Definite Contract Building & Loan Ass'n v. Tumin

164 S.E. 562, 158 Va. 771, 1932 Va. LEXIS 297
CourtSupreme Court of Virginia
DecidedJune 16, 1932
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 164 S.E. 562 (Definite Contract Building & Loan Ass'n v. Tumin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Definite Contract Building & Loan Ass'n v. Tumin, 164 S.E. 562, 158 Va. 771, 1932 Va. LEXIS 297 (Va. 1932).

Opinion

Epes, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

The judgment .in this case in the trial court was for the defendant, and this writ of error was granted on assignments of error made by the plaintiffs. But upon the granting of the writ the defendant made two assignments of cross-error, which, in an orderly development and treatment of the case, should be disposed of before the assignments of error made by the plaintiffs are considered. As the positions of the parties are the same, here as they were in the trial court, we shall throughout refer to them as plaintiffs and defendant.

. Definite Contract , Building and Loan Association, a corporation (hereinafter called Loan Association), made loans to three different persons. Each of these loans was secured by a deed of trust conveying a parcel of real estate in the city of Norfolk to W. B. Baldwin and R. F. Baldwin, trustees. There was no relation whatever between these three loans, nor were the grantors in or the property conveyed by any two of these deeds of trust the same. Default was made in the payment of each of these debts; and, R. F. Baldwin having died, the Loan Association required W. B. Baldwin, as surviving trustee, to make sale under each of the three deeds of trust. The trustee fixed upon the same time and place for the sale under each of them, and advertised the sales under all three deeds in one advertisement, which is quoted in full in the footnote1. The advertise[775]*775ment as published in the Virginian Pilot, a daily newspaper published in the city of Norfolk, for the length of time required by the several deeds of trust.

The sale was duly held on,October 14, 1930, in accordance with this advertisement. Parcel No. 3 (which was a parcel of land with a four-family brick apartment thereon), was, as stated in the advertisement, offered for sale Subject to the lien of a prior deed of trust securing a debt of $6,880.60; and was knocked down to Mrs. Lena D. Tumin at $3,075.00. This litigation has grown out of Mrs. Tumin’s refusal to comply with her bid.

The first assignment of cross-error made is that the court erred in refusing to instruct the jury that the sale of parcel No. 3 to Mrs. Tumin was void and not binding upon her, because the advertisement included notice of the sales to be made under the two other deeds of trust. The court did not err in refusing to give this instruction.

When the advertisement is considered as an advertisement under the deed of trust conveying parcel No. 3, the matter contained in it and the publication thereof complied with [776]*776all the terms and requirements of that deed of trust relating to giving notice of sale; and was a valid and sufficient notice of sale, unless the inclusion of notice of the sales to be made •under the other two deeds of trust vitiated it. It may well be that under the facts and circumstances of some cases the inclusion in one advertsiement of notices of sales to be made under several deeds of trust would be so detrimental to the interest of the grantor in one (or more) of the deeds of trust as to render the sale under that deed voidable. Trustees cannot be too careful about such matters or too diligent in seeing to it that the best price obtainable is gotten for property sold by them; and the safer course is to advertise separately under each deed of trust. But the mere fact that notices of several sales of property located in the same general locality, which are to be made at substantially the same time and place by the same trustee, are included in one advertisement, sVich as that here under consideration, does not ipso facto render void the sales had in pursuance thereof. In the instant case there are no facts and circumstances proven which tend to show that the inclusion of notice of the three sales in one advertisement was prejudicial to any party in interest, or to show cause for avoiding the sale on that account.

This brings us to the questions which depend upon what took place at and subsequent to the sale.

Mrs. Tumin had seen the advertisement above mentioned, or in some other way had learned that parcel No. 2 (which was a lot with a bungalow on it), was to be sold at public auction by the trustee at the time and place mentioned in [777]*777this advertisement; and, in company with her husband, attended the sale on October 14, 1930, for the purpose of bidding on parcel No. 2. "W. B. Baldwin was the trustee making the sale, Mr. R. P. Baldwin, Jr., was the auctioneer, and “young Mr. Baldwin” was a floor man assisting the auctioneer in making the sale.

The opening bid on parcel No. 2 was higher than Mrs. Tumin was willing to pay for it, and she turned to leave the sale. As she was about to leave, “young Mr. Baldwin” said to her: “We have got an apartment coming up here, a four-family brick apartment and you can buy it cheap.” Just then the auctioneer started to cry parcel No. 3, and young Mr. Baldwin said: “Here it is.” The opening bid was $2,500.00. Mrs. Tumin remained, and though she had not seen the property, she bid on the property and continued to bid in competition with “young Mr. Baldwin” and Mr. P. C. Stanworth until the property was knocked down to her at $3,075.00. The record does not show whether there were any other bidders, or whether “young Mr. Baldwin” and Mr. Stanworth were bidding for themselves or for undisclosed principals.

The sale was begun by the auctioneer reading the whole advertisement. After having read it, he proceeded to offer the several parcels for sale in the order in which they are mentioned in the advertisement. The auctioneer testifies that after he had sold parcels No. 1 and No. 2, “I offered, parcel No. 3 and explained very carefully that parcel No. 3 would stand a bidder * * * the bid and in addition the first lien as the property was sold subject to a first lien of the amount of $6,880.60.” It is not expressly stated in. the testimony that Mrs. Tumin was present when the advertisement was read at the beginning of the sale, nor is it-denied that she was present when it was read; but the fair inference from the evidence is that she was present. Though Mrs. Tumin testifies that she did not understand that parcel [778]*778No. 3 was being sold subject to a prior deed of trust, the testimony of the auctioneer above quoted is not denied, and the evidence affirmatively shows that she was present when the auctioneer made this statement. It may have been, however, that she was not paying attention when it was made, and did not hear or comprehend what he was saying.

After the sale Mr. and Mrs. Tumin went into an office with the auctioneer and the trustee, and they asked her to make a deposit on her purchase. She. made a deposit of $100.00, and received a receipt, signed by the auctioneer, which reads as follows: ■

“Received of Lena D. Tumin the sum of One Hundred and no/100 Dollars account deposit on purchase at public auction of premises at 321-323 West 29th street at a price of $3,075.00.” ■

Mr. Baldwin, the trustee, then asked Mrs. Tumin what she was going to do about the $6,880.60 prior lien on the property; and suggested to her that the Loan Association held this prior lien on the property and would continue to carry it for her if she desired to have it do so. Up to this point there is very little conflict in the evidence; but the testimony is very conflicting as to what then occurred.

Mr. and Mrs. Turnin’s testimony is to the following effect.

When Mr.

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164 S.E. 562, 158 Va. 771, 1932 Va. LEXIS 297, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/definite-contract-building-loan-assn-v-tumin-va-1932.