Ord National Bank v. Massey
Ord National Bank v. Massey
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
This action was begun by the plaintiff in error, as plaintiff below, to recover the possession of certain horses which plaintiff claimed were wrongfully detained from it by the defendant, P. J.
Plaintiff’s evidence tended to prove all the substantial allegations of the petition in relation to the mortgages and the mortgaged property and to establish the value of the same as being about $800. The defendant’s evidence showed that he held the property under three executions which had been issued by a justice of the peace upon three judgments bearing date of February 18,1889, in three separate actions brought by G. W. Oliver against George W. Hale upon the promissory notes, and that Hale had confessed judgment in each case. It appears that the defendant gave a redelivery bond and sold the property under the executions, Oliver becoming the xmrchaser thereof. In rebuttal, plaintiff sought to attack these judgments for fraud and collusion on the part of Hale and Oliver. The court submitted the question of the good faith of the parties in this transaction to the jury. The jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff, finding the value of the property to be $755. The jury also made certain findings of fact at the request of plaintiff, and others at the request of defendant. During the introduction of plaintiff’s evidence leave was asked to amend its affidavit in replevin so that the same should allege ownership under the chattel mortgages instead of a general ownershix), but the court refused to allow the amendment.
After the verdict, and while the court was considering defendant’s motion for a new trial, plaintiff of
We find that the court instructed the jury that plaintiff had proven that it was, at the date of the commencement of the action, entitled, as against the defendant, to the possession of the property described in the mortgage from Hale to Beauchamp ; that he had duly demanded of defendant the return of the property, which was refused, and that they should so find, and should also find the value thereof.
This instruction was unquestionably correct under the facts and the law, and was in strict accordance with the decision of the supreme court in this case when the same was before that court for review of the action of the trial court in sustaining a demurrer to plaintiff’s evidence on the first trial. The trial court held that plaintiff could not recover under the mortgage we have last above mentioned, for the reason that it was not recorded in Wichita county, Kansas, before the executions were levied. The syllabus in the case of Ord National Bank v. Massey, 48 Kan. 762, is as follows :
“The constructive notice imparted by the registration of a chattel mortgage in the county and state*684 where executed is not confined to that county and state, but protects the interests of the mortgagee, when the property is removed by the mortgagor to another state, by the law of comity between states.”
The verdict of the jury was therefore binding upon the court as to that property, and plaintiff’s failure to remit as ordered furnished no ground for setting aside the entire verdict.
The refusal of the trial court to permit the amendment of the affidavit in replevin is not properly reviewable in the present status of the case. It may be observed, however, that plaintiff’s request should have been granted. Counsel for defendant in error now contend that as plaintiff’s replevin affidavit averred a general ownership of the property, while the petition alleged a special ownership under the chattel mortgages, plaintiff could not recover in this action. Counsel are in error in this claim. The affidavit is filed to procure an order for the delivery of the property therein described to the plaintiff. When this is done there is no further purpose to be served by the affidavit.
In the case of Crawford v. Furlong, 21 Kan. 698, the supreme court held that it was not error for the district court to permit the petition to be so amended that the value of the property was changed from $240, as stated in the replevin affidavit, to $375. In the syllabus this proposition is stated :
“The affidavit of a plaintiff in an action of replevin to obtain an order for the delivery of the property is no part of the pleadings, and the facts therein set forth form no part of the issues in the case.”
Substantially the same declaration is made in the syllabus in the case of Hoisington v. Armstrong, 22 Kan. 110. In Wilhite v. Williams, 41 Kan. 288, the
“There the purpose of the affidavit is to obtain an order of delivery, and its allegations cannot be used to supplement the material averments required to be stated in the petition. It is no part of the pleadings in the case, and the facts therein form no part of the issues unless contained in the pleadings.”
From the foregoing, we conclude that under the pleadings in the case a verdict in plaintiff’s favor must be held to have been unaffected by the statement in the replevin affidavit as to the nature of plaintiff’s ownership.
As to the issues concerning the property mortgaged by Hale to Harris, it may be observed that the petition did not allege fraud or collusion-, and that no issue of this kind was raised except by means of the testimony introduced and sought to be introduced by plaintiff in rebuttal, and by references to it in the court’s instructions. The judgments were rendered, executions issued and levies made several days before the last-named mortgage was recorded. If the plaintiff desired to assail these judgments it ought to have indicated such disposition by proper allegations in its petition.
We are not apprised of the reasons which influenced the court to require the remittitur. The one we have suggested may have been taken into consideration. In the present state of the record, we do not feel warranted in holding that the trial court would have committed substantial error in granting a new trial as to the property described in the mortgage from Hale to Harris. It is not necessary to refer to other contentions of counsel. The order of the trial court will be reversed in respect to the property described in the
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.