Duerden v. Solomon
Duerden v. Solomon
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiff brought this action against the defendants James Solomon and his wife, to have an instrument, on its face an absolute deed, declared a mortgage. The ease was tried by the court, who found the facts substantially as follows: On the 22d day of November, 1891, plaintiff, the owner of the land in question, executed and delivered to the defendant James Solomon a certain mortgage, in form an absolute deed, by the terms of which the land was conveyed to the defendant. The deed was given to secure the payment of $1,100, money at that time loaned by the defendant to the plaintiff, and which he had promised to repay
The main contention made is that the findings are not supported by the evidence. We think it is clearly shown by the great weight of the evidence that the transaction between the parties was one of security and not of sale. This case and the case just decided (Duerden v. Solomon et al., 94 Pac. 978) were tried together in the court below. They are presented here on substantially the same record. Much of the evidence introduced in the one case was treated and considered as evidence in the other. The case involves a different parcel of land. Prior to 1897 the plaintiff, who was the owner of the land, mortgaged it to one Limberg to secure an indebtedness in the sum of $1,300. After the indebtedness became due, and in 1897, Limberg turned the mortgage over to his attorney for collection and foreclosure. Payment was demanded of the plaintiff and a mortgage foreclosure threatened. The plaintiff testified that he applied to the defendant for a loan, and that defendant agreed to' lend him $1,100 on the property. Thereupon, and in November, 1897, they went to the office of Limberg’s attorney. There the defendant paid $1,100 of the $1,300 due on the mortgage, and the plaintiff $200. The mortgage was released and cancelled. The plaintiff executed to the defendant a
In this case, as in the other case, it is shown, and not disputed, that the plaintiff remained in possession of the land and paid all the taxes, From time to time he paid the interest as it matured. The defendant in writing acknowledged the. receipt of the money as payments of interest, as is more fully made to appear in a review of the facts in the ease just decided where reference- is made to the receipts and book entries which were also put in evidence in this case.
The defendant in his testimony admitted that the plaintiff asked him for a loan, that he went with him to Limberg’s attorney, that he there paid $1,100 and the plaintiff $200 of the Limberg mortgage. He denied that a note was given, or that there was anything said about a note. He further testified: That the plaintiff told him “the fix he was in about some parcel of land and so on,” and that he wanted a loan from him. He told plaintiff he would not lend any money on the property (which the evidence shows was worth greatly in excess of the mortgage indebtedness, and that the value of the land increased more than twenty-five per cent.), but he would buy it from him. That in pursuance of such an arrangement he went with the plaintiff to the attorney’s office, and there bought the land for the sum of $1,100, with a verbal agreement that the plaintiff might redeem it within twelve months upon his repaying such sum, together with interest at the rate of ten per cent.
The judgment is therefore affirmed, with costs.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- DUERDEN v. SOLOMON
- Status
- Published