Sturgeon v. Mudd
Sturgeon v. Mudd
Opinion of the Court
This is a bill in equity for leave to redeem two hundred and twenty acres of land lying in Audrain county, Missouri, and being the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter, the northwest
THE ISSUES.
The gist of the' petition is, that in the year 1893, the plaintiff borrowed $3,500 from the defendant (which the evidence shows was used to purchase a part of the land involved herein) and executed a deed of trust to secure the payment thereof with interest at seven per cent, the petition alleging that the principal was to fall due in April, 1900; that the plaintiff made default in the payment of the interest due in April, 1899, and informed the defendant of his inability to pay the same and asked him to grant an extension of time, which the defendant agreed to do, and in violation of his agreement proceeded and foreclosed the deed of trust, and became the purchaser thereof for the sum of $3,000, when the plaintiff says the land was worth $6,-000. The petition further states that after the advertisement. of the notice to foreclose the deed of trust had begun to run, the defendant- agreed with the plaintiff to stop the sale if the plaintiff would deed theTand to the defendant upon condition that the defendant should hold it, apply the rents therefrom to the payment of the principal and interest, and give the plaintiff a bond to reconvey it to him at any time within three years, which agreement, the petition alleges, was duly reduced to writing and asigned by the defendant. The petition further avers that the defendant repeatedly declared to divers persons, who were likely to bid on the land, that he was not foreclosing the deed of trust for the purpose of acquiring plaintiff’s land, and
It is further alleged that, relying upon the declarations áforesaid of the defendant, the plaintiff surrendered the possession of the land to the defendant on the strength of the defendant’s promise that he would permit the plaintiff to redeem the land at any time within three years after the foreclosure. The petition further alleges that the defendant has since had the possession of the land and enjoyed the rents, issues and profits thereof, which it is averred amounted to $400 a year. It is further averred that the land originally belonged to the plaintiff’s father, Robert Sturgeon, and that prior to his death, which occurred in 1881, he had placed a deed of trust on this land, together with other land then owned by him, to secure a note for $1,000, but that at the date of the execution of the deed of trust from the plaintiff to the defendant, neither of of the parties had any actual knowledge of the existence of said deed of trust; that by reason of the existence of said prior deed of trust, and by reason of the
The prayer of the petition is that the defendant be required to account to the plaintiff for the rents, issues and profits, and that the plaintiff be permitted to redeem the land upon the payment of the balance due of the debt.
The answer admits the execution of the deed of trust from the plaintiff to the defendant, but alleges that the debt was evidenced by notes dated March 8, 1893, one for $500, due in two years; one for $750, due in three years; one for $1,000, due in four years, and one for $1,250, due in five years, and that all of the said indebtedness was past due when the deed of trust was foreclosed on the 5th of May, 1899, and the plaintiff failed and refused to pay the same, and in consequence, the defendant caused the deed of trust to be foreclosed and became the purchaser of the land. The answer then avers that the plaintiff did not surrender the possession to the defendant and that defendant obtained possession after the foreclosure sale by means
The answer then concludes with a counterclaim asking judgment against the plaintiff for the unpaid balance due on the said four notes.
The reply is a general denial.
The case made is this:
Robert Sturgeon owned four hundred and seventy-five acres of land. He had encumbered the same for $1,000. After his death the plaintiff inherited eighty
In March or April, 1899, the plaintiff was unable to pay anything on account of either the principal or interest, and so informed the defendant and asked for an extension of time. The plaintiff says that the defendant first agreed to extend the time if the plaintiff would give a chattel mortgage on some stock to secure the payment of the annual interest which fell due on the 8th of March, 1899, but that instead of so doing the defendant sent to the plaintiff a. letter containing the advertisement of the foreclosure sale, which was to take place on the 5th of May, 1899, and that upon his that he was ready to carry out the arrangement, but that the defendant refused so to do, unless the plaintiff, would pay $500 on the principal, together with the in-remonstrating with the defendant, the defendant then agreed to extend’the time if the plaintiff would pay up all the interest and $6, the costs of the advertisement, together with $250 on account of the principal; that he “located” the $250, and then informed the defendant
The defendant admits the execution of the agreement, but says that he subsequently discovered that there were judgments against the plaintiff, and that there was outstanding this first deed of trust and, therefore, he was not willing to take a deed from the plaintiff, but had become uneasy about his money and had lost confidence in the plaintiff, and, hence, he insisted upon proceeding with the foreclosure salé, and became the purchaser thereat.
Afterwards the defendant instituted a suit in ejectment to get possession of the land; the plaintiff caused the same to be postponed for about a year by means of continuances and change of venue, but ultimately failed to appear and defend the action, and the defendant obtained judgment in ejectment against the plaintiff and thereby got possession. The defendant further showed the facts to be as stated in his answer with reference to the suit in equity therein described, in which suit the plaintiff set up all the facts stated in his petition herein and asked for an accounting and leave to redeem, with the result that the court decided against him, and the plaintiff acquiesced in the judgment, and the same is now a final judgment and is unappealed from.
Upon this showing the trial court dismissed the plaintiff’s bill herein, and entered judgment for the
I.
There is no equity in the plaintiff’s bill or in the case made. Conceding all the facts stated in the petition, it is fatally defective, in this, that even though it be true that when the plaintiff was unable to meet the payment due in March, 1899, whether the same be simply the interest, as the plaintiff claims, or the principal and interest, as the defendant claims, he applied to the defendant for an extension of time and the defendant, in writing, agreed thereto or in pursuance of said agreement of plaintiff, offered to convey the land to the defendant upon the defendant executing a bond to reconvey the same to the plaintiff or to Patterson, at any time within three years, nevertheless, the petition does not state a cause of action, because it fails to allege' that there was any consideration moving from the plaintiff to the defendant to support the promises and agreements alleged. A mere promise, unsupported by a valuable consideration, to grant an extension of time for the payment of a debt, or to postpone a sale under deed of trust, is not sufficient in law to bind the person promising. [Garnier v. Papin, 30 Mo. 243; McGlothlin v. Hemry, 59 Mo. 213.]
In addition to this, section 4343, chapter 52, Eevised Statutes 1899, permits deeds of trust or mortgages to be foreclosed by the act of the parties, and in such cases permits the mortgagor to redeem at any time within twelve months, but section 4344 provides that no party shall have the benefits of section 4343 until he shall have given security to the satisfaction of the circuit court for the payment of the interest to accrue after the sale, and for all damages and waste that may be occasioned or permitted by the party whose
Aside from this, however, the case made does not entitle the plaintiff to the relief sought. It is immaterial whether the whole debt was due at the time of the foreclosure of the mortgage or whether only the interest was at that time due, for it is conceded that under the terms of the deed of trust any failure to pay any installment of interest, entitled the mortgagee or cestui que trust to foreclose.
For the purposes of this case it may be conceded that the defendant first agreed to renew or extend the notes and to withraw the notice for the sale under the deed of trust if the plaintiff would secure the past due interest and pay the costs of the advertisement; or that he subsequently refused so to do and demanded a payment of $250 on account of the principal in addition to the payment of the past due interest and the costs of advertising; or that he subsequently enlarged his demand so as to require the payment of $500, together with the past due interest and the costs of advertising, and that he gave the plaintiff the option to convey the land to him in lieu thereof, to be held as security for the debt and under a promise or bond to reconvey at any time within three years. This states the case as strongly in favor of the plaintiff as the facts warrant under any view that may be taken of them, and without regard to any conflict in the testimony. Yet this does not entitle the plaintiff to the relief sought, for the reason that it appears that at the
Moreover, there is a sharp conflict in the evidence as to whether the defendant ever agreed to reconvey the land to the plaintiff in the event the plaintiff deeded the land to the defendant, instead of having the deed of trust foreclosed. The chancellor had all the parties before him and a better opportunity to judge of their credibility than this court could possibly have, and as there are no physical facts which would aid in the solution of the question of which told the truth, this is a case where this court must defer to the finding of facts by the chancellor. In addition to all this, the plaintiff has had two opportunities of having the question here
These considerations necessarily lead to the conclusion that the petition states no cause of action; that the plaintiff is not entitled to the relief sought upon the merits of the case, and that the plaintiff’s right,
The judgment of the circuit court is for the right party and is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STURGEON, in Error v. MUDD
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published