Toney v. Chenault
Toney v. Chenault
Opinion of the Court
It is averred in the bill that the mortgages, executed by Pink Burgess, were foreclosed about August 10, 1918, that Pink Burgess died (in November, 1917) before this foreclosure sale was had, and that a few months after such foreclosure Mattie Sugg (a daughter of Pink Biirgess, deceased) conveyed to complainant all her interest in the land described in the mortgages “and her right of redemption in and to said lands.” Whether the foreclosure was in fact validly effected under 'the terms of the mortgages- is not considered ; both parties and the averments of the bill appearing to regard the foreclosure as being full perfected, extinguishing the equity of redemption.
*331 “His vendee, junior mortgagee, or assignee or the equity of statutory right of redemption.”
It is manifest that the construction of the statute taken in Baker, etc., v. Eliasberg, supra, was unaffected by the merely incidental fact that the heir there executed the mortgage to that appellee before foreclosure of the original mortgagé under the power of sale. It is not to be supposed that the law-maters entertained any purpose to introduce a patent redundancy into the body of the statute. While the concrete case presented in Leith v. Galloway Coal Co. was correctly decided, an erroneous construction was accorded the statute (section 5746) in interpreting it as limiting to the debtor only the authority to assign the statutory right of redemption. To that extent Leith v. Galloway Coal Co., 189 Ala. 204, 66 South. 149, is now overruled.
“Complainant alleges that he has offered, as said grantee of the said Mattie Sugg, to redeem said lands from said mortgage sale, and Ms said offer was made to the said Tim E. Toney and C. R. Burgess together, in the office of the complainant in Russellville, on October 3, 1918, and the said Toney informed the complainant then and there that he would not execute Mm a deed to said lands, and would not receive the purchase money, together with the charges specified by law, unless he was permitted to omit from said redemption, and from the description in Ms said deed to the complainant, the redemption of a certain 31 acres, which he claimed belonged to some other party.”
The bill avers the complainant’s willingness and ability to do equity and to pay whatever sum is ascertained by the court to be necessary to effect statutory redemption. Through pleas, denominated pleas in “abatement,” the respondents Tim E. and Ben Toney asserted that complainant made no demand for a statement of the amount necessary to effect redemption, and also that no efficient tender was made to the purchaser, Tim E. Toney, nor was an effective deposit with the register made in the premises. There 'was evidence justifying the conclusion that Tim E. Toney, the purchaser, refused, as averred in paragraph 8 of the bill, to permit redemption unless the complainant —assignee of the statutory right of redemption — would accept a redemption that omitted 31 acres owned or claimed by others and 4 acres owned by the state of Alabama. This refusal of the purchaser Tim E. Toney, to permit redemption, except upon the stated condition, relieved the redemptioner from any duty to demand a statement of the items composing the amount necessary to effect redemption (Code, §§ 5750, 5751, and section 5748, as amended in the Acts of 1911, p. 391), or to make any tender to the purchaser; the position thus taken by the purchaser operating a waiver in the premises. Johns v. Anchors, 153 Ala. 498, 501, 45 South. 218, and cases there cited. Predicating a refusal to allow redemption on this sole ground a demand of the purchaser for a statement or a tender of any amount would have been a vain ceremony. Under these circumstances, this complainant met the prescription of the statutes (Code, §§ 5750, 5751), by averring a willingness and ability to pay 'whatever the court ascertained was necessary to be paid in order to effect redemption; and this.willingness was emphasized by the fact (not, of course, as an effectual tender that had been made) that the complainant filed with the register his check for the sum bid, with interest, which the bank agreed with the register to pay upon presentation. The purchaser was without right or power to subject redemption to the conditions upon which alone he predicated his refusal. The redemption-er’s right was to effect redemption of whatever title there purported to be passed to the purchaser through the sale. Code, § 5750. The deed to the purchaser assumed to convey the full title to the land described in the mortgages; and parol evidence was inadmissible, on a bill to redeem under the statutes, to contradict or vary the thus manifested execution of the powers of sale created by the mortgages. It is hardly necessary to add that the effectuation of the complainant’s right to redeem will not conclude, in any respect or degree, the title to the 31 acres claimed by persons not parties to this cause nor to the 4 acres asserted to be owned by the state.
No specific relief was prayed or granted against Ben Toney. Hence his mere presence as a party to the cause was without material prejudice to any one.
The decree is not affected with error in any of the particulars urged in the brief for appellant. 1 It is affirmed.
<S=>For other cases see same tonic and KEY-NUMBER in all Key-Numbered Digests and Indexes
<S=s>For other oases see same topic and KEY-NUMBER in all Key-Numbered Digests and Indexes
Reference
- Full Case Name
- TONEY Et Al. v. CHENAULT
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- 15 cases
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- Published