Breed v. National Bank

57 A.D. 468, 68 N.Y.S. 68
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedJanuary 15, 1901
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 57 A.D. 468 (Breed v. National Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Breed v. National Bank, 57 A.D. 468, 68 N.Y.S. 68 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1901).

Opinion

McLennan, J.:

Three questions are presented by this appeal:

First. Is the purchaser and assignee of a bond and mortgage, who pays full value therefor, but fails or neglects to procure the [472]*472assignment thereof to be recorded until after such bond and mortgage has been assigned to another, who also purchases in good faith and for value, and then procures such first assignment to be recorded before such second assignment is recorded, protected by the Recording Act, so called, and is such second assignment void as against the first assignee and purchaser ?

Second. Is the assignee of a bond and mortgage,, who obtains the same pursuant to an agreement that they áre assigned as a continuing collateral security to an indebtedness then owing to the assignee but not due, or any renewals thereof, without any binding agreement or obligation on the part of the assignee to renew such indebtedness, but who afterwards, does in fact renew the same, a bona fide holder for value of such bond and mortgage, as against a purchaser of the same in good faith and for full value ?

Third. In an action in equity brought by a purchaser in good faith of a bond and a mortgage, to recover their possession from a subsequent purchaser who also acquired the. same in good faith, but as collateral security to any. renewals of an existing indebtedness,, and who also at the same time obtained other and additional securities for the same purpose, can such subsequent purchaser defeat the action without first applying the avails of such other securities to the payment of his indebtedness or proving that they are not of suffiicent value to pay the same ?

The assignment of the bond and mortgage in 1888 by William C„ Rodger to plaintiffs testator having been accompanied by delivery was valid and effectual for the purpose of passing the title to such interest therein as was intended by the .parties, notwithstanding the fact that such assignment was not acknowledged. (Heilbrun v. Hammond, 13 Hun, 474; Strever v. Earl, 60 id. 528 ; Wing v. Raplee, 17 Wkly, Dig. 415 ; affd., 101 N. Y. 620.)

Section 241 of article 8, chapter 46 of the General Laws (Laws of 1896, chap. 547; 5 R. S. [Banks & Bros. 9th ed.] 3593) reads as follows : “ A conveyance of real property within the state, on being duly acknowledged by the person' executing the same, or proved as required by this chapter, * * * may be recorded in the. office of the clerk of the county where such real property is situated^ Every such conveyance not so recorded is void as against any subsequent purchaser in good faith and for a valuable consideration. [473]*473from the same vendor, his heirs or devisees of the same real property or any portion thereof, whose conveyance is first duly recorded.”

The assignment made to Breed in 1888 was not void as to every subsequent purchaser in good faith and for a valuable consideration,” but only as to such purchaser whose conveyance was “first duly recorded.” As to every one else holding by a subsequent claim his title was paramount and indefeasible. (Thomas Mort. § 486.)

The defendant, therefore, does not come within the provisions of this statute, for its assignment was recorded after the plaintiff’s was placed upon record.

In Westbrook v. Gleason (79 N. Y. 23) the head note — and it is borne out by the text of the opinion — reads as follows : To enable a subsequent purchaser to assail a prior unrecorded mortgage under the recording act (1 R. S. 756, § l) it is incumbent upon him to show not only that he was a bona fide purchaser for value without notice, but that his conveyance was first recorded.”

The formal assignment to the plaintiff was not founded on any new consideration, so it simply related back to the original assignment, and cured whatever defects existed in that instrument. That fact, however, in no way contravenes the principle made germane by the prior record of plaintiff’s assignment, for the original transfer was based upon an adequate consideration. The assignment of a mortgage is a conveyance within the Recording Act. (Gen. Laws, chap. 46 [Laws of 1896, chap. 547], art. 8; § 240; Brewster v. Carnes, 103 N. Y. 556,562.)

Was the defendant bank a purchaser in good faith and for a valuable consideration ?

It is unquestionably true that an extension of the time of payment by a creditor of an indebtedness of his debtor, if done pursuant to a binding agreement so to do, constitutes a good and valuable consideration for the transfer of collaterals to secure the payment of such obligation. The authorities cited by appellant’s counsel abundantly support that proposition. (Mechanics' & Farmers' Bank v. Wixson, 42 N. Y. 438 ; Brown v. Leavitt, 31 id. 113 ; Cary v. White, 52 id. 138.)

In Cary v. White (supra) it is said: “ If there was an extension [474]*474■of time for a single day by a. valid agreement, as. a consideration . of the mortgage, there was .a. valuable consideration within the rule.”

In the case at bar there was no agreement on the part of the ■defendant bank to extend the time of payment of any of the paper upon which either of the firms of which W. 0. Rodger was a member were obligated. The bank had the right to bring suit upon and ■enforce collection of the paper held by it and made by said firms, when and as it became due and- payable. The fact that the bank ■did not attempt to enforce collection of such paper, but extended the time of payment, and that it did so relying upon the transfer to it ■of the bond and mortgage in. suit, is not the test of “ valuable consideration,” but the true test is whether or not the agreement under which the bank took such bond and mortgage was such as to prevent collection on its part, and was of such a character that it could have been compelled to renew such paper. (Shipman v. Kelley, 9 App. Div. 316, 322.)

In Cary v. White (supra) the court said: Here there was no express agreement to extend the' time of payment of the original ■debt, nor, was there' any new or substituted contract between the parties. ' • The pre-existing obligation remained in full force, and the ■collateral security was entirely independent of it. Neither in the written, receipt of the party or the mortgage is there found .any evidence that the latter, for an instant of time, was to supersede the prior obligation, or suspend any remedy upon it.”

It is well settled that a person who takes collateral security to ■secure a pre-existing debt is not a hona fide purchaser. ( Young v. Guy, 23 Hun, 1; Weaver v. Barden, 49 N. Y. 286; Crisfield v. Murdock, 127 id. 315.)

As we have seen, after the transfer of the. bond and mortgage in ¡suit to the defendant bank, its rights were. precisely the same as before such assignment was made. It was at liberty, afterwards as Before, to enforce any obligation which it held against either of the Rodger firms, immediately when it became due.. Such obligations, ¡so far as appears, were not increased; no new obligations were taken because of such assignment to it. Under those circumstanchs we "think it cannot be said that the bank was a purchaser of the bond ¡and mortgage for a valuable consideration.

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Bluebook (online)
57 A.D. 468, 68 N.Y.S. 68, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/breed-v-national-bank-nyappdiv-1901.