Paule v. Scofield
Paule v. Scofield
Opinion of the Court
In October, 1887, William E. Baker, the owner of the southwest quarter of section 14, township 81 north, of range 51 west, in Dawes county, Nebraska, executed two mortgages thereon, both running to the American Investment Company. The first mortgage, made to secure a loan, was transferred to Benjamin Wheeler, the investment company retaining the second mortgage, given for commission on the loan, and foreclosing the same in the year 1891. The service in this foreclosure proceeding was by publication, and the decree gave a lien upon the land subject to the first mortgage. May 8, 1891, the decree was set aside and defendants allowed to defend. In December, 1891, a second decree was entered, but through some mistake or oversight was not journalized at the time nor until June, 1902, when a decree nunc pro time was journalized.
We regard the order confirming the sale and awarding a surplus of $78.56 to Thomas as a final adjudication of the amount of the surplus arising from the sale under the decree, which cannot be questioned in a collateral proceeding. It is evident that plaintiff, claiming through Thomas, has no greater rights than were held by him when he assigned to her. Thomas, appearing at the confirmation, accepted the benefit of the order awarding the surplus. There is no showing that he then labored under any misapprehension of his rights or that he was not fully aware of all the proceedings had in the case. In Watson v. Tromble, 33 Neb. 450, it is said: “An order confirming a sale of real estate by a court having jurisdiction of the parties and subject matter, in the absence of fraud, cures all defects and irregularities in the appraisement and is conclusive upon all the parties to the suit and those claiming under them, until reversed or set aside.” This we think conclusive of the case and of the plaintiff’s right to question the appraisement under which the sale was made. Aside from this, the claim of the plaintiff, that the appraisement should have been made and the surplus adjusted upon the theory that the first mortgage had been canceled, is without equity. Wheeler, who took title under the first invalid sale, conveyed his supposed title to the defendant, and, that the first mortgage which he then held might not cloud her title, he executed a release thereof. This release was made in the interest of the defendant. Whatever equitable right there was which could be grounded upon the first mortgage inures to the benefit of the defendant, and not to the plaintiff or any one with Whom she was in privity.
By the Court: For the reasons stated in the foregoing (.pinion, the judgment of the district court is
Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Amy M. Paule v. Mary M. Scofield
- Status
- Published