Martin v. Barth
Martin v. Barth
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
The bill which Martin filed against Barth and Dick attacked the sale which was made under a trust deed wherein Dick was named as the trustee. In 1890, Martin was the owner of certain property in Huerfano county, and in May conveyed it to Dick to secure the payment of sundry debts which he owed. The debts were not paid at maturity, and Dick as trustee, at the request of the holders of the notes, proceeded to advertise the property for sale, and sold it on the 21st of March, 1891. The amount of the debt secured by the original conveyance was about seventeen thousand dollars. In addition Martin owed a large sum of money to the defendant Barth. There are quite a number of details about these various transactions, and relating to other collaterals held by the creditors, which may be left entirely unnoticed. The grounds on which the plaintiff based his right to relief were deduced from the circumstances of the sale, the price at which the property was bid off, and the facts about a tender of the sum due, which he claimed to have made. This disposes of all necessity to consider any other matters than those touching these three several grounds. The question of the tender is easily disposed of, since the court below found as a matter of fact that Martin never made any tender. If we were not concluded by this finding of the trial court, and had the right to review the testimony, we could not disturb it
The only remaining consideration is that which relates to the price at which the property was bid in by Barth, who was evidently seeking to protect his interests under the junior security. The resolution of this question is sometimes very difficult, for the reason that the authorities on the subject are exceedingly scarce, and the cases are very rare in which courts have set aside sales of this sort because the consideration paid was inadequate. The basis of the rule is well understood, and all the decisions on the subject are gathered in works on equity under the general head of constructive fraud. The general doctrine is, that where there are no other inequitable incidents which furnish a basis for the decree, it will not be entered because the price is inadequate, unless the case very clearly demonstrates that the difference between the value of the property and the price that it brought is such as to shock the judgment and conscience of the chancellor. 2 Pom. Equity Jurisprudence, § 927.
We are unable to see that the trial court erred in its judgment respecting this matter. According to the evidence of Martin, the difference between the value and the price was so wide as to bring the controversy within the operation of this salutary principle. The trouble, however, is that when the entire proof on this subject is examined the difference of opinion amongst the witnesses is so great that we are unable to say that the plaintiff maintained his case on this proposition. The value of the land was not easily demonstrable as would be the value of property situated in a town, or of land valuable solely for agricultural or some other well known purposes. In ordinary cases, the market price of property in any vicinity, and the use to which it may be put, very easily determines the value. In this instance, the value which the plaintiff and his witnesses put upon the land was dependent
The trial court committed no error which permits us to disturb the judgment, and it will accordingly be affirmed.
Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Martin, in Error v. Barth, in Error
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published