Bunker v. Davenport & Tipton Telephone Co.
Bunker v. Davenport & Tipton Telephone Co.
Opinion of the Court
1. The petition was filed October 21, 1921. There is no conflict in the evidence except at one point, which will be referred to later. Appellee contends that there was no conflict at any point. We think there is a conflict as to whether there was a completed agreement between the defendant and the then owner of the lot prior to September 3, 1913, or whether such agreement was after that date. But in our view, this is not controlling. We shall not set out the evidence as to that. On said September 3d, the then owner of the property, Mrs. Rowell, gave a mortgage thereon, which was afterwards foreclosed, and a sheriff’s deed made to the mortgagee. On July 9, 1919, the grantee in the sheriff’s deed conveyed the lot to plaintiff by warranty deed, which contained the following recital:
“Subject, however, to whatever rights, if any, the telephone company operating in Tipton, Iowa, known as the Davenport & Tipton Telephone Co., has, to maintain the anchor now located on said premises.”
This defendant was not a party to the foreclosure. Plaintiff had been in possession of the property for some years as tenant.
Without detailed discussion, we-think appellee’s contention that plaintiff had sufficient notice to put her upon inquiry as to defendant’s rights, whatever they were, must be sustained. The question is, What were defendant’s rights, as against this plain
Appellee contends that it made the agreement with the then owner in July or August, 1913; while appellant contends that it was October, 1913, or later, and after September 3d. Under the evidence, the contract was not completed and money paid until after September 3d. It is shown that there was an agreement before September 3d, and that, relying thereon, defendant filled the lot, as agreed, and placed the pole, anchor, and guy wires, and that Mrs. Rowell directed where they should be placed. Appellee also contends that its right to maintain the pole at said location was reserved by plaintiff’s grantors in the sheriff’s deed before referred to.
Appellee, in at least a part of the argument, as well as appellant, seems to treat the question whether the agreement between defendant and Mrs. Rowell was before or after September 3d, as the turning point in the ease. This might be so, if the defendant had been made a party to the foreclosure proceedings. We understand appellant to concede in argument that, if the agreement was before September 3d, defendant has the superior right. But she contends that the jury could have found, from the conflicting evidence on that point, that the agreement was after the mortgage, and that, this being so, the purchaser at a foreclosure sale receives the title which the mortgagor had at the time of the delivery of the mortgage; that the mortgagor, after the execution of the mortgage, cannot burden the property with any incumbrance, easement, or irrevocable license that will affect the rights of the mortgagee; and that the purchaser at foreclosure sale, upon receiving deed, takes the title of the mortgagor as of the date of the mortgage, and free from any subsequently created liens or burdens thereon. Jensen v. Showalter, 79 Neb. 544 (113 N. W. 202, 204). The ease has a bearing, but in that case, the Statute, of Limitations was involved. See, also, Harvison v. Griffin, 32 N. D. 188 (155 N. W. 655, 657). It is there said that, by its purchase at the fore
2. Perhaps it should be said that appellee contends that the evidence shows without dispute that the pole and anchor in question were in place on tbe premises prior to tbe execution of tbe mortgage, and that tbe oral agreement by Mrs. Rowell gave to defendant tbe right to maintain tbe pole and anchor, and acceptance by tbe defendant of tbe proposition and tbe location of the pole is a sufficient basis for tbe defendant’s right to maintain tbe same. The cases cited in support of this proposition are Goulding v. Shonquist, 159 Iowa 647; Hamilton v. Wright, 30 Iowa 480. But in these cases, tbe question of tbe Statute of Limitations was involved, and whether an oral agreement carried out shows a sufficient basis for the Statute of Limitations. But we have seen that this is not tbe question here.
In view of our holding in Paragraph 1 of the opinion, it would seem to be unnecessary to discuss this question. The judgment is — Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.