Best v. Felger

137 P. 334, 77 Wash. 115, 1913 Wash. LEXIS 1903
Washington Supreme Court·Decided December 27, 1913·No. No. 11196·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

Parker, J.

The plaintiff, as executor, seeks foreclosure of a chattel mortgage, given to Caroline Merryman during her lifetime, as against the claims of the defendant W. W. Pelger, who is the holder of a chattel mortgage upon the same property subsequently executed by the same grantor. A trial in the superior court resulted in a decree denying a f oreclosure as against the defendant Felger, upon the ground that no affidavit setting forth the amount due upon the Merryman mortgage was filed in the office of the county auditor within two years after the maturity of the debt secured thereby, nor at any time, as required by Rem. & Bal. Code, § 3662 (P. C. 349 § 43). From this disposition of the cause touching the rights of the defendant Felger, the plaintiff has appealed to this court. In so far as the decree and judgment deals with rights of the plaintiff as against other defendants, it is not drawn in question upon this appeal.

The controlling facts are not in dispute. On July 1, 1909, Andrew J. Reed, the owner of the property here involved, executed and delivered to Caroline Merryman a chattel mortgage, to secure an indebtedness evidenced by three promissory notes maturing on and prior to May 1, 1910; the indebtedness and the dates of its maturity being plainly so shown upon the face of the mortgage. On August 15, 1910, after the maturity of the whole of the indebtedness secured by the Merryman mortgage, Andrew J. Reed executed and delivered to respondent Felger another mortgage upon the same property, to secure an indebtedness evidenced by a promissory note for the sum of $1,100, then loaned by respondent Felger to Reed. Both of these mortgages were duly and timely filed for record in the office of the county auditor. On May 27, more than two years after the maturity [117] of all of the indebtedness secured by the mortgage given to Caroline Merryman, she having died in the meantime, appellant, as her executor, commenced this action to foreclose the same as against respondent Felger as well as others claiming interest in the property. There has never been filed in the office of the county auditor any affidavit setting forth the amount due upon that mortgage, as provided in § 3662, Rem. & Bal. Code (P. C. 349 § 43), which reads as follows:

“Every mortgage filed and indexed in pursuance of this act shall be held and considered to be full and sufficient notice to all the world, of the existence and conditions thereof, but shall cease to be notice, as against creditors of the mortgagors and subsequent purchasers and mortgagees in good faith, after the expiration of the time such mortgage becomes due, unless before the expiration of two years after the time such mortgage becomes due, the mortgagee, his agent or attorney, shall make and file as aforesaid an affidavit setting forth the amount due upon the mortgage, which affidavit shall be annexed to the instrument to which it relates and the auditor shall indorse on said affidavit the time it was filed.”

Counsel for appellant contend, in substance, that since Reed’s indebtedness to respondent was incurred, and the mortgage securing the same given, before the expiration of two years following the maturity of the Merryman mortgage, respondent does not belong to the class of persons specified in § 3662 above quoted, who may claim rights superior to the Merryman mortgage, notwithstanding the Merryman mortgage has not been renewed by affidavit as required by that section. Counsel invoke the general rule as stated in the text of 6 Cyc. 1095 as follows:

“It is usually held that a person who purchases mortgaged property within the period when the mortgage is valid without refiling cannot later object that the instrument was not properly filed at the time when renewal should have been made, for the term ‘subsequent purchaser’ in a renewal statute means purchasers subsequent to the time of the refiling of the mortgage.”

[118] A number of decisions of the courts are cited and relied upon by counsel from which this general rule is deduced. They all, however, deal with the rights of parties under statutes in words, or in substance, as follows:

“Every mortgage so filed shall be void as against the creditors of the person making the same, or against subsequent purchasers or mortgagees in good faith, after the expiration of one year after the filing thereof, unless, within thirty days next preceding the expiration of the term of one year from such filing, and each year thereafter, the mortgagee, his agent or attorney, shall make an affidavit etc.”

This language is quoted from the opinion in Howard v. First Nat. Bank of Hutchinson, 44 Kan. 549, 24 Pac. 983, 10 L. R. A. 537. The substance of the holding in that decision is stated in the syllabus as follows:

“The words ‘subsequent purchasers’ and ‘subsequent mortgagees in good faith’ in § 3905, mean only purchasers and mortgagees who purchased or took their mortgages after the expiration of the year from the filing of the mortgage.”

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Best v. Felger, 137 P. 334, 77 Wash. 115, 1913 Wash. LEXIS 1903 (Wash. 1913).

137 P. 334 (Best v. Felger) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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