Topeka State Bank v. Brown
Topeka State Bank v. Brown
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
This was an action to foreclose a mortgage on real estate, and from a judgment in favor of the plaintiff two of the defendants appeal.
The following statement will tend to explain matters in controversy: William Brown, a resident of Osage county, died in 1907, leaving a will under which a large amount of real estate was devised to his sons, Frank Brown and Barnum Brown, in equal shares. We are not concerned with their various operations further than that in 1930 they consulted with each other with the idea of making a voluntary partition of the lands, which seems to have been fully agreed upon in 1932, but not fully consummated by the execution
“2. That the title of the plaintiff to the west half of the southeast quarter of section 18, township 14, range 16, is subject to the lien of the mortgage of $4,000 held by the defendant, the Topeka State Bank, upon an undivided one-half interest therein.
“3. That the title of the plaintiff, Barnum Brown, to all of said real estate should be quieted, subject to the lien of said mortgage as above set forth.”
And judgment was rendered in accordance.
By reason of the denial of others of its contentions,' the Topeka State Bank appealed to this court from that judgment, but this court affirmed the ruling of the trial court. (See Brown v. Brown, 146 Kan. 7, 68 P. 2d 1105.) It may here be observed that Barnum Brown filed no cross-appeal. Some months after the opinion was filed in the above quiet-title action, the Topeka State Bank commenced its action to foreclose its mortgage lien on the undivided one-half interest formerly owned by Frank Brown in the west half of the southeast quarter of section 18, township 14, range 16, the parties defendant including Barnum Brown and his wife, and the widow of Frank Brown. We need not notice the exact details, but the demurrer of Barnum Brown and his wife was overruled. Their amended answer made certain admissions as to the execution of the mortgage by Frank Brown, of a subsequent contract between his widow .and the plaintiff, to which reference will be made later, and denied generally. Affirmatively they alleged that plaintiff’s cause of action was barred by the statute of limitations, and that the in
As a result of trial, judgment as hereafter mentioned was rendered in favor of plaintiff, and defendants’ motion for a new trial having been denied, they have appealed to this court, the specifications of error covering the matters hereafter discussed.
The action was tried upon the admissions made in the pleadings and the record in the partition case to which reference has been made.
Plaintiff’s petition and supplemental petition alleged that on March 16, 1931, Frank Brown and his wife executed their note to the Carbondale State Bank for $4,000, secured by a mortgage on an undivided one-half interest in the 160 acres of real estate above described, and that by assignment the plaintiff became the owner and holder of the note and mortgage. An exhibit attached is a contract dated December 1,1937, between the plaintiff bank and Minnie Brown, as executrix of the estate of Frank Brown, deceased, and Minnie Brown, individually, by which she agreed to pay the bank $400 in cash and to convey it the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter and the southwest quarter of the northeast quarter of section 18, township 14, range 16 (being the portion of real estate which her husband received in the partition), it being agreed the bank still had the right to foreclose its mortgage lien on all the lands described. She also agreed to pay the probate court costs and to grant an easement, not now material. The bank acknowledged compromise of its claim against Frank Brown’s estate, and—
“(d) Releases and' discharges the estate of Frank Brown, deceased, and Minnie Brown as executrix of .the estate of Frank Brown, deceased, and Minnie Brown, individually, of and from any and all personal liability on the said $4,000 note secured by mortgage upon real estate hereinbefore described. It is understood and agreed that it is not the intention of the parties hereto to discharge and extinguish the debt, but only to release second parties from personal liability, and that first party retains and preserves the debt and the lien of its property on the real estate described therein.”
The petition also alleged that plaintiff had agreed with defendant Minnie Brown not to ask for a personal judgment against her, but • that it was entitled to a judgment in rem in its favor against an undivided one-half of the mortgaged real estate for $4,000 with interest at ten percent per annum from March 16,1931, less a credit of two-thirds of this sum by reason of the deed of Minnie Brown for
Appellants have filed a brief and reply brief, in which the question whether the debt evidenced by the note and mortgage here involved has been paid is briefly noticed, whether an action on it was barred by the statute of limitations is not mentioned, but which deal extensively with the general subject of the rights of cotenants and of the right of .one cotenant to encumber the interest of the other and the question of estoppel as applied to the facts of this case.
At the time the note and mortgage were given, both were signed by Frank Brown and his wife, Minnie Brown, who is a party to the present action. By these acts Minnie Brown became personally liable to the payee and mortgagee, and by the mortgage she pledged her inchoate interest in the real estate. We have examined the contract of settlement between Minnie Brown and the plaintiff bank, dated December 1,1937, and referred to above. It seems clear from that contract the purpose was to release Minnie Brown and the estate of Frank Brown, of which she was executrix, from personal liability, and not to extinguish the debt evidenced by the note, and under the reasoning and holding in Korb v. Minneapolis Threshing Machine Co., 133 Kan. 783, 3 P. 2d 502, it must be held the debt was not extinguished. If the debt was not extinguished the lien of the mortgage persisted.
No complaint seems to be made as to the amount found due.
From what has been said it follows the court’s ruling on the demurrer to the petition was correct. No error is found in the judgment finally rendered, and it is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The Topeka State Bank v. Barnum Brown
- Status
- Published