Section 14 Claim and Interest in Realty

• Library: Real Estate Fundamentals 2011

The allegations in a petition to quiet title can disclose a legal or equitable cause of action or can combine the two kinds of action. In a legal action, either party may demand a jury, but one containing equitable features is to be tried before the judge alone. State ex rel. Barker v. Tobben, 311 S.W.3d 798 (Mo. banc 2010). Usually, there is a request that a deed be canceled or reformed or that an injunction be granted, which puts the action in the equitable class, or there is a general prayer for any appropriate equitable relief. These different requests should be made in separate counts of the petition. Lepchenske v. Bedell,183 S.W.2d 148 (Mo. 1944); Minor v. Burton,128 S.W. 964 (Mo. 1910).

A plaintiff alleging “paper title” to real estate, in the alternative, can have a...