Dow v. Memphis & L. R. R.

20 F. 768
CourtUnited States Circuit Court
DecidedApril 15, 1884
StatusPublished

This text of 20 F. 768 (Dow v. Memphis & L. R. R.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Circuit Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dow v. Memphis & L. R. R., 20 F. 768 (uscirct 1884).

Opinion

Beewee, J.

The defendant’s mortgage, in terms, conveyed “all the income, rents, issues, tolls, profits, receipts, moneys, rights, benefits, and advantages had, received, or derived by the said railroad company from its railroad or other property, or in any other way whatsoever.” There was also in the mortgage a stipulation for the retention of possession by the mortgagor until default in the payment of interest. On April 15th a receiver was appointed, and the defendant was required by the order of this court to deliver to him all its property, including therein the moneys then on hand. At that time it had in its possession $32,216.20. Thereafter, the defendant moved to strike from the order so much as required it to deliver to the receiver these moneys. It is admitted that these moneys were derived solely from the operation of the road and the use of the mortgaged property.

This, therefore, is the question presented: Could the mortgagor, having in his possession unexpended earnings of the mortgaged property, be compelled to turn those earnings over for the benefit of the mortgagee? The general proposition is, of course, beyond dispute, that when a mortgagee allows a mortgagor to remain in possession after default, the latter takes the rents and profits to his own use, and the former cannot require him to account therefor, nor recover them from him. It were mere affectation of learning to go into any extended investigation of this question. The doctrine is fully stated in Jones, Mortg., as follows:

“So long as the mortgagor is allowed to remain in possession ho is entitled to receive and apply to his own use the income and profits of the mortgaged estate. He is not liable for the rent. His contract is to pay interest, and not rent. Although the mortgagee may have the right to take possession upon a breach of the condition, if he does not exercise the right ho cannot claim the profits. Upon a bill in equity to obtain foreclosure and sale, he may, in proper cases, apply for the appointment of a receiver, to take for his benefit the earnings of the property. If ho neglect to do this, the final decree, if silent upon this subject, does not affect the mortgagor’s possession or right to the earnings in the mean time. The sale under the decree, except where statutes provide otherwise, wholly divests him of title, and consequently of right to possession.
“These principles are the same whatever be the subject of tho mortgage. Although tlio mortgage be given by a railroad company, and by its terms includes not only its property and franchises, but also ‘ the tolls, rents, and profits to bo had, gained, or levied therefrom,’ but it is implied from the mortgage that the company is to hold possession and receive the earnings of the road until the mortgagee takes it, or the proper judicial authority should interpose, the possession, so long as it is continuous, gives the right to recoivo the income of the road, and to apply it to the general purposes and debts of tlie company. So long as the company is allowed to receive the income of the road it is within its discretion to decide what shall be done witli it. The mortgage does not affect the application of it. If the mortgagees want it they must take possession of the road; or, pending a bill to foreclose the mortgage, apply for the appointment of a receiver. Upon the appointment of a receiver [770]*770he cannot maintain a suit to recover earnings of the road in the hands of an agent which accrued before the receiver’s appointment.
“In like manner, if the mortgage be of leasehold premises, and the mortgagor hold over after breach of the condition, the law does not imply an obligation on his part to pay rent previous to an entry by the mortgagee.” Section 670.
“The mortgagor, while in possession, is entitled to the rents. So long as the mortgagor is allowed to remain in possession without an actual entry by the mortgagee, although there has been a breach of the condition of the mortgage, he is entitled to receive the rents and profits to his own use, and is not liable to account for them to the mortgagee. If the premises are .under-lease, the right of the mortgagor i r possession to the rents is the same, whether the lease was made before or after the mortgage. He may lawfully receive the rents until the mortgagee interferes, and he receives them to his own absolute use, and not to the use of the mortgagee.” Section 771.

See, also, the following authorities cited by counsel for the defendant: 2 Washb. Real Prop. 156; Higgins v. Building Co. 2 Atk. 107; Mead v. Orrery, 3 Atk. 244; Colman v. St. Albans, 3 Ves. Jr. 25; Hughes v. Edwards, 9 Wheat. 500; Wilder v. Houghton, 1 Pick. 87; Bank v. Reed, 8 Pick. 461; Mayo v. Fletcher, 14 Pick. 525; Field v. Swan, 10 Metc. 112; Chase v. Palmer, 25 Me. 341; Long v. Wade, 70 Me. 358.

This being the general doctrine, I do not think the use of the word “moneys” enlarges the rights of the mortgagee, and if a mortgage of the income and earnings does not convey past income and earnings, a mortgage of moneys will not convey such moneys as are simply income and earnings. Such words as these, — income, earnings, moneys —are prospective and not retrospective in their operation.

The case of Noyes v. Rich, 52 Me. 115, is in point. In that case the plaintiff had been appointed receiver of a railroad. The defendant had been superintendent, and had moneys in his possession which had accrued from running the road. The mortgage conveyed, among other things, the income. The plaintiff sought to recover this money. The court says:

“The right of the plaintiff cannot extend beyond the property mortgaged; and the right of the receiver must necessarily have the same limitation. * * * It will hardly be contended that, while mortgagors remain in possession, they can be compelled to pay the rents and profits of the property to the mortgagees. And yet that is just what is attempted in the case at bai\ Ho one had ever rightfully taken possession under the mortgage until it was done by the receiver, in March, I860. The money in the defendant’s hands accrued from the earnings of the road prior to that time. The mortgage did not attach to it. Therefore, it was not embraced in the subject-matter of the suit in equity, and the receiver was not entitled to it.” See, also, Railroad Co. v. Cowdrey, 11 Wall. 482.

In Gilman v. The Telegraph Co. 91 U. S. 615, the contest was between a general creditor of a railroad company and the mortgagee, as to moneys in possession derived from the operation of the road, and the rights of the creditor were held paramount. The court, by Swayne, J., thus states the law:

[771]*771“A mortgagor of real estate is not liable for rent while in possession. 2 Kent, Comm. 172. He contracts to pay interest and not rent. In Chinnery v. Blackman, 3 Doug. 391, the mortgagor of a ship sued for freight earned the mortgage was given, but unpaid. Lord Mansfield said: ‘ Until the after mortgagee takes possession the mortgagor is owner to all the world, and is entitled to all the prolit made.’ It is clearly implied in these mortgages that the railroad company should hold possession and receive the earnings until the mortgagees should take possession, or the proper judicial authority should interpose.

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Related

Hughes v. Edwards
22 U.S. 489 (Supreme Court, 1824)
Galveston Railroad v. Cowdrey
78 U.S. 459 (Supreme Court, 1871)
American Bridge Co. v. Heidelbach
94 U.S. 798 (Supreme Court, 1877)
Kountze v. Omaha Hotel Co.
107 U.S. 378 (Supreme Court, 1883)
Chase v. Palmer
25 Me. 341 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1845)
Noyes v. Rich
52 Me. 115 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1862)
Long v. Wade
70 Me. 358 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1879)

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Bluebook (online)
20 F. 768, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dow-v-memphis-l-r-r-uscirct-1884.