Strom v. American &c. Mortgage Co.
Strom v. American &c. Mortgage Co.
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
These two cases, presenting the same facts substantially, and involving the same legal questions, were, by consent of the parties, heard and will be considered together. For convenience of phraseology our remarks will be applied to the first named case, but what we shall say in that case must be regarded as equally applicable to the second case.
At the proper time a motion to dismiss the appeal was made, but as that motion was based solely upon the ground that the order from which the appeal was taken was not appealable, the court thought it best to defer any decision of the motion to dismiss the appeal until after the whole case was heard, as the court would be better enabled, after hearing the whole case, to determine whether the matter sought to be appealed from, is appealable. We will, therefore, proceed first to dispose of the motion to dismiss the appeal. For this purpose a condensed statement is necessary.
On the 4th of March, 1887, the plaintiff, then and yet being a married woman, executed a mortgage of certain real estate to the defendant company to secure the payment of her promissory note, which became due and payable on the 1st of March, 1892. This mortgage contained a provision empowering the defendant company to sell the mortgaged premises upon default in payment of the mortgage debt at maturity, and the defendant company, under this power of sale, advertised the mortgaged premises for sale on the 2d day of October, 1893. Thereupon the plaintiff commenced this action, alleging in her complaint, which was verified, that the contract sought to be enforced by the sale of the mortgaged premises was usurious by reason of the fact that, at the time said loan was made, twenty per cent, thereof, to wit: the sum of eighty dollars, was reserved by the agents of the defendant company, with the
An exporte application for an injunction was made to his hónor, Judge Ernest Gary, based upon the verified complaint, together with an affidavit of J. P. Strom, the husband of the plaintiff, in which, amongst other things, he states that he was well acquainted with all the facts and circumstances attending the negotiations for the loan, made with one Lockhart as the agent of defendant company, and that said Lockhart was distinctly informed and well knew that the money was borrowed to pay deponent’s own debts, and that his wife would sign the mortgage to secure the loan, in order that he (the husband) might get the money; that the plaintiff never received any part of the money, but the whole of it was applied to the payment of his own debts, and none of it was applied to the use of the plaintiff, or for the benefit of her separate estate, in any shape or form whatsoever; and that when said loan was perfected, the said Lockhart deducted therefrom the sum of eighty dollars, twenty per cent, of the amount of the loan, claiming the same as his commissions for his services in negotiating the loan. TJpon this showing, Judge Gary, on the 27th of September, 1893, at chambers, granted an order enjoining the defendant from selling the mortgaged premises until the further order of the court, with leave to defendant to move, before him or some other Circuit Judge, on ten days notice, to dissolve said injunction.
The defendant gave notice that on a day therein specified a motion would be made before his honor, Judge Hudson, at his chambers, to vacate the said injunction, “because the same was
In response to this affidavit the plaintiff presented' her affidavit, which purports to have been duly sworn to before a notary public on the 30th of October, 1893, in which she deposes as follows: “That on the day said affidavit is purported to have been executed, that she signed a number of papers for securing the loan herein, being notes for the principal sum, coupon notes for the interest, and a mortgage to secure both. That she intended to sign said papers, and they were the only ones that she was informed she was expected to sign, and that when she signed said papers on that day, they were the only ones she intended to sign, and had no knowledge or information of any others. That if she signed said alleged affidavit, this deponent says she was never sworn, and that she did not know its purport, or the contents thereof; and the statements thereof were entirely inconsistent with the facts then in the knowledge of this deponent and the agent, or agents, of the company.”
The judgment of this court is, that the orders of Judge Hudson dissolving the injunction in each of the cases be reversed, and that the cases be remanded to the Circuit Court for a bearing on the merits, and that in the meantime the temporary injunction be continued until dissolved by proper"authority.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STROM v. AMERICAN &c. MORTGAGE COMPANY SEIGLER v. SAME
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Appeals — Case.—Where it does not appear that any action was taken on a motion to amend the complaint, made before the Circuit Judge, no question as to such motion is properly before this court. 2. Ibid. — Injunctions—Sale.—Motions for preliminary injunctions and to dissolve them are ordinarily addressed to the discretion of the Circuit Judge, and his determination is not appealable; but where the injunction is absolutely essential to the assertion and preservation of a legal right, an order of dissolution is appealable; as, in this case, where, without injunction, the property of a married woman, pending the claim that her mortgage was invalid, might be disposed of under a power of sale in such mortgage. 3. Ibid. — Ibid.—Married Woman. — The want of power on the part of a married woman to mortgage her separate property ought not to be conclusively determined on affidavits. 4. Married Woman — -Sale—Injunction.—Where a married woman was without power to execute a mortage, a sale under a power contained in such mortgage should be perpetually enjoined. 5. Practice — -Trial—-Waiver.—-Objection that an affidavit was not made before an authorized officer would seem to be waived where the affidavit was received without objection at the time. 6. An Exception alleging error “in holding that the temporary order of injunction herein was irregularly issued, and iu dissolving the same,” is not too general. 7. Injunction — Married Woman — Sale.—A temporary injunction was properly granted on a complaint and affidavit which set forth that the defendant was about to sell the land of plaintiff, a married woman, under the power of sale contained in a mortgage executed by her to secure a debt of her husband. 8. Ibid. — Stay oe Proceedincs. — The provision in section 402 of the Code which forbids the granting of an ex parte order to stay proceedings for a longer time than twenty days, seems to relate to proceedings in court and not to interlocutory injunctions; and if disregarded, the order would be inoperative after twenty days, but not irregular ab initio.