Fortson v. Bishop
Fortson v. Bishop
Opinion of the Court
[1] Bishop, the appellee, filed this bill against W. S. Fortson, Bank of Albertville, J. R. Sherman, and W. A. Fort-son. Its object is to disaffirm foreclosure, under power of sale, of a mortgage executed, to secure balance of purchase money of the land described in the bill, by Bishop to W. A. Fortson and assigned through other respondents to appellant, and to redeem. The mortgage did not authorize the mortgagee or his assignee to purchase at the sale, and hence disaffirmance and redemption are the appellee’s due. The decree correctly so concluded. The contested questions, touching the amount to be paid on redemption, presented by tbe assignments of error, arise out of tbe fact that at the time Bishop bought the land from W. A. Fortson and received his warranty deed there was an outstanding superior seasonably registered mortgage on a part of the land, executed by W. A. Fort-son and wife to Mrs. P. F. Pope, securing a note for $450, with interest. Before the maturity of Bishop’s note and mortgage to W. A. Fortson, he assigned this negotiable note, secured by the mortgage, to the Bank of Albertville, the bank assigned to Sherman, and Sherman, after maturity, assigned to W. S. Fortson, appellant.
“That for a valuable consideration, and before maturity, it [i. e., the note and mortgage given by Bishop to W. A. Eortson] was assigned by the said W. A. Eortson to the Bank of Albertville,” and “that for a valuable consideration, and before maturity, the Bank of Albertville assigned it to James R. Sherman, who thereafter assigned it for a valuable consideration, but after maturity, to this” appellant. (Italics supplied.)
Having taken the assignment after maturity, the appellant’s right to the protection he asserts must be determined with reference to Sherman’s character as a holder in due course, invested at the time the instrument was assigned to him (Sherman) by the bank with the right attaching to a holder in due course. Code, § 5013. . It was not averred or shown that appellant or Sherman or the bank was a party “to any fraud or illegality affecting the instrument,” within the purview of Code, § 5013. Brannan’s Uniform Negotiable Instruments Law, pp. 204 et seq., and notes.
It appears that the assignment of the note and mortgage to Sherman was effected before maturity. The taking by Sherman of the note and mortgage as only collateral security for a pre-existing debt due him from W. A. Eortson, the mortgagee, did not operate to prevent Sherman from being a holder in • due course. Vogler v. Manson, 200 Ala. 351, 76 South. 117, citing governing provisions of the Uniform Negotiable Instruments Law. If Sherman .became a holder in due course, invested with the right to the protection the law accords to a bona fide purchaser, the appellant became invested with the like rights, nothing being attributable to, him to conclude against his succession to Sherman's rights in the premises. The Uniform Negotiable Instruments Law, Code of Alabama 1907, §§ 5010; 5011, 5012, provides:
“The title of a person who negotiates an instrument is defective within the meaning of this chapter when he obtained the instrument, or any signature thereto, by fraud, duress, or force and fear, or other unlawful means, or for an illegal consideration, or when he negotiates it in breach of faith, or under such circumstances as amount to a fraud.” Section 5010.
“To constitute notice of an infirmity in the instrument or defect in the title of the person negotiating the same, the person to whom it is negotiated must have had actual knowledge of the infirmity or defect, or knowledge of such facts that his action in taking the instrument amounted to bad faith.” Section 5011.
“A holder in due course holds the instrument free from any defect of title of prior parties, and free from defenses available to prior ,parties among themselves and the enforced payment of the instrument v for the full amount thereof against all parties liable thereon.” Section 5012.
The evidence before this court does not even tend to establish either actual knowledge on the part of Sherman of a defect in the title of the instrument (note) when acquired by Sherman (27 Oye. pp. 1324, 1325); or the presence at that time of any of the other conditions defined in Code, §§ 5010, 5011, which would or did preclude Sherman’s becoming a holder in due course. In the circumstances shown by the record the burden of proof was imposed by the provisions of Code, § 5014, upon Bishop to refute the presumption the law now attaches to the conditions disclosed by this record.
These considerations conduce to a conclusion at variance with that prevailing in the trial court. Its decree is affected with error with respect to its ascertainment of the amount necessary to effect redemption under the Bishop mortgage. The decree is reversed, and the cause is remanded for further proceedings in consonance with this opinion.
Reversed and remanded.
<S=oFor other cases see same topic and KEY-NUMBER in all Key-Numbered Digests amd Indexes
títeaFor other cases see same topic and KEY-NUMBER in all Key-Numbered Digests and Indexes
Reference
- Full Case Name
- FORTSON Et Al. v. BISHOP
- Cited By
- 13 cases
- Status
- Published