Brandt v. Scribner

108 P. 491, 13 Ariz. 169, 1910 Ariz. LEXIS 81
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedApril 2, 1910
DocketCivil No. 1126
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 108 P. 491 (Brandt v. Scribner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brandt v. Scribner, 108 P. 491, 13 Ariz. 169, 1910 Ariz. LEXIS 81 (Ark. 1910).

Opinion

DOE, J.

The only question presented by this appeal is whether appellant was bound by the decree in the partition suit. Counsel for appellant advance the theory that the court, by sustaining the generál demurrer to the complaint in the partition suit, held that no cause of action was stated by the complaint, and that in consequence no constructive notice was imparted to him until after the amendment, at the date of which his rights under the mortgage had become fixed and determined. In most of the numerous cases holding that, where a cause of action is for the first time stated by the amendment, the doctrine of lis pendens only becomes applicable from the date of the amendment, it will be found that either new parties were brought in or new and independent causes of action were set up by the amendment, and the theory is adopted that the doctrine of lis pendens is based upon the [172]*172principle that constructive notice is imparted by the pleadings, and that, in view of the hardship sometimes worked by it upon purchasers pendente lite without actual notice, therefore the rule should not be enforced until a valid cause of action is disclosed by the pleadings. “The doctrine of lis pendens, as generally understood and applied by the courts of this country, is not based upon presumption of notice, but upon a public policy, imperatively demanded by a necessity which can be met and overcome in no other manner.” It is careless “use of language which has led judges to speak of it as notice because it happens to have in some instances similar effect with notice. ’ ’ Freeman on Judgments, see. 191, and authorities cited. Judge Story defines the rule as follows: “A purchase made of property actually in litigation, pendente Ute, for a valuable consideration, and without any express or implied notice in point of fact, affects the purchaser in the same manner as if he had such notice, and he will accordingly be bound by the judgment or decree in the suit.” Story’s Equity Jurisprudence, see. 405. The rule, says Chancellor Kent, “would not have existed, and have been supported for centuries, if it had not been found in great public utility.” The necessity for its existence is apparent, for without it, after courts have acquired jurisdiction over and are proceeding to determine conflicting interests in the property, litigants may readily render the final decree entirely ineffectual for any purpose by aliening or encumbering their interests.

The supreme court of the United States in Tilton v. Cofield, 93 U. S. 163, 23 L. Ed. 858, held directly contrary to the view herein taken by counsel for appellant. In that case the appellants attached real property and recovered judgment which was reversed by the supreme court of the territory of Colorado. Thereafter, by leave of court, the appellants amended their declaration and affidavit in attachment, and again recovered judgment in pursuance of which the property was sold to appellees. During the pendency of the action and prior to the amendments, the appellees purchased the property and brought an action to set aside the sale, and from a decree in their favor the appellants appealed to the United States supreme court. The court says: “There is another objection to the case of the appellees which must not be over[173]*173looked. They are not subsequent attaching creditors, nor creditors at all. They are purchasers pendente lite. The law is that he who intermeddles with property in litigation does it at his peril, and is as conclusively bound by the results of the litigation, whatever they may be, as if he had been a party to it from the outset. Inloe’s Lessee v. Harvey, 11 Md. 524; Salisbury v. Morss, 7 Lans. (N. Y.) 362; Harrington v. Slade, 22 Barb. (N. Y). 162; 1 Story’s Equity, sec. 406. The appellees voluntarily took the position they occupy. They chose to buy a large amount of property, including that in controversy, from the fugitive debtor. This was done after the latter had been seized under the writ of attachment, and while the suit in which it was issued was still pending. They took the title subject to the contingencies of the amendments that were made, and of everything else, not coram non judice, the court might see fit to do in the case. The attachment might be discharged, or the judgment might be larger than was then anticipated. They took the chances, and must abide the result. Having obtruded themselves upon the property attached, they insist that their purchase narrowed the rights of the plaintiffs and circumscribed the jurisdiction of the court. Such is not the law. After their purchase, the court, the parties, and the res stood in all respects as they stood before; and the judgment, sale, and conveyance have exactly the same effect as if the appellees and the facts upon which they rely had no existence.”

In Cotton v. Lacey (C. C.), 61 Fed. 481, the court says: “The equities of the plaintiff are such as to appeal strongly to the conscience of a chancellor, and I am clearly of the opinion that he is entitled to the relief prayed for as against Evans and those claiming to be innocent purchasers of the lands in controversy. But much stress is laid on the fact that after the sale of the lands under Evans’ judgment, a demurrer was sustained to the bill filed by the plaintiff herein, with leave to amend, and .that for that reason the claim of Evans is paramount and superior. If the bill in this case was sufficiently amended, after demurrer and leave to amend was given, to afford the plaintiff the relief he asks for, the amendment relates back to the institution of the suit, and neither Evans nor those holding under him can take anything by this objection or this contention. ” In Norris v. Ile, 152 Ill. [174]*174190, 43 Am. St. Rep. 233, 38 N. E. 762, the supreme court of Illinois says: “It is still further insisted by the appellant that by reason of the amended bill filed on January 17, 1870, a new lis pendens was created from that time, which would not affect the interests acquired by the grantee in the previous deed of 1868. There are cases where the lis pendens will begin with the filing of the amendment, and will not relate back to the commencement of the action so as to affect intervening rights. This, however, is only true where the amendment sets up a new equity, or where the party making the amendment brings forward a new claim, or a different and distinct ground of relief, not before asserted. Bennett on Lis Pendens, pp. 97, 160; Tilton v. Cofield, supra; Bank v. Sherman, 101 U. S. 403, 25 L. Ed. 866; Stoddard v. Myers, 8 Ohio, 203; Gibbon v. Dougherty, 10 Ohio St. 365; Lumber Co. v. Gustin, 54 Mich. 624, 20 N. W. 616; 1 Freeman on Judgments, sec. 199; Bradley v. Luce, 99 Ill. 234; Stone v. Connelly, 1 Met. (Ky.) 652, 71 Am. Dec. 499; Wortham v. Boyd, 66 Tex. 401, 1 S. W. 109. Purchasers pendente lite must take notice of everything aVerred in the pleadings pertinent to the issue or to the relief sought. Center v. Bank, 22 Ala. 757; Allen v. Poole, 54 Miss. 323; Wortham v. Boyd, supra; 13 Am. & Eng. Ency. of Law, p. 886.” See, also, Burt v. Gamble, 98 Mich. 402, 57 N. W. 261; McClaskey v. Barr (C. C.), 48 Fed. 130; Turner v.

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Bluebook (online)
108 P. 491, 13 Ariz. 169, 1910 Ariz. LEXIS 81, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brandt-v-scribner-ariz-1910.