Berry v. Berk
Berry v. Berk
Opinion of the Court
The appellant, plaintiff below, brought an action in the nature of a creditor’s bill for the purpose of setting aside an alleged fraudulent mortgage by the debtor in favor of the defendant Vanburg, on certain real estate therein described and to subject the same to sale for the purpose of satisfaction of a judgment in plaintiff’s favor and against the mortgagor and judgment debtor.
The questions involved in the controversy are primarily questions of fact and the conclusions reached by the trial court can not be rightfully disturbed unless clearly wrong and unsupported by sufficient competent evidence. During ,the pendency of plaintiff’s action, in which the judgment was obtained which forms the basis of the present action, the debtor executed a mortgage in favor of the defendant Vanburg to secure' the payment of the sum of $600 due in five years from date and evidenced by the promissory note of the mortgagor.
The evidence is altogether satisfactory on the point that, at the time, there existed a bona-fide indebtedness in favor of Vanburg from the mortgagor for about $290 for money paid by him on an obligation on which he was lia
The judgment, in our opinion, should not be disturbed on the ground that the findings of the trial court are not supported by the evidence. It is urged that as a matter of law the mortgage should be held to be fraudulent and void as against the plaintiff because of the secret trust in favor of Offer and the agreement by the parties to pay him the proceeds of the sale of the property over and above an amount sufficient to pay the indebtedness in favor of Vanburg. Jones on Mortgages [5th ed.], sec. 627, states the law as follows: “If given to secure existing liabilities, a mortgage is not void as to creditors because it does not specify the amount secured; or that it includes debts due to other persons which the mortgagee has verbally promised to pay.” Says the supreme court of New York in Carpenter v. Muren, 42 Barb., 300-3: “Including in the mortgage debts due or alleged to be due to others, the mortgagee at the same time giving her parol undertaking, will not of itself make the mortgage fraudulent per se. In connection with other circumstances, this fact
The judgment is therefore
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.