McDaniel v. Hazelip
McDaniel v. Hazelip
Opinion of the Court
Opinion op the Court by
Affirming.
, Sophia McDaniel brought this action against appellee, John M. Hazelip, for the purpose of having a deed which she had executed to him declared to be a mortgage. The chancellor denied her the relief prayed for, and she appeals.
, • It appears that appellant purchased from A. Gf. Wilcoxson, in August, 1905, a dwelling house and about one acre of ground in Smith’s Grove, Kentucky. The consideration was $170. She paid for the property with the proceeds of a loan of $175, which she obtained from a •colored man by the name of Samuel Carpenter, to whom :she executed her note, payable in six months, and a mortgage on the property to secure the same. Being unable to pay the mortgage debt, she approached Dr. John W. Cooke, and asked him to help her in the matter. According to her evidence, she did not want to sell her property, but simply asked Dr. Cooke to borrow the money for her. He told her he would see what he could do for her. In a few days he reported that he could get the money for her from appellee,'John M. Hazelip. She
According to the evidence for appellee, Dr. Cooke approached him and asked him if he could not let appellant have the money to pay off the Carpenter debt. Appellee told Cooke that he would not lend any money on the property; that the amount she desired was too small, and if he had any trouble, it would be worth more than, he would get out of it. Appellant then approached appellee upon the matter. Appellee told her that he could1 not lend her any money; that he did not want to fool with it. Later on Dr. Cooke came to appellee and again; stated that appellant was about the lose her place, and' wanted to know if he could not make some arrangement with appellee to save her place. Appellee again toldl him that he would not lend any money on the property.. Appellant then sent for appellee and Dr. Cooke to come to her house. They went to the house, and appellee then agreed to buy a portion of appellant’s property for the sum of $182.50, which would discharge the Carpenter debt and still leave her her house and two-fifths of the lot left. "While there, appellee and Dr. Cooke staked off
Upon the question of the value of that portion of the property purchased by appellee, one witness for appellant places it at $200. Three or four other witnesses fix the value at $400 or $500. Several witnesses for appellee fix the value at from $150 to $175.
Upon these facts, we see no reason for disturbing the finding of the chancellor. The decided weight of the evidence is to the effect that appellant agreed to sell a portion of her property for the purpose of paying off the mortgage debt thereon, so that she might have the remainder of her property free from debt. The testimony of the witnesses for appellee finds support in the fact that the three-fifths of the property purchased by appellee was actually staked off, and a deed made to that portion only. Had the parties intended merely to execute a mortgage, there is no reason that this should have been done, for it is not at all probable that appellee would have taken a portion of the property as security for the loan, when he could have had a mortgage upon all of the property. Nor is the evidence sufficient to show that the real value of the property purchased was in excess of the price actually paid. A careful reading of the evidence shows that there was quite an advance in the value of real property in Smith’s Grove after the time of the transaction in question, and it is very doubtful if appellant’s witnesses took this advance into consideration. It is apparent from their testimony that their opinions
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.