Mortgage Trust Co. v. Cowles
Mortgage Trust Co. v. Cowles
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
On December 22, 1884, Joseph Kennedy executed and delivered to Edgar P. Cowles his promissory note of that date in the principal sum of $200, payable on December 22, 1889, with interest at the rate of 10 per cent, per annum from maturity. To this note were attached 10 coupons aggregating $100, and payable at intervals of six months respectively. These coupons represented the interest on the principal note from its date until its maturity. To secure the payment of this indebtedness, Kennedy executed and delivered to Cowles a mortgage on 160 acres of land in Phillips county, which was duly recorded on January 5, 1885. The land so mortgaged was thereafter sold by the county treasurer for the nonpayment of taxes, and the certificate of sale was duly assigned to the mortgagee. W. B. Kennedy subsequently became the owner of 80 acres of this land, and on July 1, 1887, he and his wife joined with Joseph S. Kennedy in the execution of a note in favor of the Kansas Trust and Banking Company for $400, and of a mortgage on the entire 160 acres to secure its payment. The banking company assigned and transferred this note and mortgage to the Mortgage Trust Company of Pennsylvania, and in writing guaranteed the payment of the amount to become due thereon. Default having been made in the payment of the interesj; which matured on January 1, 1889, by the terms of the mortgage the entire debt then became due and payable,
The prayer of the petitiop was that a personal judgment might be rendered against W. B. Kennedy and wife and the estate of Joseph S. Kennedy for the amount due on the note ; that the mortgage might be foreclosed; that the plaintiff be adjudged to have a first lien on the real estate ; that an order be entered for the sale of the premises, and that the proceeds thereof, after the payment of the costs and delinquent taxes, be applied toward the payment of its judgment. Personal service of summons was duly had on W. B. Kennedy and wife, and on the ‘administrator of the estate of Joseph S. Kennedy, deceased. Cowles was a nonresident of the state, and service on him was obtained by publication. On June 26, 1890, one John Dawson, who at that time was a practicing attorney at Phillipsburg, filed an answer in behalf of Cowles, in which he admitted the allegations of the petition with reference to the execution and delivery of the note and mortgage-therein mentioned, but denied,the priority of the plaintiff’s lien. He also alleged the execution and delivery by 'Joseph S. I-Cennedy to Edgar P. Cowles of five notes dated December 22,1884 ; that one of them was for the sum of $200, due December 22, 1889, and that the other four were for $10 each, maturing respectively on the 1st day of April and the 1st day of October in the years 1888 and 1889, and that each of the notes bore 12 per cent, interest from
On January 15, 1891, as shown by the record, the. cause was submitted to the court for trial .on the petition and proofs of the plaintiff, and the court found that there was due, on the notes mentioned in the petition, the sum of $501.43 ; that the plaintiff was entitled to a decree for the sale of the mortgaged premises and an application of the proceeds thereof to the payment of its claim ; that its lien was prior and superior to any other lien on the property, "excepting one mortgage for $258.92, in favor of Edgar P. Cowles” ; and a personal judgment was then rendered in favor of the plaintiff, and against the defendant W. B. Kennedy and wife and the administrator of the estate of Joseph S. Kennedy, deceased, for $501.43, and a decree was thereupon entered, which, ' after directing the sale of the mortgaged premises and the application of the. proceeds to the payment of the
After the date of the rendition of the'judgment and decree, and prior to the issuance of the order of sale, Edgar P. Cowles died, and his widow, Eunice M. Cowles, was duly appointed administratrix of his estate, and duly qualified as such, but the action was not revived against the heirs or representatives of Edgar P. Cowles, except as hereinafter set forth. Prior to tlxe expiration of three years from the date of the judgment, upon a showing being made to the
Armsby, Ferguson and the receiver of the Kansas Trust and Banking Company having been made parties defendant, each filed an answer to the cross-petition. To the answer that was filed by the administratrix the plaintiff replied by general denial, and also alleged that "the defendant’s claim had been ’merged in a-judgment and declared a first lien on the real estate ; that the judgment had been executed in good faith by a judicial sale of the píemises ; that the ¡plaintiff had received none of the proceeds of the sale, 'and that the proceedings had were res judicata as to the plaintiff. Upon the issues thus joined the cause was tried before the court, a jury being waived, and the court specially found that the pretended appearance of Dawson in behalf of Cowles was unauthorzed ; that neither Cowles nor the administratrix of his estate had any actual knowledge of the pendency of the action until long after the rendition of the judgment and decree and the confirmation of the sale made in pursuance thereof; that the title to the real estate had passed to a purchaser in good faith; that the Cowles mortgage was a good, valid and first lien on the premises described in the petition at the time of the rendition of the former judgment, and that, but for the transfer of the property under that judgment to an innocent purchaser, such mortgage still would be a good, valid and first lien thereon; that at the time of the sale the property was reasonably worth the sum of $800 ; that there was due - the administratrix on the notes secured by her mortgage and on account of taxes paid on the property the sum of $386.20, and as a conclusion of law the court found
The plaintiff and several of the defendants filed a joint motion for a new trial. The rule is that where several join in such a motion, and some of the moving parties are not entitled to a new trial, the motion may be rightfully overruled as to all. The defendants who joined in this motion had no reason to complain either as to the findings of fact or the conclusions of law thereon. The motion was indivisible, and, as these defendants were not entitled to a new trial, no error was committed by the court in overruling such motion. (Thomp. Trials, § 2721; Wolfe v. Kable, 107 Ind. 565 ; Minick v. Huff, 41 Neb. 516.)
The only complaint that is made as to the admission of evidence is that the court erred in permitting witnesses to testify as to the value of "the mortgaged premises at the date of the sheriff’s sale. We think that, under the allegations of the answer and cross-petition, this testimony was properly admitted.
The plaintiff in error insists that the court erred in
The plaintiff attempted to show upon the trial that a judgment was in fact rendered in favor of Cowles at the time the decree of- foreclosure of plaintiff's mortgage was entered, but the record failed to show any
Counsel also contend that the Tights of the parties claiming under the Cowles mortgage were fully protected by the judgment and decree that was first entered. While the court at that time found that the lien of the plaintiff’s mortgage was prior and superior to any other lien or mortgage on the premises ‘ ‘ excepting one mortgage for $258.92 in favor of Edgar P.’ Cowles,” the court'proceeded to enter just such a decree as the plaintiff prayed for in its petition, barring and foreclosing all the defendants “from all right and title, interest or equity of redemption in and to said premises or to any part thereof, from and after said sale as aforesaid.” This decree was, of course, erroneous, yet the court had jurisdiction both of the parties and of the subject-matter of the controversy, and the decree so-entered was binding upon the parties to the action until modified or reversed upon proper proceedings. “An erroneous ruling, even upon a question of law, will not avoid a title obtained under its decree. The purchaser depends on the judgment, the levy, and the deed. ” (Mills v. Ralston, 10 Kan 206, 212.) See, also, Ogden v. Walters, 12 Kan. 282.
“The terms of a decree show not merely the property, but the amount of defendants’ interest therein which is ordered to be sold. The sale follows the decree, and the sheriff offers whatever the decree orders.” (Mills v. Ralston,supra.)
We are of the opinion that the finding of the court that this real estate is now owned^by an innocent purchaser is not supported by the evidence, but no complaint is made as to this particular finding. The value of the land at the time of the date of the sheriff’s sale
The plaintiff in error has no reason to complain of the judgment. It will therefore be affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.