Lafferty v. Jones
Lafferty v. Jones
Opinion of the Court
Opinion op the Court by
-Affirming.
In 1872 Caleb Jones conveyed to Monroe Whittaker a parcel of land in Harrison county in consideration -of $350.00, fifty dollars of which was paid- in cash and for the remainder a note for $300.00. was executed, bearing six per cent, interest from date. By the terms of the conveyance the interest on this note was to be paid to Nor ah Malone, a feeble-minded person, during her life, and.-a lien was retained in the deed to secure the payment of the note as well as the interest to Norah Malone. A short time after this conveyance was made, Whittaker sold the land to James E. Curry for Fifty Dollars in cash and the surrender of the $300.00 note he had executed to Jones; and on the same day Curry sold the-land to Finnellfor
The difficulty with the case for Lafferty is that Norah Malone had no demand against Jones to which he could be subrogated. Jones ¿¿ad not agreed .to pay her anything. When Whittaker bought the land it was charged with a lien for her use and benefit, and to this land alone she could look for payment of the interest, unless it was collected by some one else and then of course she might have recovered it from the person who collected it, upon the ground that it was collected and received for her benefit. But as no person had collected the interest, she sought to subject the land in the possession of Lebus to its payment, and succeeded because the lien in her favor had not been released by any one having authority to release it. When Lebus paid this interest to the committee, he had no remedy against any person except those who had conveyed the land with covenant of warranty in the chain of title under which he took it. . He could not look to Jones for indemnity as there was no warranty on the part of Jones to protect Norah Malone in the payment of the interest. As Lebus could not look to Jones, neither can Lafferty who paid Lebus. Lafferty’s remedy rests on the same basis as that of Lebus, and is against some person who warranted to him the title. But, it is said that when
Wherefore the judgment of the lower court is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.