Brown v. Merchants Planters Bank Trust Company

152 S.W.2d 548, 202 Ark. 684, 1941 Ark. LEXIS 243
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJune 9, 1941
Docket4-6375
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 152 S.W.2d 548 (Brown v. Merchants Planters Bank Trust Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. Merchants Planters Bank Trust Company, 152 S.W.2d 548, 202 Ark. 684, 1941 Ark. LEXIS 243 (Ark. 1941).

Opinion

Mehaffy, J.

In the early part of August, 1935, the appellants, T. "W. Brown and Cora Brown, borrowed $800 from the appellee, Merchants & Planters Bank & Trust Company, and executed and delivered their promissory note, showing the amount of the monthly payments to be made and the time when they were to be made. To secure the payment of said sums, the appellants executed and delivered to the appellee their deed of trust conveying lots 2, 3 and 4 of block 1 in the original survey of Delight, Arkansas. The monthly installments were $8.49, and the first payment was to be made on September 1, 1935, and the first day of each month thereafter until the principal and interest were fully paid.

. The appellants defaulted in their payments and on October 29, 1937, suit was brought in the Pike chancery court against appellants to foreclose the mortgage.

On July 5, 1938, answer was filed by T. W. Brown denying every material allegation in the complaint. The appellant, Cora A. Brown, appeared specially and filed motion to quash service and return. Cora A. Brown was again served, and on May 8, 1939, adopted the answer of T. W. Brown.

Default judgment was taken on September 14, 1939.

It is alleged by the appellants that at the time of the default judgment the appellants were not represented by counsel. The property was ordered sold some time in January, but the sale was deferred, and on May 11, 1940, the property was again ordered sold. Between March 13, 1940, and May 11, 1940, there was a fire, partially destroying the building on the property. The property was repaired and a settlement made with the insurance company, by which it paid into court the sum of $240 for said damage. The insurance money was paid into court, and there was a contest as to whom it should be paid. The court made an order requiring the material men and laborers to be paid out of the insurance money, and the balance of approximately $108 to be applied on the debt to the appellee, if the property did not bring a sufficient amount from its sale.

In September, 1940, the appellants filed a complaint in the Pike chancery court stating that an action had been filed against them to foreclose the mortgage, and that on September 14, 1939, judgment had been taken against them, and that on May 13, 1940, an additional judgment had been taken; that under the first judgment the property was ordered sold. It was further alleged by'them that the judgments were obtained through fraud practiced on the appellants and on the court; that the fraud consisted in that on September 14, 1939, the appellants and appellee entered into an agreement for an extension of time from September 14, 1939:, until January 1, 1940, and that additional security was given, and that the appellants agreed to pay $75 for the said extension; that on the same day the agreement was made, the appellee filed an amendment to the complaint for an additional amount, and asked judgment, but the sale was deferred until sometime in 1940; that during the pendency of the action brought by the appellee, the appellants made payments on said indebtedness and agreed to pay the sum of $75 for the forbearance of said debt; appellants alleged that the whole contract was tainted with usury when the agreement was made to pay $75 additional, other than the interest for the forbearance of money. They alleged also that they were entitled to an accounting for the amount paid since filing the cause, and the amounts collected on the additional security.

After the original suit was filed, some payments were made and it was shown that taxes had been paid by the appellee, and it was ordered that appellee have judgment for this amount.

The appellants sought and obtained restraining orders from the circuit court and the 'county court, in the absence of the chancellor from the county, both of which restraining’ orders were 'by the chancery court dissolved, and the complaints dismissed.

The court, on its own motion, consolidated the foreclosure suit with the suit brought by appellants above referred to, and evidence was taken and the court dismissed the complaint of appellants for want of equity. The court entered a decree in favor of appellee, foreclosing the mortgage and ordering the sale of the property.

There were numbers of documents introduced, and the testimony of witnesses heard, but there is practically no dispute in the evidence. The appellants .argue that the judgment was obtained by fraud and that the assignment entered into between Brown and the bank, by which the time of sale was extended, was usurious, and that Brown had made certain payments for which he had not been credited, and was therefore entitled to an accounting’, and that the sale was improperly advertised.

The court entered a decree finding that summons was duly issued and duly served for the time and in the manner required by law; that the cause is submitted to the court for its consideration and final decree upon plaintiffs’ complaint, Us pendens notice, the original note and deed of trust, and other evidence. The court found that the appellants were indebted to appellee in the sum of $730.43 with interest and that the sum was secured by the deed of trust on property described therein; that default had been made upon the payment of said note and upon the provisions of said deed of trust;' that the appellants waived all rights of redemption and appraisement under the laws of Arkansas; that appellants, T. W. Brown and Cora Brown, his wife, released and relinquished all their rights in dower and homestead in said property, and gave a lien on the property described in the deed of trust, fixed the day of sale, and, thereafter, on November 11,1940, the court approved the sale by the commissioner and ordered a deed executed. The case is here on appeal.

At the first sale had of this property, T. W. Brown himself was present and bid. The property was sold to him and he executed a bond, but he did not pay. There was some evidence about Brown’s interest in property in Little Rock, and the sale was continued because of his belief that he would receive something from the Little Rock property, and would thereby be able to pay his debt to the appellee. The evidence, however, shows that nothing was received by Brown or the appellee from the Little Rock property.

It is urged by the appellants that the case should be reversed because fraud was perpetrated in the procurement of the judgment; that the term at which the judgment was obtained was closed before the complaint by Brown was filed; that the appellee was trying to sell the property, and that Brown secured a restraining order under § 8251 of Pope’s Digest, and that the property was sold to appellee before the trial of the case brought by Brown; that the chancery judge had no right to do anything without notice to appellants or their attorney. It is stated, however, by appellant that this is not so important to the issue now involved, but they wanted the court to get all the errors complained of. It is also claimed that the evidence shows that payments had been made up to August 14, 1937, and they refer to exhibit 2 in the record, which is the loan record, showing the amounts due monthly and the amounts paid. This, however, was a question of fact, and the chancellor’s finding is not against the preponderance of the evidence.

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Bluebook (online)
152 S.W.2d 548, 202 Ark. 684, 1941 Ark. LEXIS 243, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-merchants-planters-bank-trust-company-ark-1941.