Winstandley v. Crim
Winstandley v. Crim
Opinion of the Court
This is an action to obtain a perpetual injunction.
The court below sustained a demurrer to the complaint; the appellant refused to amend, and judgment was rendered against him for want of a good complaint.
The only error assigned is the sustaining of the demurrer to the complaint.
There are two exhibits, marked A and B, filed with the complaint, but as they are not the foundation of the action they are wholly immaterial and will not receive further attention.
The character of the averments in the complaint is such that we can not do better than to copy the complaint. Omitting the title, it reads : “ The plaintiff herein, William C. Winstandley, complains of Isaac H. Crim, auditor of Lawrence county, and says that heretofore, to wit, on June 11th, in the year 1885, he, plaintiff, became the purchaser at sheriff’s sale of the following described lands, situate in Lawrence county, Indiana, to wit: The northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section seven (7), town, four (4) north, of range one (1) west, containing forty (40) acres; that the sheriff of Lawrence county thereupon issued to him a certificate of purchase therefor, which said certificate he, plaintiff, held until the same was merged in the deed hereinafter mentioned; that said lands were sold upon a decree foreclosing a vendor’s lien thereon in favor of this plaintiff, in a suit heretofore tried in the Lawrence Circuit Court, wherein this plaintiff was plaintiff, and Milton N. Moore, Austin Bass
“ Your petitioner files herewith a printed copy of the notice of the said auditor, marks the same exhibit A, and makes the same a part hereof. And he says that said auditor is pretending that his said mortgage is a first lien on said lands, and unless restrained from so selling the same, will proceed, to his irreparable injury and detriment. And plaintiff says that he, under said order of sale and decree aforesaid, now holds a deed for said lands from the sheriff of Lawrence county, Indiana, which has been duly recorded, and that the plaintiff is now in possession of said lands under said deed. Plaintiff says defendant ought to be restrained and enjoined from proceeding further in said matter, for the reason that neither said defendant nor the common school fund in said county and State has any interest in said lands; that the
After setting out the complaint, our opinion is brief. All the facts that are averred in the complaint may be true, as admitted by the demurrer, and yet the State of Indiana be a purchaser for value without notice.
The complaint avers that the appellant, when the mortgage was executed, held a judgment, that was a lien upon the mortgaged lands, greater than the value of the lands. But the appellant makes no claim of title under this judgment.
The complaint alleges a neglect of duty oh the part of the auditor when he made the loan and accepted the mortgage, but we can not imagine why the appellant should complain of that. If the county auditor was guilty of the negligence alleged' against him, it may be that the State of Indiana will have cause for complaint should loss to the school fund follow as the result, but we can imagine no reason why the school fund should be prejudiced and the appellant correspondingly benefited because of such negligence.
It is argued that if the auditor had required of the mortgagors a proper affidavit at the time he made the loan, the existence of the appellant’s vendor’s lien would have been made known. It might have been or it might not; what the result would have been is past -finding out. But one thing is certain, the trust fund can not be prejudiced because of the negligence of the auditor in the particulars alleged.
The law requires the affidavit as a safeguard to the trust fund, not to the citizen.
The appellant, when he elected to rely on his secret lien, assumed the risk of losing his security in case an innocent purchaser, for value and without notice, should appear.
If the appellant had taken a mortgage to secure the obligation which he held, and had had it duly recorded, his rights would have been fully protected, and the rights of no one else jeopardized in a controversy over the question of notice.
The judgment is affirmed, with costs.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.