Connolly v. Wicks
Connolly v. Wicks
Opinion of the Court
On June 1, 1887, the defendant M. L. Wicks executed to Mary Connolly and Patrick Connolly his promissory note for $20,000, bearing interest at the rate of ten per cent per annum, and to become due ¿June 18, 1888; and to secure payment of the note he, on the same day, executed to them a mortgage on two hundred and eighty acres of land, which contained the following clause: “It is agreed that any forty acres of this land will be released from this mortgage on payment of the sum of four thousand dollars for each and every forty acres so released.” On September 7, 1887, Mary Connolly assigned all her interest in the said note and mortgage to Patrick Connolly. On June 22, 1889, Patrick Connolly assigned all his interest therein to John D.
The contention of appellant is that his land should have been released from the lien of the mortgage, and that the findings to the contrary were not justified by the evidence. It is clear that, if the money paid by Robertson for his land had gone to the mortgagee, and been indorsed as a payment on the note, then, under the clause of the mortgage above quoted, the land should have been released. The amount paid was $4,000, and, though the land consisted of only twenty acres, instead of forty, that fact was immaterial, as the greater includes the less. But the mortgagee was under no obligation to release any part of his security until he received
To sustain his contention appellant relies mainly upon a transaction between Wicks and Bicknell on the 10th of June, 1890. It appears that Bicknell had told Wicks that the interest on the mortgage note was growing so rapidly that he could not wait commencing a foreclosure, and, as a result, Wicks indorsed and delivered to him a note made by Barclay & Wilson for $6,000, and bearing interest at the rate of seven per cent per annum; that Bicknell accepted the note, with the understanding that the money, when collected, was to be applied on the mortgage debt; that Bicknell never collected any part of the money due on the said note, but thereafter reassigned the same, with the note and mortgage, to Patrick Connolly; that Connolly instituted suit on the said note, and on July 13, 1891, obtained judgment thereon; that thereafter he collected $3,000 on the said judgment, and that sum, with the balance due on the judgment, making in all $6,532, was, on July 5, 1892, credited on the mortgage note. Appellant claims that when the Barclay & Wilson note was turned over to Bicknell there was an agreement that the land sold to him should be released from the lien of the mortgage, and on this agreement he relies for a reversal of the judgment. The court found: “That said defendant Wicks did not indorse said note to said Bicknell solely or at all in consideration of any contract or agreement to make any releases in the future, nor was any such agreement made, but said Wicks assigned said note as part payment on said note and mortgage described in the complaint herein, and not otherwise; that afterward, while the said Bicknell was in possession of the said note and mortgage set forth in the complaint as collateral security as aforesaid, the defendant Alex. Robertson obtained from the defendant M. L. Wicks an order in writing, addressed to the said Bicknell, to devote the first moneys collected fro.m the said note to "Barclay and others to release, from the lien of said mortgage, the above-described land purchased by the defendant Robertson of said Lotspeich, trustee; that the defendant Alex. Robertson
The only question is, Was this finding justified by the evidence? We think it was. It would subserve no useful purpose to set out the evidence in detail. Conceding that there was some conflict, still we are confronted with the rule that, in cases of conflict, judgments will not be disturbed on appeal. The order appealed from should be affirmed.
We concur: Chipman, C.; Searls, C.
For the reasons given in the foregoing opinion the order appealed from is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- CONNOLLY v. WICKS
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Appeal.—Where There is a Conflict in the Evidence, a judgment based thereon will not be disturbed.