Mertz v. Arendt

John Mertz Jr. (plaintiff) claimed that as a teenager his parents verbally gave him their 240-acre farm but never gave him the deed. John Sr. had switched to other work but wanted the farm to stay in the Mertz name after his older children left to work elsewhere. John Sr. evidently thought John Jr. would receive a tax deed by paying the property taxes. John Jr. paid the taxes and farmed the land without paying rent for 40 years. He insured the property listing himself as the owner and took all the farm products and proceeds, including government farm-assistance payments. John Jr. continued farming the land even after marrying and moving to live with his wife, and he made improvements such as building a dam. After John Jr.’s mother died, his father moved to a nursing home, and John Jr. fenced the farmhouse into a pasture. John Sr. and his daughter certified in Social Security and medical-assistance documents that John Sr. no longer owned the land and received no rental income from it. When John Sr. passed away, nobody had updated the title in almost 70 years. The personal representative of John Sr.’s estate took the land back and leased it to someone else. John Jr. brought an action to quiet title against his siblings, the representative, and the tenant (defendants). The trial court quieted title in John Jr., reasoning that the Mertzes gave him the land, and that he made permanent valuable improvements in reliance. The representative, siblings, and tenant appealed, arguing the statute of frauds invalidated the verbal gift.