Memphis Cotton Oil Co. v. Gist
Memphis Cotton Oil Co. v. Gist
Opinion of the Court
In 1906 John M. Gist, the owner of property in the town of Eli, Hall county, Tex., conveyed five acres of land to Fred L. and A. M. Willingham, in consideration that the latter would build, equip, and operate a gin at that place. This property was a part of section 55, block No. 18, II. & G. N. Ry. Co. survey, and the location began at a point 106 varas south of the northwest corner of said section No. 55; thence east 106 varas for corner; thence south 228 varas for corner; thence west 106 varas for the southwest corner of the tract; thence north with section line 228 varas to the place of beginning. That same year Wil-lingham Bros, executed a deed of trust to the Continental Gin Company of Dallas, Tex., to secure certain indebtedness for gin machinery. The land described in this deed of trust began at a point 196 varas south of the northwest corner of section No. 55, block 18, H. & G. N. Ry. Co.; thence east 106 varas for corner; thence south 228 varas for corner ; thence west 106 varas for the southwest corner of the tract; thence north with section line 228 varas to the place of beginning. In 1908 John M. Gist, the appellee herein, for the purpose of assisting Willingham Bros, the proprietors of the gin, in continuing the operation of the ginning business, became their surety on a note made to the Hall County National Bank for about $3,000, and thereafter, on account of the failure of Willingham Bros, to pay said note, Gist paid the amount due upon the note to the bank, and received a transfer of said note and the mortgage securing the same. This deed of trust to the bank embraced the correct field notes identifying'the land, beginning at a point 106 varas south of the northwest corner of section 55, while the deed of trust to the Gin Company, prior in time to the bank’s, called, as stated, for the beginning point at 196 varas of the northwest corner of said section, 90 varas south from the point of the other beginning call. On account of the failure of the Wil-lingham Bros, to pay the Continental Gin Company, the Memphis Cotton Oil Company, likewise interested in the gin’s operations, for the purpose of assisting the Willinghams, paid the Gin Company the amount of the debt, receiving the transfer of the debt and mortgage to it. Willingham Bros, failed to pay the Memphis Cotton Oil Company the amount of the last mortgage mentioned, and a substitute trustee, appointed by said Oil Company, purported to sell the property embraced therein, and the Oil Company became the purchaser at said sale; and thereafter W. A. Bennett and one Shepperd became the ostensible owners of the property embraced in said instrument. This suit was instituted by Gist upon his mortgage and note executed in 1908, against the Oil Company, Willingham Bros., Shepperd, and Bennett. The defendants, Oil Company, Shepperd, and Bennett, pleaded a mutual mistake as to the beginning calll of 196 varas south of the northwest corner of section 55, asking for a reformation of the instrument, and Shepperd and Bennett especially claimed valuable improvements upon the property in good faith; and the court found, at the request of said defendants, the value of the improvements on that part of the land found subject to plaintiff’s lien, and placed there by said defendants, to be $1,200. The trial court without the assistance of a jury, rendered judgment in favor of Gist for the amount of the debt and a foreclosure against all,of the appellants for his mortgage lien, securing said debt, and rejected the plea of improvements in good faith.
“If the misdescription will tend to mislead and surprise the adverse party, it should be noticed by the court; if not, it may be disregarded.” National Bank v. Stephenson, 82 Tex. 436, 18 S. W. 583, and cases cited.
“The cashier is the executive officer, through whom the whole financial operations of the bank are conducted. He receives and pays out its moneys, collects and pays its debts, and receives and transfers its commercial securities.”
See, also, Rosenberg v. First National Bank, 27 S. W. 897; Arnold v. Swenson, 44 S. W. 870; Morse on Banks and Banking, § 158, under Indorsement.
This cause stands upon the record with the appellee as a prior mortgagee; the insufficiency of the record in regard to mistake and the lack of equity for reformation against Gist resolves the ’status in that manner. We can find no authority whatever, and we are cited to none, that purchasers placing improvements in good faith upon property, with a belief in the sufficiency of the title, and deraigning the same through the mortgagor, can prevail against a mortgagee in equity for the value of such improvements. Jones on Mortgages, vol. 1, § 147 (6th Ed.) says:
“A lien of a mortgage extends to all improvements and repairs subsequently made upon the mortgaged premises, whether made by the mortgagor or by a purchaser from him, without equal notice of the existence of the mortgage.”
The Supreme Court of North Carolina said, in the case of Wharton v. Moore, 84 N. C. 479, 37 Am. Rep. 627:
“The land in the unimproved state when Carter received his mortgage was worth only $250; and improvements were put on it by Moore and Adams .after the conveyance to them, which enhanced its value at least $1,000. * * * ” And the latter insists “that by reason of their improvements they have a right to so much of the proceeds as the lot has been enhanced thereby. This right to betterments is a doctrine that has gradually grown up in the practice of the courts of equity. * * * But it may now be considered as an established principle of equity that whenever a plaintiff seeks the aid of a court of equity to enforce his title against an innocent person, who has made improvements on land, without notice of a superior title, believing himself to be the absolute owner, aid will be given to him, only upon the terms that he shall make due compensation to such innocent person to the extent of the enhanced value of the premises, by reason of the meliora-tions or improvements, upon the principle that he who seeks equity must do • equity. * * * But we have been unable to find any case in which the doctrine has been held to apply to mortgages.”
The North Carolina Supreme Court said that the statute of that state, providing a remedy for the recovery of betterments for innocent defendants, in expressly declaring that its provisions shall not apply to a suit brought by a mortgagee against a mortgagor, that the Legislature was simply 're-enacting the generally admitted principle that the right to betterments is not conceded to mortgagors or parties claiming under them, and that court further quotes Washburn on Real Property, vol. 2:
“If the mortgagor, or any one standing in his place, enhances the value of the premises by improvements, they become additional security for the debt, and he can only claim the surplus, if any, upon such sale being made .after satisfying the debt.”
To the same effect are Childs v. Dolan, 5 Allen (Mass.) 319, and Martin v. Beatty, 54 Ill. 100; Rice v. Dewey, 54 Barb. (N. Y.) 455, which later case holds—
“improvements that constitute a part of the realty, irrespective of the question by whom made, are * * * subject to the lien of the mortgage.”
We are unable to work out the proffered equity in this case upon any satisfactory basis,, and there is no assignment, or position assumed in this court, asking that the excess, if any, resultant from the proceeds of the sale, be granted to appellants. We feel impelled to affirm the judgment of the lower court; and it is so ordered.
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