Alabama Gold Life Insurance v. Anderson
Alabama Gold Life Insurance v. Anderson
Opinion of the Court
— The general principle on which appellant relies in support of the remedy it seeks to enforce, is well known and familiar to courts of equity, and has been in this court allowed its largest operation. The principle is, that if a principal debtor creates-a security, or trust, for the indemnity of his surety, not in terms limited to the mere personal protection of the surety, it is a security or trust for the payment of the debt enuring to the benefit of the common creditor. To bring a case within the operation of the principle, there must, of course, be a trust, or security created, conferring on the surety the clear right to appropriate it to the payment of the common debt, and the right to retain it until the debt is paid. The agreement between Daughdrill, the surety, and the Southern Life Insurance Company, the principal debtor, cannot be construed as creating a trust or security for the payment of the common debt, or for the mere personal protection of Daughdrill as surety. Reading that agreement by its terms alone, or in the light of the attending circumstances, by the loan of money to Daughdrill, and the contemporaneous mortgage to secure its payment, no other than the simple relation of debtor and creditor was created, or contemplated. True, in the agreement it is recited, as one of the inducements to the company to make the loan, that Daughdrill had agreed to become surety on the writ of error bond. This is, however, in connection with the recital of other inducements — the taking from the company a policy of insurance on his own life, or that of his wife ; the procuring, within two months, insurance on the lives of healthy persons, to the extent of ten thousand dollars, if practicable, and the use of his in.fluence in promoting the business of the company. The writ of error bond, and the agreement, were executed cotem
. The company was very carefully keeping in view their relation and rights as creditors, and stipulating for security in that relation. It was not indemnity to Daughdrill for the liability he had incurred as surety, or security for the debt if the judgment was affirmed, or the creation of a fund for its payment, which was contemplated, or which was deemed necessary. There is a stipulation for the continuance of the loan beyond the period of one year, until the decision of the cause in which the writ of error had been taken, but that is dependent on conditions. The continuance was not a matter of right in Daughdrill, unless he kept down the interest, paid the premiums on the policy of insurance he had promised to take, and kept down the taxes on the mortgaged property.
The test whether a trust or security was created for the payment of the debt, is, whether Daughdrill could have claimed to retain the íoan merely because of his liability as surety. Before paying the common debt, he had no remedy against the principal, and no right to withhold payment of the debt due from him. — Standifer v. White, 9 Ala. 527. The agreement would not have furnished cause for resisting the exercise of the power of sale contained in the mortgage, nor would it have afforded defense to a bill for foreclosure. The
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.