Spraker v. Jenners
Spraker v. Jenners
Opinion of the Court
— On May 2, 1887, appellant and appellee entered into the following written agreement:
"Kokomo, Ind., May 2, 1887.
"If I receive the title in fee simple to the following
“I accept the terms of the above contract of purchase this 2d day of May, 1887. D. C. Spraker.”
On the same day, in pursuance of said written agreement, appellee paid a judgment in favor of Blackledge and Hendrey, amounting to $128, which was a lien on the lands in dispute junior to appellee’s mortgage. And on the next day, May 3, 1887, in further pursuance of said agreement, appellee caused J. V. Hoss to assign to appellant, on the mortgage records, two mortgages which said Hoss held on the lands in dispute, and paid said Hoss $500 therefor, said mortgages being junior to appellee’s mortgage.
Prior to the expiration of the year for redemption, that is, on or before May 29, 1887, Howard L. Bull, as a member, and on behalf of the firm of J. J. Hoss & Co., went to the office of the clerk of Howard county to redeem the real estate in controversy. He made an affidavit which was accepted by the clerk, and paid to the clerk the amount necessary to redeem from appellee’s purchase, and took from the clerk a certificate of redemption. The affidavit and certificate of redemption were both lost, and the clerk made no record of the redemption.
On June 3, 1887, the appellee filed his complaint against all the members of the firm of J. J. Hoss & Co., alleging that the attempted redemption was illegal and void as not being made in compliance with the requirements of the statute, and asking that it be set aside, and that the clerk be directed to return to the said J. J. Hoss & Co. the amount so paid by them in such attempted redemption. The cause was submitted by agreement, and a decree was entered in accordance with the prayer of the complaint. It further appears that J. J. Hoss & Co.,
On June 4, 1887, the redemption having been set aside, appellee took out a sheriff’s deed for the land. After his sheriff’s deed was placed on record, the appellee executed and tendered to appellant a warranty deed for the land in question, together with an abstract of title to the same. This deed the appellant refused to accept, and brought his action to recover the $300 paid by him at the time of the contract.
To this complaint, the appellee filed a counterclaim, setting out a full history of the case, and asking for specific performance of the contract of purchase.
Other pleadings were filed, and the cause was submitted to the court for trial. There was a finding and decree in favor of the appellee, enforcing the contract of sale as prayed for in the counterclaim.
Many questions are raised in the briefs of counsel, but we think the only issues to be decided are as to the meaning of the contract, and whether there was such a redemption as abrogated the agreement to purchase on the part of the appellant.
Appellant contends thát there was a redemption in fact by J. J. Hoss & Oo. from the purchase by appellee, and that notwithstanding this redemption was set aside ás null and void by the Howard Circuit Court, yet the redemption, as a fact, made invalid appellant’s contract of purchase, and he was at once entitled to the $300 advanced by him.
The contract, besides setting out the terms of sale, set out plainly appellee’s source of title. Appellant therefore knew, when he agreed to purchase the land, that appellee held it by a sheriff’s certificate, and that it was only through a sheriff’s deed that appellee would be enabled to convey to appellant. The sheriff’s deed could
To protect appellee against such a contingency, it was provided in the contract that “in case there is a redemption of said land, I am not to be under any obligation to make a deed to said premises, and I am to refund to the purchaser said $300.”
We do not think this provision was intended to prevent appellee from making a deed to appellant in case he should be able to procure a sheriff’s deed to enable him to convey title. On the contrary, it was simply intended to provide for an emergency in case he found himself unable to convey because unable to procure a sheriff’s deed. A redemption might tie his hands, but, in any case, if he were able to make a deed to appellant, he was bound to do so. His undertaking was: “If I secure the title in fee simple to the following described real estate (describing it), I agree, as soon after the 29th day of May, 1887, as can be conveniently done, to convey said real estate to David C. Spraker by a good and sufficient warranty deed.”
The suit which he brought to set aside the redemption by J. J. Hoss & Co. as being null and void was, as it seems to us, but what he was required to do in carrying out the spirit of his contract. If the court had found that redemption good, undoubtedly he would be unable to make a deed to appellant, not having title himself; but the court having decreed the redemption void, we think that not only was he at liberty to make a deed to appellant, but he was bound to do so by the terms of his contract of sale.
The question was before the trial court to determine
Neither is it true that there is any cloud on the title held by appellee. Margery Millikan purchased the land from the mortgagors after the foreclosure of their mortgage by appellee, and after the purchase by appellee of that land at sheriff’s sale. She could, by this purchase, acquire no better title than the mortgagors had themselves, that is, the equity of redemption. But she suffered the year from the day of sale to go by without redeeming, and thus her equity of redemption was foreclosed. She has no title, but is subject to be dispossessed by the owner at once. The deed tendered by appellee to appellant conveys good title to the land.
We find no error in the record.
The judgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.