Alpha Corporation v. McCredie

70 P.2d 46, 157 Or. 88, 1937 Ore. LEXIS 111
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 9, 1937
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 70 P.2d 46 (Alpha Corporation v. McCredie) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alpha Corporation v. McCredie, 70 P.2d 46, 157 Or. 88, 1937 Ore. LEXIS 111 (Or. 1937).

Opinion

RAND, J.

On February 10,1936, the sheriff of Multnomah county, pursuant to a decree and order of sale, sold certain mortgaged premises in the city of Portland belonging to Hugh McCredie, Jr., and Yelma McCredie, his wife, who were the mortgagors thereof, to the Alpha Corporation, the holder of the mortgage, for the sum of $38,640.19, which satisfied the decree in full. On the same day a certificate of sale was issued and the *90 purchaser entered into the possession of the premises. On February 21, 1936, no objections having been made or filed, an order was entered confirming the sale. No appeal has been taken either from the decree of foreclosure or from the order of confirmation.

On November 13, 1936, and within the time allowed by law for the redemption of real property sold under execution, the mortgagors, pursuant to section 3-505, Oregon Code 1930, gave notice in writing to the Alpha Corporation and to one Jesse E. Jones, who they claim is a successor in interest of the Alpha Corporation, of their intention to redeem the property and combined .in said notice a demand that they and each of them account.for thé rents, issues and profits accruing to them while in possession of the property.

Pursuant to such demand, the purchaser filed with the sheriff a verified statement of the amounts claimed to have been received and of the amounts claimed to have been expended in payment of taxes and in the improvement and repair of the property and also the amount which it claimed it would be entitled to receive upon the redemption of the property. Jones rendered no statement of account.

Being dissatisfied with the account so rendered, the mortgagors filed with the sheriff their objections thereto and thereupon, pursuant to said section, the sheriff transmitted to the circuit court for Multnomah County all papers in his possession touching the foreclosure sale and redemption of the property. A hearing thereon was had and an order was made and entered, ■requiring the McCredies, on redeeming the property, to pay to the sheriff the full purchase price with interest from the date of' sale less a credit of $200 per month, ‘ as the rental value of the premises, until the redemption should be effected, and also requiring the mortgagors *91 to pay the amounts paid by purchaser for taxes and as street assessments with interest upon all said sums from their date of payment, and disallowed all other items claimed in said accounting.

The trial court also held that Jesse E. Jones was not a successor in interest of the purchaser and was not required to account to the mortgagors. From this order and judgment, the mortgagors have appealed. Their principal contention is that the trial court erred in holding that Jesse E. Jones was not a successor in interest of the purchaser within the meaning of section 3-505 and, therefore, was not required to account for any rents, issues or profits received by him while in possession of the property as a tenant of the purchaser and while engaged in the operation of a moving picture theater located upon the premises sought to be redeemed.

Section 3-505, Oregon Code 1930, upon which the mortgagors rely, gives to the mortgagor the right to redeem his property from an execution sale in a foreclosure suit upon paying to the sheriff the various sums specified in the statute and also gives to the mortgagor the right to deduct from the amount which he would otherwise be compelled to pay an amount equal to the rents, issues and profits received by the purchaser while in possession of the property, and defines the making of such deduction as a setoff against the amount to be paid by the mortgagor upon the redemption of the property. That section also requires the purchaser to render an accounting of the amount of such rents and profits and provides that, when such accounting is filed and a dispute arises over the amount which should be deducted, all papers shall be transmitted by the sheriff to the circuit court and that the dispute be there heard and determined in a summary manner. In order *92 to obtain such, an accounting, the statute provides that the mortgagor shall give to the purchaser or his successors in interest at least 10 days’ written notice to render an account and makes it the duty of the purchaser or his successors in interest, within 10 days thereafter, to file with the sheriff a verified statement of the account. At the end of the section, there is a clause attempting to define the words ‘ ‘ purchaser ’ ’ and ‘ ‘ successors in interest” which reads as follows:

“ * * * the words ‘ purchaser ’ and/or ‘ purchaser or his successors in interest’ shall mean the original purchaser or his assignees, or his successors in interest or those holding after him or under him.”

A reading of that section discloses that the words “successors in interest” are used in the statute three times before the definition of those terms is given. The first time the words are so used, the statute provides that the mortgagor “shall be entitled to a setoff * * * upon his giving to the purchaser or his successors in interest at least ten days’ written notice, etc. ’ ’ The second time those words are used is where the statute provides that: “Within ten days after such notice is given, the purchaser or his successors in interest shall file with the sheriff, etc.” When this statute is read as a whole and particularly when read in connection with other sections of the statute governing the mode and right of redemption, it will be seen that, in order to give effect to the statute as a whole, it is only the original purchaser or one to whom the original purchaser has assigned his certificate of sale, or, in some way, transferred or conveyed his right to receive the redemption money, or a part thereof, who is required to account for the rents, issues and profits received while in possession of the property pending the redemption. Otherwise, there can be no setoff since, *93 as the statute clearly indicates, the setoff must be made as against the amount which the mortgagor is compelled to pay upon consummating the redemption. To give to these words any other meaning it seems obvious would disregard and violate the intention of the statute.

The testimony taken at the hearing in the circuit court was not reduced to writing and we have no means of knowing upon what the trial court acted in determining that Jesse E. Jones was not a successor in interest of the purchaser and, for that reason, was not compelled to render an account. In the absence of the testimony, the presumption is that the ruling was correct. The record before us, however, shows a copy of the notice requiring the accounting that was served upon the purchaser and Jones and, in that notice, was contained what it is admitted was a true copy of a contract which was entered into between Jones and the Alpha Corporation. The contract is wholly executory and in legal effect it leased the premises in question for a rental of $50 per month during the period of redemption and provided that, if no redemption was made, Jones should purchase the property for a sum specified payable in installments at the rate of $300 per month extending over a long period of time.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
70 P.2d 46, 157 Or. 88, 1937 Ore. LEXIS 111, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alpha-corporation-v-mccredie-or-1937.