Citizens' Sav. Bank of San Diego v. Bennett
Citizens' Sav. Bank of San Diego v. Bennett
Opinion of the Court
—This is an appeal from a judgment for the plaintiff declaring it to be the owner of two certain dwelling-houses, enjoining the defendants from affixing the houses to two certain lots on to which they had just been moved when the action was brought, and giving the plaintiff possession of them. The appeal is on the judgment-roll alone. • The real parties in interest are the plaintiff and the defendant, Carrie E. Bennett. :
The findings show that Mrs. Bennett and her husband were formerly the owners of certain unimproved lots designated by number in a block in an outside subdivision of the city of San Diego. "While such owners, Mrs. Bennett and her husband mortgaged the property to the' plaintiff to' sequre a loan of two thousand dollars made by the plaintiff to the Bennetts upon the understanding that the money would be used in building dwellings upon the property. The subdivision had been platted and the lines of its lots and blocks staked on the ground, and at the time of the giving of the mortgage the president of the plaintiff and the Bennetts went to the subdivision and definitely located the1 lots of the Bennetts as so platted and staked. Upon these' lots the Bennetts then built four houses, two of which are those whose ownership is now in question. -
Subsequent to the execution of the mortgage, what is termed a partition suit was brought to determine the ■boundaries of the lots and blocks in the subdivision. All the owners of lots in the subdivision were made parties and; the plaintiff here and the Bennetts were among the parties plaintiff. In the partition suit a survey was made of the subdivision with the consent of the parties whereby the boundary lines of the various lots were located differently from the boundaries previously platted and staked and according to which the Bennetts had purchased and then mortgaged to the plaintiff. On July 12, 1915, a decree, ■ agreeable to all the parties, was entered in the partition suit, whereby the boundaries of the various lots were fixed in accordance with the survey made in the suit. By this decree the Bennetts were declared to be the owners of the lots mortgaged subject to the plaintiff’s mortgage, but the lots so owned and mortgaged were defined and bounded according to the partition survey and not as originally platted and staked. The result was that two of the houses built by *750 the Bennetts, the two in question here, were not on the property of which they were declared by the decree to be the owner. It is this circumstance which gives rise to the present litigation.
While the partition suit was pending the plaintiff here brought suit to foreclose its mortgage and in June, 1915, obtained a decree of foreclosure, under which the mortgaged property was sold and purchased by the plaintiff three days, before the entry of the decree in the partition suit. The foreclosure sale was simply of the lots mortgaged designated by number. The lots were bid in by the plaintiff for the full amount found to be due by the foreclosure decree.
Sometime subsequently Mrs. Bennett proceeded to move the two houses in question from the lots on which they were built to two other lots owned by her, and in which the plaintiff had no interest, and was about to affix the houses to the latter .lots when stayed by the commencement of the present action.
It is at once apparent that if the plaintiff be entitled to recover, it must be upon the theory that the houses in question were subject to the mortgage lien. It is also apparent that if such lien existed, it was because of one or the other of two alternatives. One is that the property actually owned and mortgaged by the Bennetts was the lots as originally platted and staked and actually located by the parties to the mortgage upon the ground, in which case the houses were built upon the mortgaged land and became a part of the realty and as such were subject to the lien of the mortgage. This is probably the true view of the situation. vThe other alternative is that by mistake the houses were built on the wrong property, and that because of this mistake, and because of .the intention and understanding that the houses would be built on the mortgaged lots and thereby become subject to the mortgage lien, the lien of the mortgage would, as between the parties, be extended to include the houses although they were not actually a part of the mortgaged realty. Assuming that there was a lien in plaintiff’s favor on one or the other of these theories, what is the effect of the partition and foreclosure decrees upon the rights of the parties ?
Judgment reversed with directions to enter -judgment for the defendants upon the findings.
Lawlor, J., and Shaw, J., concurred.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- CITIZENS’ SAVINGS BANK OF SAN DIEGO (A Corporation), Respondent, v. CARRIE E. BENNETT Et Al., Defendants; CARRIE E. BENNETT, Appellant
- Status
- Published