Batterman v. Albright

6 N.Y. St. Rep. 334
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 15, 1887
StatusPublished

This text of 6 N.Y. St. Rep. 334 (Batterman v. Albright) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Batterman v. Albright, 6 N.Y. St. Rep. 334 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1887).

Opinion

Mayham, J.

The appellant insists that the foreclosure of the mortgage was void for the reason that the plaintiff was not the sole owner of the mortgage at the time of the foreclosure.

We think Mis position cannot be maintained in this action. The court had jurisdiction of the subject matter of the action and acquired jurisdiction of the parties, the mortgagor and wife, by the service of process. If Mary M. Markle was a proper party, the objection should have been taken by demurrer or answer. Code Civil of Procedure, §§ 498, 499.

The power to foreclose and sell may be exercised by one [337]*337owning only a part of the mortgage debt, and if he claim too much it does not render the sale void. Clock v. Cronkhite, 1 Hill, 107. If the plaintiff claimed more than was due him, the mortgagors being in court by virtue of the service of the summons upon them, could have reduced the amount by a defense; or if the foreclosure had been by statute, the mortgagor could by action have restrained the foreclosure for more than the amount actually due the party seeking to foreclose. Mowry v. Sanborn, 62 Barb., 223; Bunce v. Reed, 16 id., 347. The judgment of foreclosure not being void, it cannot be attacked in a collateral action.

Now was,the plaintiff in this action a necessary or proper party to the foreclosure. It does not appear that he had any interest appearing of record, either as grantor, mortgagor or judgment creditor, and the referee refuses to find that he was in the actual possession of the nursery trees. He could acquire no interest in land under the constable’s sale on a justice’s execution that would make him a necessary or proper party to an action of foreclosure. And by the express provision of the Code, if he had any interest in the mortgaged premises which was not of record at the time of filing of Us pendens, it would be barred. Code of Civ. Pro., § 1671.

We do not, therefore, see how the plaintiff in this action can question the validity of the foreclosure sale.

The more important question is, did these nursery trees pass to the purchaser under the foreclosure sale ?

It was early held in this state that a mortgagor or other person acquiring any interest through or under him subsequent to the execution of the mortgage, was not entitled as against the mortgagee or person acquiring title under the foreclosure sale to crops growing on the mortgaged premises at the time of the foreclosure and sale. Lane v. King, 8 Wend., 684. It is insisted on the part of the appellant that the rule laid down in this case has been modified by subsequent decisions in this state, and the court has been cited to several authorities in which it is claimed these modifications have occurred. But in all the cases referred to, the distinguishing tests which determine whether the particular article in controversy was real or personal property, as they were applied at common law, have been recognized and adhered to with greater or less vigor, viz:

First. The manner of annexation to the land.

Second,. The adaptability to the use of the freehold.

Third. The intention of the parties at the time of making the annexation.

In Voorhees v. McGinnis (48 N. Y., 278), the question [338]*338arose between the mortgagee of the land and the mortgagee^ of boilers and engine used in a mill, the boilers in question, being claimed under a chattel mortgage given while they were in the process of construction, to be placed in the mill in the place of old ones which had been permanently affixed to the freehold without any special intent, either of making them a part of the freehold or removing them at. some future time, but which had been taken out and the new ones placed in their stead. It was held that the boilers, and engine became a part of the realty and passed with it to the purchaser under the foreclosure of the real estate mortgage. This case seemed to turn upon the character of the annexation and the want of evidence tending to show that the boiler and shafting was intended to be movable or personal property when placed in there, and that, too, although they had been mortgaged as chattels both before- and after they were placed in the mill.

Murdock v. Gifford (18 N. Y., 28), was an action for t-he-foreclosure of a mortgage on real estate, consisting of a woolen factory, in which were looms run by belts connected with the shafting of the mill, that the looms were easily removed without injury to the mill or the looms.

These looms had been sold on execution against the mortgagor, and purchased by the defendants, and by stipulation the payment of the price was made contingent upon the determination of the question, whether the looms were-real or personal property. In this case the court held that the looms were personal property, because they were in themselves movable and not a part of the freehold, and the court say, “Thequestion then is, were these looms realty as between the mortgagor and mortgagee ?”

- ‘ ‘ The effort of the court is always to ascertain the intent, of the parties and give it effect.”

1 ‘ But where no specific intention is collectible, or where-the conveyance is of lands by metes and bounds, and on the land stands a building in which is the thing in controversy, then it will pass or not according as the thing is or is not in law a part of the realty.”

In Sherman v. Willett (42 N. Y., 146), the mortgagor of a farm, who was in default, sowed on the farm a piece of rye. He died before the rye was harvested, and the mortgagee became his administrator, and as such sold the rye to plaintiff. Subsequently, and before the rye was harvested, the mortgagee foreclosed the mortgage and sold the farm, but reserved the rye. Held, that but for the reservation the rye would have passed to the purchaser under the foreclosure, but by the reservation made by the mortgagee in the presence of the purchaser, who took by privity of [339]*339estate through the mortgagee, he was estopped from claiming the rye.

From the case last cited it is quite clear that the intention of the mortgagor at the time of annexing the article in dispute to the freehold does not always control the character of the property. It could not be contended that the mortgagor in sowing the rye did not intend to harvest and remove it from the premises. Yet the crop placed there was subject to the contingency of the foreclosure of the mortgage before it was removed.

The rule applicable to landlord and tenant does not apply to this cafe. That relation in no way existed between the parties. The relations existing between Maride and Al-bright were those of mortgagor and mortgagee, and the law relating to trade fixtures as the same exist between landlord and tenant does not apply, but the relation of the parties are like those of vendor and purchaser. Davidson v. Gas Light Co., 99 N. Y., 568.

The plaintiff in this action, if he acquired any title under the constable’s sale to the nursery or nursery stock, got no better or superior title or right than that which Markle, the mortgagor, possessed, and if the rights of the mortgagor were cut off by the foreclosure his rights would necessarily fall within them.

While it is true that the rule laid down in the case of Lane v. King

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Related

Davidson v. . Westchester Gas-Light Co.
2 N.E. 892 (New York Court of Appeals, 1885)
Voorhees v. . McGinnis
48 N.Y. 278 (New York Court of Appeals, 1872)
Murdock v. . Gifford
18 N.Y. 28 (New York Court of Appeals, 1858)
Sherman v. . Willett
42 N.Y. 146 (New York Court of Appeals, 1870)
Rector of Christ Protestant Episcopal Church v. MacK
93 N.Y. 488 (New York Court of Appeals, 1883)
Austin v. . Rawdon
42 N.Y. 155 (New York Court of Appeals, 1870)
White v. Evans
47 Barb. 179 (New York Supreme Court, 1866)
Mowry v. Sanborn
62 Barb. 223 (New York Supreme Court, 1872)
Murphy v. Welch
128 Mass. 489 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1880)
Gamble v. Horr
40 Mich. 561 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1879)

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Bluebook (online)
6 N.Y. St. Rep. 334, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/batterman-v-albright-nysupct-1887.