Beyer v. Dobeas
Beyer v. Dobeas
Opinion of the Court
Dealing first with the appeal of Dobeas, the trial court rested its decision upon the principle, supported by a great array of authority, that when an attaching creditor, by amendment or otherwise, includes in his judgment causes of action other than those secured by his attachment, he will ordinarily be deemed to have waived his attachment, as of -course he has a right to do, and to have elected to accept merely the lien and rights resulting from the judgment, which in Wisconsin, as in most states, consists of a lien on all the interest of the judgment debtor in real estate existing at the date of docketing the judgment. Clough v. Monroe, 34 N. H. 381; Page v. Jewett, 46 N. H. 441; Boyd v. Beville, 91 Tex. 439, 44 S. W. 287; Heidel v. Benedict, 61 Minn. 170, 63 N. W. 490; Willis v. Crooker, 1 Pick. 204; Adams Bank v. Anthony, 18 Pick. 238; Freeman v. Creech, 112 Mass. 180; Clark v. Foxcroft, 7 Me. 348 ; Whitney v. Brunette, 15 Wis. 61; Barth v. Graf, 101 Wis. 27, 76 N. W. 1100; Oconto Co. v. Esson, 112 Wis. 89, 87 N. W. 855. This doctrine unques
For these reasons, and in deference to the authorities above cited, the rule of which seems to be fully adopted by this court in the Oconto Co. Case, we must conclude that the instant situation presents no exception to the general rule, but must hold that when Tibbs, Hutchings & Co. asserted their right to enter judgment for $1,800, to issue execution, and sell an interest in this property to satisfy said amount, they must be deemed to have intended to assert that right as of the date of the judgment, since a claim as of the earlier date of the ati tachment would have been a legal fraud — the assertion of a right unsupported by law and injurious to the plaintiff. That a subsequent incumbrancer is entitled 1» protection by such construction as well as a subsequent attaching plaintiff is declared in Oconto Co. v. Esson, supra, (p. 103).
Turning now to the appeal of the plaintiffs, the salient facts are that their mortgage was subject to the right of the Friend Company to be paid its judgment out of this real estate. The trial court has, at most, decided that no ground has been shown by the plaintiffs to change this situation and to advance their lien over that which, confessedly both in law and equity, was prior to it. It is entirely clear that through some confusion of mind the formal title conveyed by the sheriff’s deed fails to convey the whole interest on which the Friend Company had a judgment lien by aid of its attachment. There can be no doubt that all partiés supposed the procedure was such as to accomplish that. The fact that the mortgage debt far exceeded the value of all the property renders certain the absence of any intention to sell or to buy merely some surplus above that debt. We need not decide
By the Court. — Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Beyer and another v. Dobeas, imp., Appellant Same v. Morrow, imp.
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Attachment: Waiver: Inclusion of other claims in judgment: Execution: Mortgages: Priority of liens: Equity: Subrogation. 1. When an attaching creditor takes judgment upon an amended complaint including claims other than those secured by his attachment, he will be deemed to have waived his attachment and to have elected to accept merely the lien and rights resulting from the judgment, even where by reference to the pleadings it can. he known definitely what amount of indebtedness secured by the attachment is included in the judgment. 2. Upon a judgment recovered by one who had attached land of the defendant, execution was issued in the form prescribed by subd. 1, sec. 2969, Stats. (1898), directing satisfaction out of any real property belonging to defendant at the date of the docketing-of the judgment, and the sheriff sold and conveyed the interest' which defendant had in the attached land at said date. The purchaser paid the full amount of the judgment, and all parties supposed that the procedure was such as to convey the whole interest of defendant at the date of the attachment. Upon foreclosure of a mortgage, the lien of which was subsequent to-' the attachment and prior to the judgment, it is held that the court properly imposed as a condition of the enforcement of the mortgage the recognition and satisfaction of a prior lien in favor of the execution purchaser for the amount paid by him.