Fountain v. Filson et Ux. (336 U.S. 681)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 18, 1949 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 336 U.S. 681 · 69 S. Ct. 754
- Docket
- No. 542
- Decided
- April 18, 1949
- Term
- October Term 1948
- Vote
- 9–0
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Vinson, Justice Burton, Justice R. H. Jackson, Justice Douglas, Justice Frankfurter, Justice Reed, Justice Black, Justice Rutledge, Justice Murphy
Opinion excerpt
Per Curiam. Mr. and Mrs. Filson brought this suit in the District Court for the District of Columbia, claiming a $6,000 interest in certain New Jersey realty. The complaint alleged that Mr. and Mrs. Fountain, the defendants, acquired title to this realty subject to a resulting trust in favor of the Filsons in that amount. The Fountains answered. They denied the existence of a resulting trust and also denied the existence of any obligation to the Filsons. The documents covering the transfer of the realty and certain depositions of the parties were filed. Mrs. Fountain, her husband having died, then moved for summary judgment under Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The sole basis of the motion was the claim that New Jersey law would not permit the imposition of a resulting trust under the circumstances disclosed in the complaint and the accompanying documents. The motion was granted and judgment for Mrs. Fountain was entered. On appeal the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia came to three conclusions. First, it agreed that under New Jersey law no resulting trust could arise. Second, it concluded that the summary judgment in Mrs. Fountain’s favor was nevertheless erroneous, because the complaint contained a general prayer for “other relief” and alleged facts on the basis of which a personal judgment for $6,000 could have been recovered even in the…
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