Perkins v. Johnson
Perkins v. Johnson
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the co,urt was delivered by
This action was brought June 29, 1893, by the Argentine Bank against James McDonald, Samuel Johnson, Mitchell Johnson, Annie Hayes, James T. Cuff, Mary B. Schiefer (formerly Cuffj, Christian Schiefer, Thomas J. Bradbury, D. Hubbard, and H. A. Taylor, to charge Annie Hayes, James T. Cuff, and Mary B. Schiefer, as makers, and Mitchell Johnson and Samuel Johnson, as indorsers, of a $400 note, and to foreclose a mortgage. The petition contained the usual allegation that the other defendants had or claimed an interest in the real estate, subject and inferior to the plaintiff’s mortgage. Personal service was made upon Mary B. Schiefer, Annie Hayes, Thomas J. Bradbury, the present owner of the lands, and D. Hubbard, a mortgagee ; the other defendants -were served by publication only.
The defendant Bradbury filed a verified answer,
The record shows that on August 30, 1889, Annie Hayes, Mary B. Cuff, and James T. Cuff, a minor, were induced, by the false and fraudulent representations of Samuel Johnson and one Fisher, to trade val
On September 5, 1889, Samuel Johnson sold and assigned the note and mortgage to his brother, Mitchell Johnson, who, on October 11, 1889, indorsed and assigned them to the Argentine Bank, as collateral for a loan of $231.50. The court made special findings, and rendered judgment that the plaintiff recover of the defendants Mary B. Schiefer and Annie Hayes the sum of $305, and adjudged that the mortgage in plaintiff’s petition described was void, so far as it affected the rights of the defendants Hubbard and Bradbury, that it was a cloud upon the title of Bradbury, and that the same should be removed, and that the defendant Bradbury should have the land.
The first question presented for consideration is the motion of Bradbury and Hubbard to dismiss the petition in error for the reason that Samuel Johnson, Mitchell Johnson, Annie Hayes, James T. Cuff, Mary B. Schiefer and Christian Schiefer are necessary parties to this proceeding and have not been brought into court; and that, more than one year having elapsed since the trial of the case, they cannot now be made parties. It is a settled principle in this state that it is not necessary to bring all the parties to the record into the appellate court, but that the parties whose interests may be prejudicially affected must be brought into court. (Steele v. Baum, 51 Kan. 165, 32 Pac. Rep. 922; Norton v. Wood, 55 id. 559, 40 Pac. Rep. 911.) The practice is uniform that, if the parties to the record not brought into the appellate court may be adversely affected by the appellate decision, the petition in error must be dismissed.
The absent defendants, James T. Cuff, Mary B. Schiefer, Christian Schiefer, and Annie Hayes, may be affected by a modification or a reversal of the judgment entered by the trial court. They are directly interested in the question whether the plaintiff’s mortgage should be declared a lien upon the lands in question for the payment of its judgment. James T. Cuff, Mary B. Schiefer and Christian Schiefer executed the mortgage set out in defendant Hubbard’s answer ; and by the terms of the mortgage they covenanted that at the delivery thereof they were the lawful owners of the premises granted, seized of a good and indefeasible estate of inheritance therein, free and clear of all
Again, if the plaintiff should secure a reversal of the judgment, and then procure the entry of the desired decree awarding it a first-mortgage lien upon the real •estate in question, with an order that the mortgaged premises be sold and the proceeds of the sale be applied to the payment of the judgment and the costs of suit, a liability might be thereby fixed as against these absent parties upon the covenants of warranty in the Hubbard mortgage and in the Bradbury deed. The entry of the judgment contended for by the plaintiff would inevitably, to some extent, relieve Hayes from the judgment of the trial court, and might increase the burdens, as now fixed, upon Schiefer. Where a party seeks by the judgment of this court to increase the burdens of one joint judgment debtor and relieve the
The petition in error must be dismissed for want of necessary parties.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.