Watt v. White, Smith & Baldwin
Watt v. White, Smith & Baldwin
Opinion of the Court
This is a contest between'judgment creditors for priority of lien on lands belonging to the estate of William Coyle, deceased.
Coyle purchased lands situated in Harrison and Panola counties, from John Watt, in the year 1858, executing to Watt his two promissory notes dated December 18, 1858, for the sums of $2475 33 each, one due January 1, 1860, the other January 1, 1861. Watt transferred both the notes; the one which fell due January 1, 1860, to the appellees, and the other to John Cuthbertson.
On the twenty-sixth of February, 1868, the District Court of Caddo Parish, Louisiana, rendered a judgment in favor of appellees for the full amount of their note with interest, sustaining the attachment and directing payment by the curator in due course of administration. But, for some reason not easy for this court to understand, they amended their petition in the District Court of Harrison county, setting up their Louisiana judgment, and praying an enforcement of the lien on the land purchased by Coyle from Watt. In the mean time, Cuthbertson, the assignee of the second note, had brought a suit on his note in the District Court of Harrison county, but he died before obtaining judgment, and William Watt, the appellant, had made himself party plaintiff to the action, and had also intervened in the action of the appellees, White, Smith & Baldwin. Both parties obtained judgment at the same term of the District. Court of Harrison county for the year 1868, and the court directed the sale of the land, and the proceeds of sale to be equally divided between the two judgments, they being the same in amount. The only question for us here to determine is, was this judgment erroneous ?
• Did White, Smith & Baldwin, then, abandon their lien by resorting to an attachment upon other property of the vendee, situated beyond the limits of the State, and invoking the aid of a foreign forum ?
By the record it would appear that they obtained a security ample for the payment of their entire debt and costs. They were secured by the replevin bond, which was given in twice the value of the property attached, and that was more than the amount of their debt at the time.
We are clearly of the opinion that they must be held to have abandoned their vendor’s lien, and they must exhaust the security which they obtained by their proceeding in attachment, or show that it is insufficient for the payment of their judgment, before they can come upon any other assets of the estate of Coyle. Equity will not allow one creditor to accumulate unnecessary securities for himself, to the prejudice of other creditors. The vendor’s lien is itself the creature of equity, and he who seeks its aid must do equity in all things pertaining to it.
The judgment of the appellees will be postponed to ttíe judgment of appellant, on the lands in controversy, and also to subsequent mortgagees, and judgment creditors, if there be such.
The judgment of the district court is reversed and cause remanded.
Reversed and remanded.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- W. Watt, Administrator, etc. v. White, Smith & Baldwin
- Cited By
- 5 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. When notes given for land are transferred, the vendor’s lien, if subsisting, • also passes to the assignee. 2. C. purchased land in this State from W., and for the purchase money executed his two notes for equal amounts, and due in one and two years respectively. W. transferred the first note to the appellees, and the second to the appellant. Appellees brought suit in Louisiana (where they lived) against 0., by attachment of his property, which was replevied by bond and security for twice the value of the property; by which and by judgment in the Louisiana court in their favor, the appellees obtained a security more than sufficient to satisfy their demand. But, pending their attachment suit in Louisiana, both they and the appellants instituted suits m this State for the enforcement of their vendor’s lien upon the land, and the court below rendered judgments in their favor at the same term, and decreed that the land be sold and the proceeds be equally divided between the appellant and the appellees. Held, that there is error in the judgment; that the vendor’s lien is itself the creature of equity, and he who seeks the aid of equity, must himself do equity; that the appellees must first exhaust the security obtained by them in their attachment suit, or else must show that it is unavailable or insufficient, before they can be permitted to resort to the land. And held further, that they should be postponed, not only to the appellant, but also to any sub- ’ sequent mortgagees and judgment creditors, if any Buch there be.