Muller v. Flavin
Muller v. Flavin
Opinion of the Court
This case was decided at a former term of this court, and is reported in 13 S. D. 595, 83 N. W. 687. A pétition for a rehearing was granted, upon the ground that the court failed in its former opinion to consider an important point made in appellant’s brief, and the case is now before us on the rehearing.
We are of the opinion that, in view of the claim made in the prayer of his counterclaim, and the delay in the trial caused by the defendant, and the conditions on which the continuance was granted the judgment was clearly erroneous. The time for redemption having expired while the case was in court, and before it made its findings of fact, conclusions of law, and judgment, it was manifestly improper for the court to perfect the title in the defendant, by decreeing him entitled to a sheriff’s deed, which would have the legal effect to bar the plaintiff from redeeming the property. It was the duty of the court, therefore, to have protected the plaintiff’s rights by continuing the injunction against the defendant. The plaintiff in the case has clearly succeeded to the rights of William Muller, Jr., under the deed from Muller, Sr., to Mrs. Kirk, and from her to the plaintiff, and is entitled to retain the legal title as against the defendant, subject to defendant’s lien on the execution sale under his judgment, as this was all that the defendant asked under his counterclaim, and all that he was entitled to under the facts of the case. The judgment of the court, therefore, adjudging the plaintiff’s title to be quieted as against all claims, demands, or pretensions of the plaintiff, and all persons claiming under him, was clearly erroneous. It granted to the defendant relief which, under the peculiar circumstances of this case, he was not entitled to, and to
Reference
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- A counterclaim in a suit to quiet title prayed that defendant’s claim he adjudged a lien on the premises in controversy for the amount due on a judgment held by him. The sale of the premises under the judgment had been made prior to the commencement of the suit, but on such trial a continuance was granted, at defendant’s request, and an injunction granted restraining defendant from disposing of the certificate of sale, and from receiving a sheriff’s deed to the property, until further order of the court. Reid, that the effect of the proceedings was to extend the time for redemption from defendant’s judgment, and that in event of the findings being for defendant, the judgment should be that he have a lien on the premises for the amount due on his judgment, and that plaintiff should have the right to redeem from the sale under the judgment, in event of the time having expired while the action was pending.