Central Missouri Trust Co. v. Wulfert

199 S.W. 724, 198 Mo. App. 85, 1917 Mo. App. LEXIS 12
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 31, 1917
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 199 S.W. 724 (Central Missouri Trust Co. v. Wulfert) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Central Missouri Trust Co. v. Wulfert, 199 S.W. 724, 198 Mo. App. 85, 1917 Mo. App. LEXIS 12 (Mo. Ct. App. 1917).

Opinion

TRIMBLE, J.

Plaintiff brought replevin to recover possession of a bay mare six years old, a bay horse nine years old and two red cows. The two cows were never found and, therefore, are not in the case.

Plaintiff héld a chattel mortgage on certain property, including the property in question, given by one Julius Wulfert, to secure a debt he owed plaintiff. The mortgagor having become involved financially, and being unable to pay the debt when it became due, the mortgagee was authorized to take charge of the mortgaged property and began making arrangements to do so. Before it could take charge, however, the defendant, Dietrich Wulfert, caused the animals involved in this litigation to be removed to a pasture near his own farm. The mortgagor took charge of the rest of the mortgaged property, and, as the animals in controversy were not with said other property, sought for them on defendant Dietrich Wulfert’s farm but did not succeed'in finding or locating them. Thereafter, the two horses were brought from the pasture, where they had been placed, to the said Dietrich Wulfert’s farm.

The defendants are father and son. The latter, Fred: Wulfert, was a single man, and, when not engaged in government work on the Missouri river, made his home with his father.

The suit was commenced and the writ issued on June 22, 1916, and the return made by the sheriff on the writ states that on June 26th he took the bay horse out of the possession of the defendant, Fred Wulfert, but, upon the execution of a delivery bond as provided by section 2640, Revised Statutes 1909, he returned the horse to [87]*87him; that on June 27th he took the mare out of the possession of the defendant, Dietrich Wulfert, but, upon the execution by him of a similar bond, he returned said animal to- said defendant.

The defendant, Dietrich Wulfert, filed a separate answer consisting of a general denial and asserting that at the commencement of the suit he owned the mare exclusively and had no interest in the horse, that the property of himself and his co-defendant were separate and there was no community of interest between them in the property sued for and that on that account the two defendants had been improperly joined in the suit. The defendant, Fred Wulfert, filed a similar answer claiming exclusive ownership in the horse but none in the mare.

The reply filed by the plaintiff denied specificially that Dietrich Wulfert was the owner of the mare and also, denied tha-t Fred Wulfert was the owner of the horse. Neither the answers nor the reply said anything about possession of the animals or of either of them.

A trial was had and the jury returned a verdict that “the plaintiff is entitled to one bay horse, nine years old, mentioned in the petition, also one sorrel mare, six years old, as mentioned in the petition.” Upon this verdict the court rendered judgment that the plaintiff have and recover, of and from the defendants the said horses and further adjudged that the plaintiff recover costs of the defendants and that execution issue therefor. Defendants thereupon appealed.

It is urged that plaintiff is'not entitled to maintain the suit since no demand was made of defendants prior to the institution of the suit. But in this case no demand was necessary. The evidence is that after the condition of the mortgage had been broken, and the plaintiff had been authorized to take charge of the property, the defendant Dietrich Wulfert took the property in-question away from where the mortgagor kept it. In other-words, he took the property, wrongfully and without consent, out of what, at that time, was the possession of the mortgagee. In such ca.se no demand was necessary to entitle plaintiff to main[88]*88tain suit. [Harding v. Kelso, 91 Mo. App. 607; Burnham Hanna Munger & Co. v. Elmore, 66 Mo. App. 617; Moore v. Simms, 47 Mo. App. 182.] The evidence tended to show that up to the time defendant Dietrich Wulfert took the property away he never claimed to be the owner thereof hut that he was merely a creditor of the mortgagor and never asserted ownership until after the latter had left the country. Nor did his co-defendant Fred Wulfert, make any claim of ownership prior to that time.

The petition is sufficient and the admission of the chattel mortgage in evidence was proper. [34 Cyc; 1497; First National Bank v. Ragsdale, 158 Mo. 668, 681.] Nor do the credits appearing on the hack of the note secured hy the mortgage show that the debt was paid. On the contrary, they show that it was not. Nor was the mortgage invalid for indefinite or insufficient description of the property. There was no doubt hut that the animals were those mortgaged and no difficulty was experienced in identifying them. We do not agree with the contention that they were not proven to he the animals described in the mortgage. Nor can it he said, that the defendants conclusively established their ownership of the animal each claimed. Mere proof that at a time prior to the execution of the mortgage each had purchased and secured title to the respective animal claimed hy him did not invalidate the mortgagee’s interest in view of the mortgagor’s possession and indicia of ownership of the animals at the time the mortgage was given; and in view of the other evidence that the mortgagor owned them and that defendants made no claim of ownership until after the mortgagor’s departure and for a time thereafter at least one of the defendants, Dietrich Wulfert, assumed to he only a creditor of the mortgagor and did not claim to he anything else till he learned that all of Julius’ property was mortgaged and that the unsecured creditors “couldn’t get anything.”

It is insisted that the case should he reversed outright because there was a misjoinder of parties since the sheriff’s return shows that he took the horse out of the possession of one defendant and the mare out of the [89]*89possession of the other defendant, and, in their answers, each disclaimed any interest in the animal claimed by the other. The judgment was for plaintiff and against both defendants for the possession of both horses and for costs. A joint judgment in replevin can be rendered only against parties shown to have a community of interest in the property in question or to have both been concerned in the taking or detention. [Cobbey on Replevin (2 Ed.) , see. 1142.] It will be observed, however, that in defendants’ plea of misjoinder in their answer they did not base the same upon any claim as to who took the property or upon a separate possession of the animals at the time of the commencement of the suit and the issuance and service of the writ. In fact, the only thing mentioned to show misjoinder was a lack of community interest or title in the property. In their testimony given as witnesses in their own behalf, both defendants admitted that, at the commencement of the suit and the issuance of the writ and at the time the sheriff came out to execute it, both horses were in the possession of the defendant Dietrich Wulfert. Consequently, plaintiff was entitled to maintain replevin as to both horses had the suit been brought against him alone. At most all that plaintiff did was to include Fred Wulfert in the suit when he need not have been made a defendant. And the only question is as to whether the case should be reversed as to him. But this defendant did not claim a misjoinder because of a diverse possession of the property but only because of separate ownership. And as he sought to defeat plaintiff’s right to possession solely

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Bluebook (online)
199 S.W. 724, 198 Mo. App. 85, 1917 Mo. App. LEXIS 12, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/central-missouri-trust-co-v-wulfert-moctapp-1917.