Eagle v. National Funds, Inc.
Eagle v. National Funds, Inc.
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal from a judgment of the district court in favor of defendant. Plaintiff Annie Eagle is the sole owner of all of 'the stock of plaintiff Eagle Nursing Home, Inc.
On December 1, 1963, a formal contract for deed was entered into between the defendant as first party and plaintiff Annie Eagle and Elna Eagle as second parties.
The second parties also agreed to pay all taxes due and payable in 1964 and subsequently, to pay all special assessments, and to keep the premises insured for $400,000 against fire and windstorm.
The contract acknowledged that the parties “have respectively performed all of the terms and conditions of the agreement entered into by them under date of April 22, 1963.” One additional reference to the April 22nd agreement is included in the December 1st contract, a provision that if any defaults occurred in the April 22nd agreement the defendant at its option, by written notice, could declare the December 1st contract canceled. The December 1st contract also provided that if the Eagles defaulted in the performance of any of the terms, covenants, and
It is apparent that the parties hereto interpret differently 'the provisions dealing with the amount of each monthly installment as set out in the December 1st contract. In that connection, defendant’s bookkeeper, Mrs. Elizabeth P. Caye, testified that she determined that the real estate mortgage payment would be $2,177 and the chattel mortgage payment $650. The amount stated in the contract was $537.72, making a total of $3,364.72. The contract specified that the monthly payments should not exceed $3,568.38. However, plaintiff made a payment of $3,568.38 the first month ($203.66 per month more than the amount Mrs. Caye considered necessary). The bookkeeper further testified that she called Elna Eagle and told, her that a payment of $3,568.38 per month was not required, but that Elna said that as far as she was concerned the contract did require that amount and that she was going to continue to pay it. The record reveals that the bookkeeper then informed Elna as follows: “Then we will apply it the best we can and give you credit.” Plaintiff subsequently decided that 'the monthly payment could be reduced by $14.56, but continued to pay $3,553.82 each month — an excess, as defendant interprets the contract, of $189.10.
Plaintiff took possession of the Bloomington nursing home on December 12, 1963. It is admitted in the pretrial order that plaintiff paid defendant $54,257.81 up to April 30, 1965. This case involves a controversy originally over defendant’s use of approximately $14,000 of that sum. It was agreed at the pretrial conference, however, that any recovery by plaintiff in this action “would be reduced by $5,450.10 representing the real estate taxes paid on the nursing home property April 1, 1965.” Thus, it appears that the amount involved in this controversy is about $8,000.
Plaintiff’s claim seems to revolve around a belief that some payments were used to satisfy defendant’s obligations rather than plaintiff’s. It is difficult to determine the basis for this contention as there is no evidence in the record of any misappropriation by defendant. There is no controversy over plaintiff’s obligation to pay interest on the mortgages de
There is ample evidence in the record to support the trial court’s findings as to how the payments totaling $54,257.81, made from December 5, 1963, to April 30, 1965, were applied. It found that defendant made the following disbursements for plaintiff’s benefit: Paid on the principal of the $330,000 Ben Franklin mortgage, $3,991.19; interest on said mortgage from December 8, 1963, to April 8, 1965, $26,781.10; paid on the principal of the Northern Finance mortgage, $9,750; extra labor and materials, $49.59; paid on the principal of the December 1st $30,000 contract, $7,351.94; interest on same, $2,349; real estate taxes, $5,460.10. Summarizing the court’s findings, plaintiff paid defendant between December 5, 1963, and April 30, 1965, a total of $54,257.81; but defendant paid out for plaintiff’s benefit during that period the sum of $55,732.92 — or $1,475.11 in excess of what it received, which amount the court allowed defendant for its counterclaim. It ordered that judgment be entered accordingly.
On oral argument in this court, plaintiff’s attorney acknowledged that his client’s principal claim rested on the contention that about $8,000 of the $54,257.81 paid by plaintiff was applied by defendant for the payment of interest on the loan from the First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Minneapolis during the interval between the time plaintiff took possession of the Bloomington property in December 1963 and July 6, 1964, when the First Federal loan was paid out of the proceeds of the money borrowed from Ben Franklin.
Plaintiff argues that no part of the $54,257.81 paid by the Eagles should have been used to pay interest on the First Federal loan because although plaintiff and Elna Eagle agreed to pay the Ben Franklin loan they never agreed to pay First Federal.
According to the record, other than costs incidental to securing the loan Ben Franklin disbursed only $80,000 in December 1963, and it was not until July 7, 1964, that it paid off the First Federal mortgage and thus became the first mortgagee on the property. Prior to the time Ben Franklin disbursed the entire $330,000, interest was accruing to it only on the $80,000 which it actually disbursed. Since plaintiff had the
We have considered other objections raised by plaintiff but find no reversible errors in connection with them.
Affirmed.
Reference to plaintiff will include Annie Eagle and Eagle Nursing Home, Inc., except where the context requires a more specific reference.
Elna Eagle is not a party to this lawsuit since she transferred all her interest in plaintiff Eagle Nursing Home, Inc., to plaintiff Annie Eagle on or about April 29, 1965, and previously Elna and Annie Eagle had transferred their interest in the property to the corporation.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- ANNIE EAGLE AND ANOTHER v. NATIONAL FUNDS, INC.
- Status
- Published