Casaro v. Humphrey

162 N.E. 645, 28 Ohio App. 255, 6 Ohio Law. Abs. 114, 1927 Ohio App. LEXIS 363
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 5, 1927
StatusPublished

This text of 162 N.E. 645 (Casaro v. Humphrey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Casaro v. Humphrey, 162 N.E. 645, 28 Ohio App. 255, 6 Ohio Law. Abs. 114, 1927 Ohio App. LEXIS 363 (Ohio Ct. App. 1927).

Opinion

Sullivan, P. J.

This cause is here on appeal from the court of common pleas of Cuyahoga county, and it involves the question whether a judgment obtained at one term of the court, based upon an action commenced at a previous term, is a lien on the lands of the judgment debtor from the first day of the term, although actually rendered upon a subsequent day of the term.

The cause was tried upon an agreed statement of facts, which is as follows:

(1) That on April 1,1925, plaintiff, G-uy Casaro, *256 filed an action in the common pleas court of Cuyahoga. county, Ohio, against defendant Sarah Humphrey, the same being cause No. 240012, in said court. In his petition, the said plaintiff prayed for personal judgment in tire amount of $1,800, with interest, and for foreclosure of a chattel mortgage; that personal service of summons was had upon said Sarah Humphrey, who subsequently filed an answer and cross-petition alleging a certain counter-claim in the amount of $1,000; that the action was tried during the September term of court in the year 1925, and personal judgment was rendered for said . Guy Casaro against Sarah Humphrey for the sum of $1,-245.50, plus court costs, the chattel mortgage was ordered foreclosed, and the chattels were ordered sold; that the said judgment and order of sale were entered upon the journal of the court on December 28, 1925; and that the first day of the September term of court was September 8, 1925.

“(2) That on September 8, 1925, Sarah Humphrey was the owner of parcel No. 1 described in the petition, being more particularly described as follows, to wit:

“ ‘Situated in the city of Cleveland, county of Cuyahoga and state of Ohio, and known as being sub-lot No. 444 in James M. Hoyt’s subdivision of part of original Brooklyn township, lots Nos. 28 and 33, as shown by the recorded plat in volume 3 of Maps, page 37 of Cuyahoga County Records, and being 35 feet front on the northwesterly side of Lorain street (now known as Lorain avenue), and extending back of equal width 132 feet deep, as appears by said plat, be the same more or less, but subject to all legal highways. ’

*257 “That said sublot No. 444 was subject to a mortgage to defendant the Mutual Building & Investment Company securing a promissory note in the principal amount of $12,000, dated August 21,1925, filed for record August 28, 1925, and recorded in volume 3129, page 172, Records of Cuyahoga county, Ohio, and that title to said sublot remained continuously in Sarah Humphrey from September 8, 1925, until the transfer of title to defendants Julia C. Ballint and Erma Hirsch, hereinafter mentioned.

“ (3) That defendants Erma Hirsch and Julia C. Ballint purchased said sublot No. 444 from defendant Sarah Humphrey for a valuable consideration, and Sarah Humphrey conveyed legal title to said purchasers subject to said mortgage by a warranty deed with release of dower duly executed and delivered, dated November 30, 1925, filed for record with the recorder of Cuyahoga county, Ohio, on December 18, 1925, at 12:37 o’clock p. m., bearing serial file No. 1837272, and recorded in volume 3334, page 306, records of said county; that at the time of the conveyance to them, defendants Erma Hirsch and Julia C. Ballint had no actual or constructive knowledge of said action No. 240012 pending against Sarah Humphrey, except the case of Casaro v. Humphrey (No. 240012) was pending on September' 8, 1925, and had been from a prior term of court.

“(4) That no sale was ever had of the chattels ordered sold in said case No. 240012, the plaintiff claiming that the chattels could not be found, and a prsecipe was filed on behalf of the plaintiff'in said former action, and execution was issued to the sheriff of Cuyahoga county, Ohio, on January' 4, 1926; that the sheriff made a return that no goods *258 or chattels of the judgment debtor being found on January 5,1926, be [he] levied on parcel 1 (said sub-lot 444) and parcel 2 described in the petition.

“ (5) That this action was instituted by the judgment creditor, Guy Casaro, on January 22, 1926, to marshal liens on said real property.

“ (6) That defendants Erma Hirsch and Julia C. Ballint and their husbands conveyed said sublot Not. 444 to defendants Eugene Borsits and Rosa Borsits, by deed dated December 18, 1925, filed for record February 16, 1926, bearing serial file No. 1853585, records of said county; that this conveyance was for a valuable consideration, and at the time of said conveyance said defendants Eugene Borsits and Rosa Borsits had no actual knowledge of said action No. 240012, nor of the judgment obtained therein, nor of this action, but this action No. 253973 was pending at the time of transfer. ”

To determine the issues it is necessary to interpret Section 11656 of the General Code of Ohio as it stood prior to the amendment in 112 Ohio Laws, p. 199. The original section reads as follows:

“Such lands and tenements within the county where the judgment is entered shall be bound for its satisfaction from the first day of the term at which it is rendered, except that judgment by confession and judgments rendered at the same term at which the action is begun, shall bind such lands only from the day on which such judgments are rendered. All other lands as well as goods and chattels of the debtor, shall be bound from the time they are seized in execution.”

The amendment in 112 Ohio Laws, above noted, reads as follows:

*259 “Sec. 11656. Such lands and tenements within the county where the judgment is entered shall be bound for its satisfaction from the day on which such judgment is rendered.

“All other lands, as well as goods and chattels of the debtor shall be bound from the time they are seized in execution.”

The meaning and significance of above words, phrases, and clauses admit of no doubt. The conclusions deducible are irresistible and inevitable. The lands situated within the county where the judgment is entered shall be bound. To bind means to fetter, fasten, and to tie up. And for what purpose? For the satisfaction of the judgment. Now comes the important question. From when? From the first day of the term at which the judgment is rendered. Thus giving to each word its plain, unmistakable sense and significance, it appears to us conclusive that the lien upon the land dates from the first day of the term in cases like the one at bar. where the action was commenced at a prior term and the judgment rendered at a succeeding term.

In this section under discussion time is an essential element because it fixes the running of the judgment and lien. In three different places in this statute, as unamended, we notice the legislative care and intent as to this subject. Notice the three following quotations as bearing upon this element of time, impregnated in the statute:

First: “From the first day of the term at which it is rendered.”

Second: ‘ ‘ Shall bind such lands only from the day on which such judgments are rendered.”

*260

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Bluebook (online)
162 N.E. 645, 28 Ohio App. 255, 6 Ohio Law. Abs. 114, 1927 Ohio App. LEXIS 363, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/casaro-v-humphrey-ohioctapp-1927.