Borton

Plaintiffs sued to have certain deeds, absolute in form, declared to be mortgages, for an accounting by defendants, for a conveyance of certain real property to plaintiffs and the quieting of their title thereto. The cause was tried before the court and resulted in a judgment for the defendants, from which the plaintiffs have appealed upon a bill of exceptions.

For some time prior to May 3, 1916, the plaintiffs were the owners of the property described in the complaint subject to an indebtedness of $22,000, secured by a trust deed. This property was the community property of the plaintiffs, although the deed thereto was made in the name of Laura E. Borton as sole grantee. Her husband, C. F. Borton, acting as her attorney-in-fact, represented to the defendants that it was her separate estate, and upon these representations he induced the Hammond Lumber Company on May 3, 1916, to accept a deed executed in her name alone conveying the property to the company as security for an indebtedness which was then due the company from the plaintiffs. Prior to April 10, 1917, the plaintiffs became indebted to certain claimants in the sum of $9,302.39 for work, labor, and materials in the…