Brastrup v. Ellingson
Brastrup v. Ellingson
Opinion of the Court
The material facts in this case are as follows: One Harry N. Tucker was the owner of certain land which, on October 15, 1908, he contracted to sell to Fanuel Ellingson and Gunnar Ellingson, defendants, for $9,120. At the time of the contract the land was subject to mortgages aggregating $6,000, which mortgages the Ellingsons assumed as part of the purchase price. The Ellingsons entered into possession, and subsequently paid $1,120 on the purchase price. On December 5, 1910, there remained owing to Tucker on said contract $2,303.66.
Tucker, being indebted to defendant the Farm Mortgage, Loan, & Trust Company in the sum of $14,800, on December 5, 1910, pledged the Ellingsons’ contract as security for said indebtedness, and on the same day and as part of the same transaction, and for the purpose of securing the said debt, executed and delivered to the defendant loan company a mortgage on said premises. On March 13, 1913, the loan company foreclosed its mortgage and its pledge of the contract, and in the foreclosure proceedings obtained a judgment against Tucker for $18,380.75, which judgment further decreed the foreclosure of the mortgage of the land and pledge of the contract above referred to.
At the sheriff’s sale, under special execution, the defendant loan company paid the sum of $1 for the. land contract, and the sum of $1,000 for Tucker’s interest in the property covered by the mortgage. Some weeks after the sale defendant Tucker, by another assignment, transferred the contract to the plaintiff and appellant, Fred T. Brastrup, subject to the sale thereof to defendant loan company heretofore recited.
Brastrup later attempted to redeem, and in so far as possible did redeem, said contract from the execution sale, by paying to the sheriff of Foster county $1.02, whereupon a sheriff’s certificate of redemption was issued and afterward filed in the office of register of deeds of Foster county, where said real estate was situated. The loan company refused to accept the redemption money on the ground that the amount paid did not include the amount of another and contemporaneous hen on the real estate for which it held a sheriff’s certificate of purchase, showing payment by it of $1,000. There being no other redemption, or attempted redemption, a sheriff’s deed was issued to the Farm
This action was brought by Brastrup to obtain a judgment against defendants Fanuel Ellingson and Gunnar Ellingson, for the amount due on said contract and to establish the priority of plaintiffs right as against the Farm Mortgage, Loan, & Trust Company, which was made a defendant in the action. The trial court entered a judgment dismissing plaintiffs suit and quieting title to the premises in question in the defendant loan company, subject to tbe interest of tbe defendants Fanuel Ellingson and Gunnar Ellingson. From this judgment tbe plaintiff appeals and asks for review of tbe entire case.
In bis assignment of errors, counsel for tbe appellant raises tbe question of priority of right to tbe remainder of tbe purchase price due from tbe Ellingsons under their contract. Counsel contends that since appellant has redeemed from tbe sale of tbe contract, be is entitled to collect tbe unpaid balance of tbe purchase price regardless of the fact that tbe respondent herein tbe Farm Mortgage, Loan, & Trust Company has purchased tbe mortgageable interest of Tucker in tbe same premises at tbe foreclosure sale for $1,000, from which sale there has been no attempt to redeem. It is not contended that tbe appellant is a bona fide purchaser, and it must be conceded that bis right to redeem is as tbe successor in interest of Tucker.
Tbe case, therefore, resolves to the question as to whether tbe contract after its redemption from tbe pledge can be considered as entitling tbe assignee who redeemed it to tbe right to collect tbe amount due thereunder, independent of any right of tbe mortgagee who has obtained legal title to tbe premises from tbe same source through- foreclosure proceedings, subject, however, to tbe rights of tbe -purchasers under tbe land contract.
Tbe solution of the question depends entirely upon tbe character of the interest acquired upon tbe redemption of tbe contract from tbe pledge and sale. In defining tbis interest it is necessary to carefully consider appellant’s contention to tbe effect that, by tbe assignment of the contract, Tucker pledged all of bis interest in the land to tbe loan company, and that consequently tbe mortgage executed by Tucker and given to tbe loan company was a nullity and conveyed no interest whatsoever to tbe mortgagee. Tbis contention is based upon the fact
Having determined that the mortgage and assignment must be construed together as parts of the one security transaction, there remains to be considered the effect of the separate sale and separate redemption of the contract. It is true that in § 7754 of the Compiled Laws of 1913 it is provided that redemption may be effected by paying the purchaser
Counsel argues that the effect of the separate sale under the special execution in the foreclosure proceedings was -to divorce all connection between the contract and the mortgage for all subsequent purposes, but this argument, if carried to the logical conclusion for which the appellant contends, would preclude the application of a most salutary equitable principles in determining the substantial rights of the parties. From the standpoint of the equities of the case, the equity of the unpaid debtor who holds two securities for the payment of his debt is quite analogous to the equity of consolidation that has been embedded in equity jurisprudence from an early period. Without attempting a •detailed examination of the basic principles upon which this doctrine rests, we will but quote from an opinion of one of the leading modern English jurists, in which the doctrine is fully considered, in order that •the propriety of the application of the principles to the facts in this case may be seen. In the case of Jennings v. Jordan, L. R. 6 App. Cas. 698 (H. L.), Lord Selbome, at p. 700, in referring to the doctrine •of consolidation, says: “There is no difficulty in its application when .all the mortgages, whether originally made to the same mortgagee, or
We do not wish to be understood as holding that the doctrine of consolidation is applicable in this jurisdiction. We are fully aware of the fact that the doctrine is not followed in the American jurisdictions generally (7th Jones, Uortg. 2d ed. § 1083), and furthermore that the case before us does not directly involve the question of consolidation. The authority above quoted, however (Jennings' v. Jordan, supra), adheres to a basic equitable principle according to which, in ■our judgment, the appellant’s standing in this case may properly be judged.
Though a redemption was effected by appellant under the terms of the statute when he paid for the contract the amount bid at the sale, with, the statutory interest, he acquired by such redemption only such interest as the mortgagor or pledgeor would have acquired by a similar redemption at the same time, for he redeemed as successor in interest to the mortgagor. De Roberts v. Stiles, 24 Wash. 611, 64 Pac. 795. Since the interest of Tucker at the time of the assignment to appellant and at the time of the redemption was necessarily qualified by the equities existing in favor of the respondent, appellant’s interest in the contract is- similarly qualified. The substance of Tucker’s right was
Reference
- Full Case Name
- FRED T. BRASTRUP v. FANUEL ELLINGSON, Gunnar Ellingson, and the Farm Mortgage, Loan, & Trust Company, a Corporation
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published