Dreyfus v. Gage

84 Miss. 219
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 15, 1904
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 84 Miss. 219 (Dreyfus v. Gage) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dreyfus v. Gage, 84 Miss. 219 (Mich. 1904).

Opinion

Truly, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

Upon the former appeal in this case (79 Miss., 406; 30 South., 691) it was decided that this “controversy is one as to priority of liens between the mortgagees and the landlord,” and the cause was remanded for determination on the merits of the questions of waiver, estoppel, and priority of liens. Omitting consideration of all questions not necessary for decision, and accepting’ the finding of the chancellor upon conflicting testimony as conclusive, we find the following facts to exist: That Mrs. F. S. Hicklin was the owner of a plantation which was leased for a term of years to one W. D. Moore, and that the notes of the tenant, representing the annual rent, had been, with the knowledge of the tenant, assigned and delivered to L. F. Dreyfus. During the year 1898, Moore, the tenant, had been supplied by Dreyfus, and paid the rent for that year to him; but, the crop raised being insufficient to pay his account, a balance of $2,400 was due Dreyfus at the close of the year’s business; this balance being secured partially by a trust deed on work stock, worth approximately $600. In the early part of 1899, Dreyfus refusing to further supply Moore, the tenant, he applied to appellees for $1,200 in advances to enable him to make and gather a crop on the Ilicldin place. After some negotiations, appellees agreed to make the advances upon condition that the lien of the landlord for rent should be waived, and that Dreyfus should transfer his security on Moore’s personalty. These terms being satisfactory to Moore, the matter was by appellees submitted to their attorneys to [225]*225prepare necessary papers. The landlord, Mrs. E. S. Iiicklin, signed a waiver as required- by appellees; and W. D. Moore having agreed with Dreyfus to pay him $300 out of the moneys to be advanced by appellees, and $300 out of his logging business, Dreyfus transferred to appellees, without recourse, the security which he held. During the course of the dealings between Moore and the attorneys for appellees, and before the final consummation of the transaction, Dreyfus urged the attorneys of appellees to make the loan to Moore, giving reasons why he personally, could not continue the business; and, concealing the fact that he was the assignee of- the rent notes, he represented that a waiver from Mrs. E. S. Hicklin, the owner of the land, would give appellees a prime lien on all the crops produced, and would make the loan absolutely secure. Acting on these representations, and in complete ignorance of the fact that Dreyfus was the holder of the rent notes, appellees’ attorney demanded and received a waiver to the amount of $1,200 from Mrs. E. S. Iiicklin, had the securities held by Dreyfus transferred to appellees, took a trust deed from Moore on crops and work stock, closed the loan, and forwarded the papers to appellees. The waiver of Mrs. E. S. Hicklin not being in form satisfactory to appellees, they demanded and received another waiver of rent, signed by her, and thereupon advanced Moore a portion of the $1,200 agreed on. Afterwards they required Moore to furnish additional security, which being done, other moneys were advanced during the year, aggregating a sum in excess of the $1,200 agreed on. After the crop was made and gathered, appellees had the trustee in their trust deed on such crops institute a suit in replevin against W. D. Moore for the possession of the fifteen bales of cotton raised on the Hicklin place, and other cotton not now in controversy. W. D. Moore gave bond, and the cotton was delivered to the sureties on his bond. Before the replevin suit was tried, L. E. Dreyfus filed his bill of complaint in the chancery court, enjoining the prosecution of the suit in replevin, [226]*226and averring that he had a prime lien on the cotton under the assignment to him of the rent note and landlord’s lien. After voluminous pleadings, not necessary to detail, this cause was finally heard on pleadings and proof, and a decree rendered dissolving the injunction and awarding appellees the proceeds of the cotton; the chancellor holding that Mrs. Fannie S. Hicklin was bound by her waiver, and that L. F. Dreyfus was estopped from setting up any claim as assignee of the rent note and landlord’s lien. From that decree this appeal is prosecuted by all parties defendant.

The first contention presented on behalf of appellant is that the court erred in holding' that Mrs. F. S. Hicklin was bound by her waiver, because, it is said, appellees did not comply with the conditions expressed therein. To properly weigh the argument on this point, it is necessary to understand the relative positions of the parties, the circumstances which rendered the waiver necessary, and the considerations which induced Mrs. Hicklin to execute it. The conditions which confronted Mrs. Hicklin were these: Her plantation was leased to a man whose personalty and work stock were incumbered to an amount largely in excess of their value. The merchant who had advanced him money and supplies the previous year refused to continue the business, so that it became necessary for the tenant to procure elsewhere sufficient money to enable him to conduct his planting operations during the current year, and this he was unable to do, except upon condition that the lien of the landlord on the crops to be raised should be waived, and the existing trust deed upon his personalty should be transferred. The waiver was executed, therefore, as an inducement to some other merchant to make the necessary advances to the tenant, and thereby prevent the plantation from lying uncultivated. Hnder these circumstances, this was a perfectly natural arrangement. Mrs. Hicklin realized that without the waiver her tenant could not obtain advances, and, as a necessary consequence, she could receive no rent; while, by waiving [227]*227her lien, to a limited extent, she would insure the cultivation of her land, and still retain her right to demand as rent any cotton remaining' after the amount specified in her waiver was. fully paid. With this object in view, she executed an express waiver of her lien as landlord in favor of any person who would advance her tenant $1,200 to enable him to make and gather a crop during the year on her place. The motive of Dreyfus in assigning without recourse his trust deed on the personalty of Moore is also perfectly apparent. Not desiring to risk further advances to a customer whose business had not proved profitable the previous year — anxious to shift the burden and risk — he was still more concerned in having Moore’s farming operations continue uninterruptedly. Under the agreement between Dreyfus and Moore, if they could succeed in inducing appellees to advance Moore, Dreyfus was to receive $300 of the money so advanced, and, in addition, $300 out of Moore’s logging business; thereby securing the full value of the security which he waived. In addition to this, he would’ be entitled to the proceeds of any cotton which Moore might have after the account for advances was fully paid; such proceeds to be applied to the satisfaction of the rent note of which he was the assignee. For these reasons he was ready and willing to assist in the consummation of a transaction by which he risked nothing, but, on the contrary, had everything to gain. The fact that the trust deed from Moore to appellees, as beneficiaries, stated that the money was to be used in making a crop on other lands, in addition to the Hicklin place, and that it contained no express stipulation obligating appellees to advance the sum of $1,200 therein mentioned, under any and all circumstances, does not affect the rights of the parties concerned.

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Bluebook (online)
84 Miss. 219, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dreyfus-v-gage-miss-1904.