Schueler v. Franke

CAMPBELL, Judge.

The question before us is whether a grantee who knows that a deed is defectively witnessed and acknowledged may rely upon that deed to his detriment and estop the grantor from denying the validity of the deed. We find that he may not.

In August 1984, Jonathan Schueler and Louis Thalhoffer, who is not a party to this suit, orally agreed to buy a small apartment building in Pinellas County at a foreclosure sale. They successfully bid $21,400 for the properly, but were short on cash and had to bring in a third investor, James Hearn. The men contributed as follows: Schueler,…