Teeter v. Pierce
Teeter v. Pierce
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
The rehearing was granted in this case mainly on the ground that the Court may have laid down too rigorous a rule for measuring the liability of Pierce, with respect to the property mortgaged to him by Bradley, and that there was a mistake in assuming - that Pierce’s claim, when reduced by the value of the mortgaged property, would not equal the sum decreed td him out of the proceeds of the attached property, of his co-security, from whom he was seeking contribution.
Upon further consideration, we are of opinion, that Pierce was not bound to take possession of the mortgaged property, nor to proceed against it until after he had found himself compelled to pay the debt for which it indemnified him, unless he saw or had reason to know that Bradley, the mortgagor, was squandering it, or placing it beyond the reach of the mortgage. And that under the facts of this case, it was his duty to have proceeded against the property by’ attachment or restrain
We think, therefore, that the. value of the property as it might have been secured to the mortgagee at the time of filing the amended bill in June, 1847, that is, its fair vendible value at a coercive sale, should as between Pierce and his co-surety, be charged against Pierce, as so much of Bradley’s means which he had or * ^ ought to have had in his hands for paying Bradley’s debt, that is, for repaying himself. The sum thus char-gable, should be deducted from the principal and interterest of the security debt in which Pierce and Teeter were bound to Miller, calculated up to the time when ¡a sale of the mortgaged property might and should have been coerced, say, in the spring or summer of 1848, and, for one half of the residue of the principal ■and interest of the said security debt. Pierce had and ■has a right to claim contribution from his co-surety, C. C. Teeter.. We are now satisfied that the claim .upon C. C. Teeter, estimated according to-these principles, would considerably exceed the sum decreed to Pierce •out of the proceeds of the attached effects, and it is not necessary to take an .account in order to sustain the •decree. And there being no apparent error in this or in any other respect, to the prejudice of C. O. Teeter, •or of Paris Teeter, the decree is not reversed upon the •original errors assigned by them, or .either of them.
Wherefore, adopting the former' opinion, except so far as it relates to the liability of Pierce, with respect to the mortgaged property, and except so far as it reverses the decree on the ground of that liability — the entire decree is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.