the property himself for $55.01, never notifying his cotenants and taking title jointly with his wife Alene. Lewis kept his exclusive ownership secret from his sister and cotenant Mary Prothero (plaintiff) until 1976, and when she visited again in 1977, he ordered her off the property and threatened to call the sheriff. Mary sued to quiet title in the names of all surviving cotenants; the trial court found Lewis purchased the property for all cotenants' benefit and thus took no greater title, that Alene similarly gained no superior title, that the suit wasn't time-barred, that Lewis hadn't ousted his cotenants, and that Lewis and Alene held a joint tenancy in only a one-fourth interest, tenants in common with the others as to the rest.