Murphy v. Goodland Building & Loan Ass'n
Murphy v. Goodland Building & Loan Ass'n
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Both parties to this action are dissatisfied with the judgment of the trial court, and ask its reversal. "We think the judgment of the court below is correct as to the law governing the recovery in actions of this kind, and the only error we find is mathematical — the amount being too large.
The law governing corporations of this kind is found in article 17, chapter 23, General Statutes of 1889, paragraph 1426, being section 271 of said chapter, which sets forth the powers of such associations, among others, as,follows : That it may loan "money to its members on the security of United
Paragraph 1427, section 272, is as follows :
“Whenever, by reason of default in the payment of loans or dues by members of such association, it becomes necessary, according to the by-laws, to bring suit on any mortgage for the purpose of collecting such loans or dues, no greater sum shall be recovered than that actually due at the time of judgment, and the amount so due may be ascertained by adding to the sum of arrears the per cent, value of all future installments designated at the rate per cent., according to the times and period of payments established by the by-laws, not inconsistent with section 1 of this act. And whenever, by the constitution or by-laws of any such association, loans shall be made or have heretofore been made to its members by the share for premiums, the amount for which judgment shall be rendered shall not be greater than the actual amount of money loaned, with interest to the time of judgment at 12 per cent, per annum, and all unpaid fines lawfully assessed against the borrower for non-payment under such by-laws, not exceeding 2 per cent, per month, less the amount paid in on such shares, with like interest from the time of payment or payments.”
The latter portion of this section unquestionably applies only to such loans as have been made to a member by the share upon premiums, and the case at bar falls within its provisions, and the amount to be recovered
The plaintiffs in error complain of an overcharge of fines assessed and collected against her in the sum of $20. The court below finds that she has paid as fines the sum of $31. Upon what testimony the findings of the court or the complaint of the plaintiffs in error is based we are unable to state, as none of the testimony in this case is preserved in the record ; nor has the slightest attempt been made by the plaintiffs in error to inform us as to the amount per month of fines charged, or for what months or number of months they were charged, and we can only say, that, if the plaintiffs in error have been charged fines to exceed 2 per cent, per month of the monthly instalments, she is entitled to a credit therefor, together with interest thereon from the time they have been charged, and we base this upon the presumption that testimony was introduced upon this point, for we do
It will be noticed in our calculations that we have omitted therefrom the sum of $5 paid in October, 1888. We do not think this is a proper credit to be allowed against this loan. It was paid as dues on stock, it is true, but paid as a membership payment, and the plaintiffs in error would have been liable for it, even though she had never made this loan. This is equally true of the payment of $5 made in November, but as both parties have treated this as a legitimate credit, we have so allowed it.
The court in its calculations allowed monthly fines for each month from the date of default to the date of the rendition of the judgment, being 16 months. This we think is error. When the plaintiff below exercised its option to declare the debt due, the payment of fines unquestionably ceased, nor could it after the commencement of its.action continue legally to assess fines against the defendants below.
The judgment in this case will be modified, and the cause remanded for further proceedings in accordance with the views herein expressed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.