Baker v. Hall

29 Kan. 617
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedJanuary 15, 1883
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 29 Kan. 617 (Baker v. Hall) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Baker v. Hall, 29 Kan. 617 (kan 1883).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Valentine, J.:

statement of facts. On July 1,1878, John W. Whitman and Elizabeth Whitman his wife executed to Smedley Darlington a note and mortgage upon certain land situated in Neosho county,'Kansas. This note and mortgage were afterward transferred by Darlington to J. M. Baker. On January 4, 1879, Whitman and wife executed a deed for the land to David Cassidy — Cassidy by the terms [619]*619of the deed to take the land subject to the note and mortgage. On November 18,1880, a judgment was rendered on the note and mortgage in favor of Baker and against Whitman and wife for the sum of $1,141.87 and costs; and the mortgaged property was ordered to be sold to satisfy such judgment. On September 24, 1881, the mortgaged property was sold to John Hall for $70. The property was worth at the time at least $1,550. There were some irregularities connected with this sale: for instance, the order of sale recited that the judgment for costs was for $11.10, while in fact it was for only $10.10; and it does not appear that the notice of sale, which was published in a newspaper, was published in the last issue of the paper immediately preceding the day of the sale. Neither Baker nor either of the Whitmans, nor any person representing them, was present at the time of the sale. On November 14, 1881, David Cassidy and wife, executed a quitclaim deed for the land to Hall. Afterward, the plaintiff Baker filed his written motion to set aside said sale on several grounds, the first being unavoidable casualty, accident and misfortune, by which the plaintiff was prevented from being present at said sale; and in consequence thereof (and the irregular proceedings of the officer and purchaser) the land was sold at a grossly inadequate price. In his motion to set aside the sale, the plaintiff offered to bid $1,400 for the land, in the event of a new sale being ordered; and also offered to pay Hall 12 per cent, interest on his $70 paid for the land from the day of the'sale to the day the sale might be set aside. The defendants, the Whitmans, also filed their motion to set aside said sale, assigning substantially the same grounds set out in Baker’s motion; There was no written motion filed by any one to confirm the sale, but Hall moved orally for a confirmation _ thereof. On the hearing of these motions, affidavits and other evidence were introduced by all the parties, including Hall. On February 1, 1882 — that being a portion of the November term, 1881, and a portion of the. term at which said sale was made — the court made an order that if the plaintiff would stipulate to bid the sum of [620]*620$1,550 for the land, the sale should be set aside. The plaintiff excepted to that part of the order requiring him to bid $1,550, but agreed'to bid that sum; and thereupon the court set aside the sale, and ordered that a new order of sale be issued on February 15, 1882. Said order of February 1, 1882, reads as follows:

“And now, to wit, on this first day of February, 1882, came the parties, plaintiff and defendants, and John Hall, the purchaser of the land in controversy, to wit, the south half (£) of the northeast and the east half (-J) of the southeast quarter (¿) of section number fourteen (14), in township number thirty (30), south, of range number seventeen (17), east, containing one hundred and sixty acres, in Neosho county, state of Kansas.
“And this cause is submitted to the court, upon the motion of plaintiff and defendants to set aside the sale herein, and the motion of the said purchaser to confirm said sale, and after the submission of the proofs and affidavits of the various parties, and the offer of plaintiff to bid $1,400, if a new sale be ordered; and after argument of counsel thereon, it is considered and ordered that if the plaintiff will here now stipulate to bid for said mortgaged- premises the sum of $1,550, the said sale will be set aside and a new sale ordered; otherwise the said sale will be confirmed, and the sheriff directed to execute a good and sufficient deed to the said purchaser: to which direction and order of the court that plaintiff bid $1,550 the plaintiff duly excepted, and the plaintiff being present, stipulated and agreed to bid said sum of $1,550.
“ Wherefore, it is ordered and decreed that said sale be and hereby is set aside; and it is further ordered that an order of sale issue for the sale of said premises on February 15, 1882, and that said bid of $1,550 shall be the first bid; to which plaintiff excepted.”

On February 15, 1882, a new order of sale was issued, under which the land was again sold, this time to the plaintiff Baker, for $1,550. On April 5, 1882, this sale was set aside, because of certain irregularities connected therewith, for which irregularities Hall’s counsel claimed, and the court afterward found, that the plaintiff’s counsel was responsible. We shall probably have more to say with respect to this matter hereafter.

[621]*621. Afterward, another order of sale was issued; and on June 17,1882, the land was again sold to the plaintiff, for $1,550. On July 13, 1882, the plaintiff filed his motion to confirm this sale; and on July 17, 1882, Hall filed a motion asking that the sale of June 17 be set aside, and that the order of the court of February 1 be also set aside, and that the sale made to him on September 24, 1881, be confirmed. The grounds pf said motion were as follows:

“1. The said order of the court conditionally setting aside said sale of real estate made to said John Hall, on the 24th of September, 1881, was obtained by fraud.
“ 2. The said plaintiff J. M. Baker, has willfully and knowingly refused and neglected to comply with the order of this court respecting the time within which an order of sale should issue and the land be advertised and sold, made as a condition to the conditional setting aside of said sale, and has willfully refused and neglected to comply with the stipulation filed by him on the first day of February, 1882, in compliance with the order of the court, and has willfully, corruptly, and fraudulently prevented said real estate from being sold on the order of sale, issued as required by the order of this court on the 15th day of February, 1882.”

When this motion came on for hearing, and after it had been read to the court by one of Hall’s counsel, L. Stillwell, an attorney at law — who had previously appeared for both Baker and the Whitmans, to have the sale of September 24, 1881, to Hall, set aside, but who had not previously appeared for any other purpose, made a special appearance for Whitman, to object to the consideration of the motion until Whitman had notice thereof. The court responded, in substance, that the hearing of the motion could proceed and the question of notice to Whitman could be considered in the future; and that if it seemed necessary or proper that Whitman should have further notice, it could then be given. Neither Still-well nor the Whitmans made any further appearance in the case, and the hearing and determination of the motion proceeded. Hall read in evidence a number of affidavits, the object of which seemed to be to show that the publication notice of the March sale had been tampered with by a rov[622]*622ing journeyman printer, at the instance of the counsel for the plaintiff Baker.

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Bluebook (online)
29 Kan. 617, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baker-v-hall-kan-1883.