Hartz v. Fitts
Hartz v. Fitts
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The plaintiff sued to quiet title, was refused a decree, and appeals. The material facts are that in 1887 the owner of the land in controversy executed a mortgage to John D. Knox & Company, which mortgage was assigned to Shields in October, 1887, by a writing on the margin of the original instrument. In July, 1902,'Shields, by a separate instrument, assigned to W. B. Lowrance, and in August, 1902, both of these assignments were placed of record. Lowrance brought suit to foreclose, making the original owner and the present plaintiff parties defendant. A decree was rendered, an order of sale issued October 27, 1904, and a sale had December 12, 1904, Lowrance being the purchaser. January 24, 1905, the sale was confirmed. In February, 1910, the plaintiff, who was a nonresident and who had not been personally served, brought this suit against a subsequent grantee of Lowrance to quiet title. It appears that in January, 1893, John D. Knox, for John D. Knox & Company (which firm had made an assignment for the benefit of creditors in 1891), executed a satisfaction of the mortgage in question, reciting a consideration of $1 and a partial satisfaction. This instrument was filed for record February 1, 1894. There was testimony tending to show that on November 29, 1890, Shields returned the mortgage to John D.. Knox for foreclosure, that the latter placed it in the hands of an attorney, Seabrook, who procured a deed from the fee owner and sent an assignment to Shields for execution, which became mislaid, and Seabrook then procured the satisfaction from Knox, the arrange
It is contended by the plaintiff that the foreclosure proceedings were fraudulent and void for the reason that the plaintiff knew that the mortgage had been properly released and that another had been paying taxes on the land for years, and that the release left the mortgage without vitality so that there was nothing to foreclose, and that the subsequent conduct with reference to changing the record and to the revivor show a continuous scheme to defraud. However, Hartz, the plaintiff, was made a party to the foreclosure and due service by .publication seems to have been had on him. Being too late to apply to have the decree opened up, he sued to quiet his title. Lowrance, taking in 1902 from Shields an assignment of a mortgage which bore an assignment on its margin by John D. Knox & Company to Shields, made in 1887, could hardly be charged with bad faith in ignoring a satisfaction purporting to have been made by John D. Knox & Company in
With commendable dignity and freedom from rancor counsel for the plaintiff call attention to erasures and changes made in the notice of sale, the return and the order of confirmation. The land correctly described as the southeast quarter was described in these three instruments as the southwest quarter, and the erasures and changes were for the purpose of conforming them to the other papers in the case. To do this after the decree, without the consent or order of the court,' was entirely unjustifiable, but the trial court, after hearing all the evidence, saw fit to penalize only by setting aside the sale, thus placing the case back where it was before the notice was published.
It. is variously stated in the briefs that in the foreclosure copies only of the bond and mortgage were set out; that the original mortgage with Shields’'assignment to Lowrance were at court; that Knox never had the mortgage after it had been assigned to Shields, and that Knox in his deposition in this case produced the original bond but could not find the mortgage. It is also suggested that the record of the release by Knox ■ failed to show any seal of the acknowledging officer,
It is to be regretted that the dealings respecting, the land in controversy have brought about so much confusion and embarrassment, but we see no way at this time, on the record, shown by the abstracts, to afford any relief.
The judgment is therefore affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Theodore Hartz v. E. O. Fitts
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- SYLLABUS BY THE COURT. 1. Mortgage — -Assignment—Foreclosure Sale — Action to Quiet Title. A mortgage on real estate was assigned on its margin to S. in 1887 by the mortgagee — a copartnership or company. In July, 1902, S'., by a separate instrument, assigned to L.,. and the two assignments were shortly thereafter recorded. L. foreclosed in 1904, making the original owner and H., the-holder of the fee subject to the mortgage, defendants, serving the latter by publication, and took a sheriff’s deed. A member of the mortgagee firm,, after it had made an assignment for the benefit of creditors, executed to the one then holding the fee-a release of the mortgage, which release was recorded in 1894,. the record failing to show a seal of the acknowledging officer. H. more than three years after the foreclosure sued a subsequent grantee of L. to quiet title. Held, that he is not entitled to the relief prayed for. 2. Judicial Sale — Alterations in Notice of Sale — Sale Set Aside„ Certain erasures and changes in the notice, order of sale and order of confirmation, made after the decree to correct a. clerical error, being called to the attention of the court in which the foreclosure was had, the only penalty inflicted was to set aside the sale. Held, such ruling will not be disturbed- 8. Revivor — Notice by Publication — Actual Notice to Local Counsel Not Required. In reviving a judgment against a nonresident defendant the law is satisfied by publication service^ and does not require, nor can the courts insist upon, actual-notice to local counsel.