Board of Education of Minneapolis v. Hughes

Facts

On May 16, 1906, Carrie B. Hoerger, who lived in Faribault, owned a vacant Minneapolis lot that carried unpaid delinquent taxes. Hughes offered $25 for it, and his offer was accepted. He sent a check for the price of this lot and two other lots to her husband, Ed. Hoerger, along with a deed to be signed and returned. The deed left the grantee's name blank. Mrs. Hoerger and her husband signed and acknowledged it on May 17, 1906, and mailed it to Hughes. The check was kept and cashed. Hughes wrote his own name in the blank only shortly before the deed was recorded on December 16, 1910. Meanwhile, on April 27, 1909, the real estate dealers Duryea & Wilson paid Mrs. Hoerger $25 for a quitclaim deed to the lot. Their deed was recorded on December 21, 1910. On November 19, 1909, Duryea & Wilson gave the Board of Education a warranty deed, which was recorded on January 27, 1910. So Hughes's deed was recorded before Duryea & Wilson's deed, but the Board's deed was recorded before Hughes's deed. The parties did not dispute these facts.

Issues

1. Did a deed delivered with the grantee's name left blank, and with no express authority to fill it in, become operative when the grantee later wrote in his own name?
2. If so, was Hughes a subsequent purchaser whose deed was first duly recorded, within the language of the recording act, when a deed from an apparent stranger to the title had been recorded ahead of his?

Holding

Hughes had implied authority to write his name into the blank, absent evidence showing he lacked it, so his deed became operative when he did. A recorded deed from an apparent stranger to the title was not notice to him. He was a subsequent purchaser in good faith for value whose deed was first duly recorded, so the trial court should have held him the owner.