Janet Fultz Johnson v. David L. Cohick, Jr., and Virginia Cohick

Summary

The Arkansas Court of Appeals reversed and remanded the dismissal of Janet Fultz Johnson’s ejectment action concerning ownership of certain real property. The court held that an earlier delivered but unrecorded 1992 warranty deed controlled because the later 1996 deed and subsequent conveyances were not made to bona fide purchasers for valuable consideration under Arkansas’s recording statute.

Holdings

1. A validly delivered deed passes title between the parties even if the deed has not been recorded.
2. A subsequent deed does not defeat an earlier delivered but unrecorded deed under Arkansas Code Annotated section 14-15-404(b) unless the subsequent purchaser gave valuable consideration and lacked actual notice; a grantee who gave no consideration is not protected by the statute.
3. The 1992 warranty deed was the controlling deed because no bona fide purchaser for valuable consideration acquired title after its delivery, and the trial court did not rely on equitable defenses or equitable principles.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the unrecorded 1992 warranty deed or the subsequently recorded 1996 warranty deed controlled title to the property.
2. Whether the 1996 deed and later deeds defeated the prior unrecorded deed under Arkansas's recording statute when the subsequent grantees gave no valuable consideration.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded