American Building & Loan Ass'n v. Carter

99 F. 7, 39 C.C.A. 393, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4116
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 9, 1900
DocketNo. 766
StatusPublished

This text of 99 F. 7 (American Building & Loan Ass'n v. Carter) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American Building & Loan Ass'n v. Carter, 99 F. 7, 39 C.C.A. 393, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4116 (5th Cir. 1900).

Opinion

’ PARDEE, Circuit Judge.

The transactions out of which the suit arose were as follows: On the 22d day of June, 1889, James B. Simpson made a conveyance of the property involved in this litigation, and located in Dallas, Tex., to J. J. Carter, in consideration of the sum of $8,000, — one-half cash, and a nóte for $1,500, payable 12 months after date, with interest at the rate of 10 per cent, per annum, a lien being retained in the deed of conveyance to secure the payment of this note. A deed of trust was also executed at the time to secure the payment of this note, but this deed of trust was not recorded until January 6,1892. The American Building & Loan Association, on the 2d day of October, 1889, made a loan of $5,000 to J. J. Carter and wife, Josephine M. Carter, for which they executed their bond in writing and a deed of trust to secure the payment of the same upon the property so purchased by the said J. J. Carter from James B. Simpson. At the time of this transaction the loan association had no actual notice of the existence of the deed of trust executed by J. J. Carter to secure the payment of the $1,500, and it was expressly understood between J. J. Carter and Josephine M. Carter and the association that the $1,500 vendor’s lien note should be paid off and canceled out of the proceeds of said $5,000 loan. The by-laws of the company and the laws of the state of Minnesota forbade its lending money except upon ■first lien's and mortgages: On December 9,1891, default having been made in the payment of the bond, the American Building & Loan Association instituted a suit in equity (No. 200, equity docket of the ■circuit court) to foreclose its deed of trust upon the property, and made J. W. Young a party defendant to the bill, it being supposed that James B. Simpson had transferred the note for $1,500 executed by J. J. Carter to the said J. W. Young, and that the latter then held the same. At the time of the institution of this suit the complainant therein did not know that Mrs. N. J. Carter had any interest in said $1,500 note. It appears that, after the maturity of the $1,500 lien note, J. W. Young, at the instance of J. J. 'Carter, bought from James B. Simpson, the then holder, the said note, and the same was indorsed “Without recourse” by said James B. Simpson. J. W. Young ■acquired the note in apparent good faith, and held the same until the 5th of November, 1891. During the time Young held the note, various payments were made thereon by J. J. Carter and his agents, and to such an extent that on the 5th of November, 1891, the amount due thereon had been reduced to the sum of $900. J. J. Carter testifies that these several payments made upon the note were with moneys furnished by his mother, Mrs. Nancy J. Carter, but, taking [9]*9Iiis evidence in this regard, in connection with his whole evidence and conduct in the ease, we are not inclined to the opinion that Carter’s evidence, although uncontradicted by'any other witness, imports absolute verity. On the 5th of November, the note was taken up by J. J. Carter, who paid the balance thereon — $300—in a check drawn by his mother on the National Exchange Bank of Dallas, Tex., where the mother had opened an account on the 19th of October, 1891. The following indorsement appears upon the note (there is no evidence showing or tending to show when it was made), to wit: “Pay to order of Mrs. N. J. Carter. J. W. Young. Mrs. J. W. Young, per J. P. A. Heintz.”

It further appeal’s from the evidence that on the 6th day of January — long prior to filing the answer of J. J. Carter and Josephine M. Carter in the original suit — the trustee in the deed given by J. J. Carter to secure the $1,500 lien note, which deed was not recorded until January 6, 1892, sold, after notice and advertisement, the property in controversy to Mrs, Nancy J. Carter for the apparent consideration of $1,000. The deed executed in pursuance of this sale was not filed for record until May 3, 1893. The evidence further shows that prior to the 6th of January, 1892, and thereafter until her death, in 1894, the said Mrs. Nancy J. Carter resided with her son, J. J. Carter, and that thereafter until the present time all the rents and revenues collected on the said property have been received by Mrs. Nancy J. Carter and her devisee, Mrs. Josephine M. Carter, the wife of J. j. Carter. It appears also from the record, on the 28th day of February, 1885, Mrs. Nancy J. Carter made a last will, devising all her property among her two sons, two daughters, and a granddaughter, share and share alike, with the exception of a special legacy in favor of his granddaughter; that.on the 22d day of June, 1892, — very shortly after J. J. Carter and his wife, Josephine M. Carter, filed their answer in the original suit of foreclosure, — Mrs. Nancy J. Carter added a codicil to her will, giving and specially devising to Mrs. Josephine M. Carter, the wife of her son, J. J. Carter, the premises apparently acquired by her under trustee’s deed aforesaid. The defendants J. J. Carter and Josephine M. Carter filed an answer .to said bill on June 9, 1892, and on the same day J. W. Young filed his disclaimer of all interest in or right to the properiies. The case was referred to a master, tried, and a final decree rendered July 16, 1895. This decree gave judgment for the complainant therein and against J. J. Cartel’ for the amount of its said loan, with interest, together with a foreclosure'upon the lands involved in this controversy, against the defendants J. J. Carter and Josephine M. Carter, and ordered a sale of the property. Although various attempts were made, no final sale of the property was made under the decree of July 16. 1895, and on October 8, 1896, the American Building & Loan Association, complainant, filed the present bill, charging the facts, among others, of the sale by James B. Simpson to J. J. Carter on October 19, 1889; the execution of the vendor’s lien note for $1,500 by the said J. J. Carter to the said James B. Simpson; the execution of the deed of trust at the same time; that it was not recorded until January 6, 1892; the loan of $5,000 made by the complainant herein on October [10]*102, 1889, to the said J. J. Carter and Josephine M. Carter, and the execution by them of their bond and deed of trust to secure the payment of the same; that at the time the complainant filed its original bill it had instituted inquiries of James JB. Simpson for the purpose of discovering the then holder of the note, and found that it had been transferred to and was then held by J. W. Young, who was made a party defendant to that suit; that the $1,500 vendor’s lien note was to be taken up with this loan, but that defendant J. J. Carter, for the purpose of cheating and defrauding the complainant, and depriving it of its lien, had fraudulently procured a transfer of the note from James B. Simpson to the said J. W. Young; that it had no knowledge of the existence of the deed of trust until after the sale had been made under the same by the trustee, M. L. Bobertson, and then only constructive knowledge under the statutes; and that at the time of the institution of said cause complainant had no notice whatever of any transfer to Mrs. N. J. Carter, nor of any claim by her to the note. It further charges that the note was really paid by J. J. Carter, and was transferred to Mrs. N. J. Carter merely for convenience; that the sale made by M. L. Robertson, trustee, was collusive, and made for the benefit of the said J. J. Carter, and for the purpose of defrauding his creditors, and especially the complainant herein; that the said Mrs. N. J.

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99 F. 7, 39 C.C.A. 393, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4116, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-building-loan-assn-v-carter-ca5-1900.