Colvin v. Shaw

29 N.Y.S. 644, 79 Hun 56, 86 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 56, 61 N.Y. St. Rep. 174
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedJune 20, 1894
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 29 N.Y.S. 644 (Colvin v. Shaw) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Colvin v. Shaw, 29 N.Y.S. 644, 79 Hun 56, 86 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 56, 61 N.Y. St. Rep. 174 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1894).

Opinion

BRADLEY, J.

The view of the trial court, as appears by the findings of fact, was that the defendant, Sophia Shaw, had, as against Hiles Broadbent, the mortgagor, the equitable title to the west half of the premises described in the mortgage, but that she was estopped from asserting such title against the plaintiff.- The facts, as found by the court, were that, in the fall of 1880, the defendant, Shaw, went into the possession of the west half of the premises, under an agreement of purchase with Broadbent; that she paid him the purchase price, in services, board, etc., and has since remained in the open, visible, and notorious occupation and possession of the premises; that in June, 1883, and after his refusal to convey the premises to her, the defendant, Shaw, commenced an action against Broadbent to recover the sum of $2,085.52, alleged in the complaint to be due to her from him, without deducting the amount claimed by her to have been allowed in payment for land pursuant to the contract of purchase; that she procured an attachment to be issued against the property upon an affidavit made by one Wilson and another by herself, portions of which are set forth in the findings, and which will hereafter be referred to. These affidavits were made and the attachment was issued in July, 1883; and, upon the motion of the defendant in that action, the attachment was vacated August 1, 1883. On that day the defendant, Shaw, made another affidavit, upon which a like attachment was issued, and levied upon the premises mentioned in the mortgage. The defendant in that action appeared therein. The complaint was not served until August 14, 1883; and in June, 1884, her motion to amend the complaint so as to express an allowance to the defendant therein, by way of credit, $1,200, the amount of the purchase price of the premises as per her contract of purchase, was made and granted. The complaint was amended accordingly. The action was afterwards tried, and complaint dismissed. In the meantime, and in October, 1883, Broadbent had brought an action against Shaw and her shrety on the bond given upon the issuing of the first attachment, which was vacated; and she, in that action, alleged her equitable title, and demanded relief founded upon it. The action came to trial in February, 1884, and the plaintiff there recovered judgment for damages arising from the levy of the attachment.. In 1887 the defendant, Shaw, commenced an action against Broadbent for specific performance of the contract The trial resulted in judgment dismissing the complaint, affirmed at general term, and reversed by the court of appeals; and, by the judgment of the latter court, specific performance of the contract [646]*646was directed, and judgment was perfected accordingly, with costs. Shaw v. Broadbent, 129 N. Y. 114, 29 N. E. 238.

We are thus led to the conclusion that, as between the parties to that action, the defendant, Shaw, had the equitable title to the west half of the premises described in the mortgage. The question remaining is whether such title in her is available against the mortgagee and his assigns. The mortgagee was an attorney at law, and was attorney and counsel for Broadbent in the actions of Shaw against him before mentioned, and in his action against her upon the bond made to obtain the attachment which was vacated; and on the same day it was accomplished, and before Shaw could with diligence get another attachment levied upon the property he took from Ms client the mortgage in question, and it was afterwards assigned to the plaintiff. It is said that she was estopped from asserting her title as against Decker, the mortgagee, by reason of the facts stated in the affidavits upon which the first attachment was issued, and because she, by her action, had elected to sue for the full amount of her claim, not allowing to Broadbent the portion of it which had been applied as payment for the land. The matters stated in her affidavit to procure the attachment are not such as create any estoppel. She there stated that a cause of action existed in her favor against Broadbent to recover about $1,000 for board bill and services, and that she was then entitled to recover therefor such sum. She also states that “the defendant had been a boarder and occupant of certain premises in the village of Brock-port, in the county of Monroe, and the village of Holley, in the county of Orleans, as such boarder;” and, further, that the “defendant is the owner of certain land premises in the village of Holley and county of Orleans, or has a large mortgage interest in said property.” He was the owner of the east half of the premises described in the mortgage. It was only in the west half of them that Shaw claimed an interest. The levy of the attachment on the whole was the act of the sheriff, and could not be treated as her act, nor could the affidavit of Wilson made in support of her application for the attachment be so treated, for the purpose of creating an estoppel"; and Decker, at the time that he took the mortgage, could not have been advised that the action was brought to recover any sum in excess of $1,000, because the complaint was not served until two weeks after that time; nor could he have learned from the papers, or otherwise than from his client, that the claim made by the complaint embraced that whióh constituted the consideration for the sale to her of land wMch she occupied. There was therefore nothing in the papers or proceedings on the part of Shaw in her action up to the time when Decker took the mortgage to enable him to effectually charge that she was estopped from asserting her equitable title to the west half of the premises; nor did the adjudication in the action against her and her surety upon the bond support such charge. Shaw v. Broadbent, 129 N. Y. 114, 29 N. E. 238. She •was then, and had been for three years, in the actual possession of that portion of the premises. This was notice to the mortgagee [647]*647of such equitable right, title, or interest as she had in the land. Gouverneur v. Lynch, 2 Paige, 300; Union College v. Wheeler, 61 N. Y. 88.

The assignee of the mortgage occupies no more favorable position to assert estoppel than did the mortgagee himself. Schaeffer v. Reilley, 50 N. Y. 61. It is urged, however, that, inasmuch as Shaw brought her action to recover her claim for board and services against Broadbent, she made her election of remedy, and thereafter could not be permitted to assert any claim founded upon the contract with him for the sale and purchase of the land. It is true that when a party has two inconsistent remedies, and he pursues one of them, he will not be permitted to avail himself of the other. Moller v. Tuska, 87 N. Y. 166; Conrow v. Little, 115 N. Y. 387, 22 N. E. 346; Terry v. Munger, 121 N. Y. 161, 24 N. E. 272; Crossman v. Rubber Co., 127 N. Y. 34, 27 N. E. 400. It may be assumed that Broadbent had refused to convey the land to Shaw in performance of the contract, and that, in her action thereafter brought, she, by her complaint, as originally prepared, alleged due her from him a greater sum than she was entitled to recover if she allowed to him credit for the $1,200, which was the contract price of the purchase; but she nevertheless claimed, ineffectually, as the result of the action established, that there was due her a sum in excess of that consideration. It has been observed that in her affidavit to obtain the first attachment, while she stated nothing about the purchase or its consideration, she there, stated, as the amount due from Broadbent, only about $1,000 over and above counterclaims, discounts, or set-offs.

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Bluebook (online)
29 N.Y.S. 644, 79 Hun 56, 86 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 56, 61 N.Y. St. Rep. 174, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/colvin-v-shaw-nysupct-1894.