Duncklee v. Gay
Duncklee v. Gay
Opinion of the Court
The first objection made to the account rendered by the plaintiff, is, that in consequence of an error in computing interest the amount stated as due was some $40 less than the amount actually due. It would be a great hardship if a mortgagee’s security should depend upon his own skill in reckoning interest, or his ability to obtain a computation precisely accurate. The computation might be so complicated as to require mathematical proficiency by no means common, and different persons of unusual accuracy might not arrive at the same result. If the mortgagee should, by mistake, state the interest at less than its actual amount, or if, in order to be sure that
The next objection is, that for the amount of costs the officer was referred to the plaintiff’s attorney. The costs were as much a part of the amount due as the principal or interest of the mortgage debt. If the officer could be compelled to apply to the plaintiff’s attorney to ascertain the amount of the costs, no reason appears why he might not also be compelled to apply to the attorney to ascertain the. principal or the interest of the debt. And if he could not be compelled to enquire of an attorney at Manchester for all or any of the information to which he was entitled, it is not apparent why he might not be compelled to enquire of any other person at any other place. If the obligation to render an account could be discharged by the mere act of referring to other persons, the statute might always be avoided. The officer was not bound to do anything more than to demand an account of the plaintiff. If time, travel and trouble were required to collect the information necessary to render an account, they were not incident to the duty of the defendant or the officer.
. The omission of the amount of costs in the account is not remedied by the mistake of stating the debt to be some $40 less than the real debt, although the amount of the costs not stated, but finally included in the plaintiff’s judgment, was only $6.68. For aught that appears in the
Judgment for the plaintiff.
Reference
- Status
- Published