Lyford v. Gove
Lyford v. Gove
Opinion of the Court
The bill seeks to redeem certain real estate mortgaged by the plaintiff to the Winnipiseogeo Bank, in 1838. The mortgage and debt were in 1845 assigned to one Pingree, who entered to foreclose in March, 1852. It seems that the equity of
The plaintiff objects to the admissibility of certain testimony as being evidence of his admissions not alleged in the answer. This evidence is a statement of the testimony given by the plaintiff as a witness upon the trial of an action at law between one Perley and Dudley Smith, and goes directly to contradict the plaintiff’s testimony in the present cause as to the alleged agreement.
The evidence is competent unless excluded by the form of the pleadings. Gresley Eq., part III., ch. 3. The answers sufficiently deny the alleged agreement, and this evidence tends directly to contradict the plaintiff’s testimony as to such an agreement. Whatever may be the rule as to the admissibility of admissions of a defendant, not expressly charged in the bill, when offered to prove a fact put in issue by the pleadings, we are not aware of any rule or of any practice in this State that excludes evidence of the admissions of a plaintiff which tend directly to disprove his testimony to a material matter in issue, merely because such admissions are not set out in the answer (3 Greenl. Ev., sec. 323, n.; Story Eq. Pl., sec. 265, n.); and the evidence seems to us competent.
Upon a careful examination of the evidence, we think the plaintiff has failed to establish the agreement alleged, or to show that Dudley Smith took or held the title from Pingree with any trust for the plaintiff) or that payments were made under the alleged agreement, or were received by Dudley Smith to be applied on the mortgage debt.
The bill must therefore be dismissed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.