Salvo v. Coursey
Salvo v. Coursey
Opinion of the Court
The complainant, Harry M. Salvo, files bill on February 27, 1920, to enforce vendor’s lien on 44 acres of land in Calhoun county, Ala., for balance of. purchase money, which, he claims and avers, has been due since the 1st day of January, 1905, on the following note:
“8300.00.
. “I am due Harry M. Salvo the sum of three hundred dollars, for the balance due for land purchased, which said sum is to be paid by me to him iu full when he has completed building the house, now being constructed and has paid *281 for all labor and material used in said bouse. This December 19, 1904. L. Mallory.”
On December 19, 1904,- Harry M. Salvo sold and conveyed the land by deed to L. Mallory, for part cash and balance of purchase money, $300, recited in the deed, to be paid in accordance with the note. The deed was duly recorded in the probate office of Calhoun county, Ala., while L. Mallory owned the land. L. Mallory is dead, but during his life he sold and conveyed said land, and the title and possession of it has passed Through divers persons, and it is now owned and claimed by defendant N. L. Goursey, subject to said purchase-money lien note, and then subject to mortgage given by him to his codefendant, City Bank & Trust Company. The complainant avers said note has been due since the 1st day of January, 1905.
The defendants demur to the bill of complaint as last amended and in argument insisiti on only four grounds of demurrer, which are in substance as follows: (1) The demand is stale; (2) the demand has been due since January 1, 1905, and no reason given for delay in seeking to collect it; (8) the special circumstances disclosed by the bill show laches existed on the part of complainant, and it would be inequitable to let complainant proceed with this litigation, etc.; (9) for the alleged vendor’s lien is not to secure a specific sum of money unconditionally, but is an obligation to pay only upon certain conditions and contingencies dependent upon future occurrences, so, if there had been a sale by Mallory immediately after his purchase, before completion of the building, it could not have been known whether said land was subject to a vendor’s lien, the circumstances showing that it was not intended to retain such lien, etc.
The court below sustained these demurrers, and that decree is now assigned as error.
The vendor’s purchase-money lien note on land does not become stale nor does the law' declare, under the facts in this case, its owner guilty of laches until after 20 years from the maturity of the debt. Phillips v. Adams, 78 Ala. 225; Relfe v. Relfe, 31 Ala. 500, 73 Am. Dec. 467; Chapman v. Lee, 64 Ala. 483; Greenlees v. Greenlees, 62 Ala. 330.
The burden is on the complainant to allege and prove that the house has been completed and all labor and material used paid for, and when it was completed and paid.
The decree sustaining the demurrers to the bill of complaint as last amended by the court below is set aside. A decree will bo here entered overruling said demurrers, and the cause is remanded.
Reversed, rendered, and remanded.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- SALVO v. COURSEY Et Al.
- Cited By
- 5 cases
- Status
- Published