American National Insurance v. Smith

197 F. Supp. 479, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5147
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Iowa
DecidedSeptember 15, 1961
DocketCiv. No. 890
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 197 F. Supp. 479 (American National Insurance v. Smith) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American National Insurance v. Smith, 197 F. Supp. 479, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5147 (N.D. Iowa 1961).

Opinion

GRAVEN, District Judge

(by assignment).

Samuel T. Beatty was a receiver in a real estate foreclosure action brought in this Court. He heretofore filed herein his final report as such receiver. In it he asked for allowance of fees and expenses. He also asked that the Court determine the disposition to be made of the balance remaining in his hands after the payment of fees and expenses. Notice of the hearing on the final report was given to all interested parties. The defendants, The Waterloo Savings Bank and the United States of America, made conflicting claims to the balance remaining in his hands as such receiver. No other parties made any claim to that balance.

At some time prior to May 1, 1956, Sidney T. Smith and Ardys Blanchard each became the owner of an undivided one-half interest in a tract of real estate located in the City of Waterloo, Black Hawk County, Iowa. Situated upon that tract was a building which contained twenty upstairs apartments and three ground floor commercial locations.

On May 1, 1956, Sidney T. Smith and Ardys Blanchard executed a promissory note in the principal sum of $85,000 due June 1, 1971. To secure the payment of that note, they executed a real estate mortgage on the tract. That note and mortgage were subsequently transferred to the plaintiff, American National Insurance Company. That mortgage was a first mortgage on the tract. On May 9, 1956, Sidney T. Smith and Ardys Blanchard executed two promissory notes to the defendant, The Waterloo Savings Bank, in the principal sum of $35,000 payable in monthly installments. To secure the payment of those notes, they executed a real estate mortgage on the tract. That mortgage was a second mortgage on the tract being subject to the first mortgage above referred to. Subsequently, the undivided one-half interest of Sidney T. Smith in the tract became part of the assets of a partnership known as Sid Smith and Company in which Sidney T. Smith was a general partner. The principal place of business of the partnership was in the City of Waterloo, Black Hawk County, Iowa. On June 10, 1958, the partnership executed two promissory notes to the Peoples Bank and Trust Company of Water[481]*481loo, Iowa, in the principal sum of $100,-000 payable in monthly installments. To secure the payment of those notes the partnership executed a real estate mortgage upon the partnership’s undivided one-half interest in the tract. That mortgage was a third mortgage upon that undivided one-half interest. It was also a lien on another tract not here involved. The Small Business Administration, an agency of the United States (15 U.S.C.A. §§ 631-651), was connected with this latter loan. The time when it first became connected with that loan does not appear. On June 5, 1959, the Peoples Bank and Trust Company assigned the notes and mortgage executed to it to the Small Business Administration. At that time the principal amount due on the notes was the sum of $68,-990.48. The Small Business Administration is the alter ego of the United States of America. Small Business Administration v. McClellan, 1960, 364 U.S. 446, 81 S.Ct. 191, 5 L.Ed.2d 200.

All of the mortgages and the assignments thereof were filed for record in the office of the County Recorder of Black Hawk County, Iowa.

Starting early in 1958 Sid Smith and Company, the partnership, became delinquent in the matter of payment of taxes due the Government. The Government made a number of assessments for the delinquent taxes and tax liens therefor were filed in the office of the County Recorder of Black Hawk County, Iowa. Those taxes did not become due and the tax liens therefor were not filed until a considerable time after the first mortgage of the plaintiff and the second mortgage of The Waterloo Savings Bank had been executed and filed for record. The Government makes no claim herein based on its tax liens.

On July 23, 1959, the plaintiff commenced an action in the District Court of Iowa in and for Black Hawk County to foreclose its first mortgage on the tract. The principal amount then due on the note secured by the mortgage was the sum of $76,864.50. The plaintiff made parties to the action all those who appeared to have an interest in the tract. The Waterloo Savings Bank and the United States of America were made parties defendant to that action. The United States of America removed the action to this Court. The plaintiff’s mortgage contained a receivership clause but the plaintiff did not ask for the appointment of a receiver. The defendant, The Waterloo Savings Bank, filed an answer and a counterclaim and crossclaim. In its counterclaim and crossclaim it asked for the foreclosure of its second mortgage against the tract. The principal amount then due on the notes secured by its mortgage was the sum of $30,422.50. The mortgage contained a receivership clause but that defendant did not ask for the appointment of a receiver.

The defendant, United States of America, also filed an answer and a counterclaim and crossclaim. In its counterclaim and crossclaim it asked for the foreclosure of the third mortgage which had been assigned to the Small Business Administration. The principal amount then due on the notes secured by that mortgage was the sum of $68,990.48. That mortgage contained a receivership clause. In its counterclaim and cross-claim the defendant, United States of America, after referring to that clause, alleged:

“That this defendant’s security is inadequate and insufficient to satisfy the debt due to this defendant and this defendant is entitled to a Receiver to collect the rentals during the pendency of this action and during the year of redemption and to have the same first applied to any unsatisfied portion of this defendant’s judgment.”

Around the time the plaintiff instituted the present foreclosure action, bankruptcy proceedings were instituted against the partnership of Sid Smith and Company and Sidney T. Smith, a general partner of the partnership. They were subsequently adjudged bankrupt. Prior to the adjudication of bankruptcy, Samuel T. Beatty was appointed receiver by the Bankruptcy Court and [482]*482later he was appointed Trustee in Bankruptcy for three bankrupts. The loans secured by mortgages on the tract were in excess of the value of the tract and there was no equity in the tract for the estate of the bankrupts. The Bankruptcy Court made no effort to sell the tract either free of liens or subject to the liens. On motion of the defendant, United States of America, Samuel T. Beatty, as receiver and Trustee in Bankruptcy, was made a party to the present action.

On February 9, 1960, this Court made and entered herein judgments and decrees of foreclosure in favor of all three mortgagees on the notes and mortgages declared on by them. In those judgments and decrees, it was directed that the mortgaged tract be sold at special execution sale subject to the lien thereon of Black Hawk County for real estate taxes. At the time of entering the judgments and decrees of foreclosure, Samuel T. Beatty, as Trustee in Bankruptcy, was in possession of the tract and had been collecting the rents therefrom. As a matter of administrative convenience, this Court, in lieu of appointing a receiver as requested by the defendant, United States of America, designated Samuel T. Beatty to manage and collect the rents from the tract and at the end of the expiration of redemption he made a final report to the Court and disposed of the net rentals as ordered by this Court. The legal status of Samuel T.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
197 F. Supp. 479, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5147, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-national-insurance-v-smith-iand-1961.