Cummings v. Ketchum

17 P. 442, 75 Cal. 434, 1888 Cal. LEXIS 564
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 29, 1888
DocketNo. 11881
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 17 P. 442 (Cummings v. Ketchum) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cummings v. Ketchum, 17 P. 442, 75 Cal. 434, 1888 Cal. LEXIS 564 (Cal. 1888).

Opinions

McKinstby, J.

The appeal is by the defendant Morgan L. Ketchum, from portions of the judgment, and no point is made by respondent that the judgment of the superior court is not final and appealable.

It is not necessary to decide whether the court below did or did not err in overruling the demurrer to the complaint of the defendants Ketchum and the Bank of Watsonville. If it be conceded the demurrer was properly overruled, the portions of the judgment appealed from must still be reversed.

And even if upon the complaint a judgment decreeing an accounting and for a redemption from the mortgages of the defendants Ketchum and the bank would, under any circumstances, have been justified, the portions of the judgment from which an appeal has been taken must be reversed.

The superior court decreed a dissolution of the marriage between plaintiff and the defendant William N. Cummings; that plaintiff was entitled to the custody of the infant daughter, sole issue of the marriage; and that defendant Cummings pay to the plaintiff fifty dollars a month as alimony and a sum as suit-money; and further decreed that the property described in the complaint was, at the commencement of the suit, charged with the mortgage in the judgment afterward referred to; that the said .property or tract of land be divided equally, share [437]*437and share alike, etc., between the plaintiff and the defendant Cummings, and in case they cannot agree upon a partition, Bart Burke, Esq., be appointed a commissioner to make and report such a partition, etc.; that the share set apart to the defendant Cummings be charged with the payment of costs, alimony, and counsel fees awarded to the plaintiff, and the same be a lien thereon; that the instrument of the 18th of May, 1876, purporting to be a deed from defendant Cummings to defendant Ketchum, is and was intended to be a mortgage to secure the payment of fifteen hundred dollars and interest, and not a deed conveying the land, otherwise than as security, and that the instrument was and is a valid and binding mortgage, free from fraud; that the property is subject to and bound for the payment of the unpaid portion of the mortgages of the Bank of Watsonville and Ketchum; that Ketchum is entitled to a lien on the land for the sum of fifteen hundred dollars and interest thereon from tenth day of June, 1874, to the tenth day of February, 1876, at the rate of one and one half per cent per month, and with legal interest thereon from the last date to the entry of decree, “ less whatever sums of money he may have received as rent or otherwise from the premises held by him under the said instrument, herein declared to be a mortgage, over and above what he has expended thereon for taxes, repairs, and in payment of the principal or interest on the Bank of Watson-ville mortgage”; that for the purpose of ascertaining, etc., Bart Burke is appointed a referee to ascertain and report the amount of deductions, if any, to be made, “ and to make and state said account between said Ketchum and his said receipts from said property,” etc.; that as between said plaintiff and defendants Cummings and Ketchum, and those claiming under them, the part or half of the premises awarded to plaintiff be chargeable with the payment of “one half of the Ketchum and Bank of Watsonville mortgages”; that Bart Burke, [438]*438Esq., be appointed a receiver to receive the rents, profits, and issues of the land until further order, to be paid out by him under direction of the court: 1. For taxes; 2. For . repairs; 3. For the support of plaintiff and her child; 4: For costs and counsel fees; 5. For interest due and accruing on the Bank of Watsonville mortgage.

The judgment recites that the plaintiff having introduced her evidence in chief, a nonsuit was granted as to the defendant the Bank of Watsonville. The dismissal, or nonsuit in favor of the bank, of itself, might perhaps only show that the bank had no interest in of lien upon the property. But the final judgment declares that the property described is subject to and bound by the unpaid portion of the mortgage of the Bank of Watsonville, and that the defendant Ketchum is entitled to a lien for the amount of his mortgage, less what he may have received as rents, etc., over and above what he has expended for taxes, repairs, and in the payment of principal or interest “ on the Bank of Watsonville mortgage”; further, that the referee ascertain what Ketchum has paid for principal or interest of the bank mortgage. And the receiver is directed to pay out the rents by him received, the alimony and the costs and counsel fees awarded, before paying interest on the mortgage of the bank.

It is apparent that the bank is a necessary party to the accounting. Its mortgage is recognized as valid in' the judgment, and no decree could properly be entered determining what sums had been paid to it by the defendant Ketchum, or giving priority to the alimony or suit money in the absence of the bank. The mortgage of the bank would seem to be a mortgage executed by defendant Ketchum, and in view of the nonsuit and the recognition of the mortgage in the decree, it cannot .be presumed that it was taken with notice that the instrument from the defendant Cummings to Ketchum was-other than it purports to be,—a deed absolute. Even, therefore, if the decree, as between the plaintiff and appel[439]*439lant Ketchum, could have been upheld if the bank had been a party defendant, it should be reversed, with directions to the court below to cause the bank to be brought in and reinstated as a defendant, as being a necessary party without whose presence the rights of the other parties could not be finally determined.

The portion of the decree which provides for a commissioner to make partition of the land described would, in any event, be reversed. In an action for divorce the court may, in certain instances, “ divide ” the common real estate. (Civ. Code, sec. 146.) But this does not authorize an actual partition of the land in every instance. Here the land was in the rightful possession of Ketchum, who had a valid lien extending to every portion of it, and there should have been no decree for a partition until the lien was satisfied or redeemed. Aside from the fact that such entry and partition would be an unlawful interference with the occupation of a mortgagee in the rightful possession, the rights of the respective spouses in the property may depend upon and be affected by the fact that the one or the other shall redeem the mortgages.

Nor, in any view of the case, could that part of the decree which provides that the one half of the property awarded to the plaintiff shall be chargeable with the payment of only one half of the Ketchum mortgage be permitted to stand. The defendant Ketchum having a valid mortgage upon all the land, the court was not justified in attempting to limit or change the liability created by it, or in altering in any way his rights or the obligations of the community under his contract.

And so of that part of the decree relating to a receiver. Ketchum, a mortgagee in good faith and in possession, was authorized to remain in possession with the equitable right of protecting his security, by paying the taxes and keeping the property in repair, and of applying the excess of the rents and profits to the payment first of the [440]*440interest and then of the principal of his mortgage. Yet, without any averment or finding that he had committed waste or abused his position, the court appointed a receiver to collect and receive the rents and profits, and to pay them out, giving

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In Re Marriage of Davis
68 Cal. App. 3d 294 (California Court of Appeal, 1977)
Belmont v. Belmont
188 Cal. App. 2d 33 (California Court of Appeal, 1961)
Norden v. McCallister
184 S.W.2d 459 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1945)
Elms v. Elms
52 P.2d 223 (California Supreme Court, 1935)
Callnon v. Callnon
46 P.2d 988 (California Court of Appeal, 1935)
California Filter Co. v. Superior Court
274 P. 1012 (California Court of Appeal, 1929)
Baar v. Smith
255 P. 827 (California Supreme Court, 1927)
Weyer v. Weyer
182 P. 776 (California Court of Appeal, 1919)
Citizens Savings & Trust Co. v. Rogers
155 N.W. 155 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1916)
Rich v. Smith
148 P. 545 (California Court of Appeal, 1915)
Douglass v. Thompson
35 Nev. 196 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1912)
Kent v. San Francisco Savings Union
62 P. 620 (California Supreme Court, 1900)
Ellis v. Rademacher
58 P. 178 (California Supreme Court, 1899)
Noonan v. Nunan
18 P. 98 (California Supreme Court, 1888)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
17 P. 442, 75 Cal. 434, 1888 Cal. LEXIS 564, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cummings-v-ketchum-cal-1888.