Browne v. Sanders
Browne v. Sanders
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
J. L. and M. M. Sanders filed a bill in the chancery court of Holmes county against J. H. Browne, alleging that the said J. L. and M. M. Sanders were the owners of a lot and house in the town of Durant, Miss., and some pasture lands, about thirty-five acres, near said town in said county, and that the said J. L. and M. M. Sanders executed a deed of trust to secure a certain indebtedness to Browne, said deed of trust and note being an exhibit to the bill; that Browne foreclosed said deed of trust and bid in the same at one thousand five hundred and twenty dollars; that the indebtedness to Browne was about six hundred and thirty-one dollars, alleging that the said sale was made subject to a prior deed of trust to the Georgia State Savings Association, and this suit was brought for the difference in the bid and the amount of the deed of trust, six hundred and thirty-one dollars, and demanded judgment for eight hundred and ninety-four dollars.
Browne answered the bill and admits-the deed of trust and sale and the amount of the bid, but contends that he bid the property in under an arrangement by which he was to bid the place in for Sanders and wife and take up the indebtedness tb the Georgia State Savings ' Association, and give the appellees twelve months in which to redeem said amount, during which time they would have the possession of the property without any charge for rent, and denies that he is due J. L. and M. M. Sanders the difference between the bid and the six hundred and- thirty-one dollars, as claimed.
It appears in evidence that, when Browne went to the trustee, one G. H. McMorrough, an attorney of Lex
It appears to us that the chancellor either should have set aside the sale to J. H. Browne, as being made under a mistake of fact, or else should have held Browne to his bid and allowed both J. L. and M. M. Sanders to recover the difference, and charged them with the rent between the time of sale and judgment, and given Browne possession of the property by decree. We do not see how the judgment as rendered by the chancellor can be upheld; because there was either an understanding to the effect contended for by Browne, or there was no such understanding, and if the sale was made on the understanding as testified to by Browne and his witnesses when in fact Mrs. Sanders was not a party to it, then Browne should not be held to a bid made under a mistaken belief that he was bidding in for Sanders at the request of Sanders and his wife. The judgment, therefore, will be reversed and the cause remanded for a proper decree. e
Reversed and remanded.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Browne v. Sanders et ux.
- Status
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- Syllabus
- Mortgages. Foreclosure sale. Surpltis. Recovery. Where á bill was filed by a husband and wife charging that they executed a trust deed to secure a debt to defendant who on foreclosure, bid in the property for an amount greater than the debt, and that the sale was made subject to a prior deed of trust of an association and asking judgment for the surplus, and the defendant answered that he bid in the property under an arrangement by which he was to bid for them and take up the debt to the association, and there was evidence, that the trustee made the sale under the understanding as contended by the defendant and that a contract was signed by defendant and the husband pursuant to such arrangement and there was also evidence that the husband arranged, with defendant to buy the property for him and that there was no such understanding until after the sale, and there was no evidence conveying knowledge of this arrangement to the wife except that the husband usually attended to the wife’s business. In such case judgment for the wife for one-half of the surplus was erroneous, the chancellor either should have set aside the sale to defendant as being made under a mistake of .fact or else should have held defendant to his bid and allowed both the husband and wife to recover the difference, and charged them with the rent between the time of sale and judgment and given defendant possession of the property by decree.