Druckamiller v. Coy

85 N.E. 1028, 42 Ind. App. 500, 1908 Ind. App. LEXIS 78
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 17, 1908
DocketNo. 6,237
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 85 N.E. 1028 (Druckamiller v. Coy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Druckamiller v. Coy, 85 N.E. 1028, 42 Ind. App. 500, 1908 Ind. App. LEXIS 78 (Ind. Ct. App. 1908).

Opinion

Hadley, J.

Appellee sued appellant upon the following instrument in writing:

“For a valuable consideration I promise to pay to Jemima Coy, at Elkhart county, in the State of Indiana, $500 on the following conditions, to wit: Whereas David Coy and said Jemima Coy have this day executed to John C. Druckamiller a mortgage on sixty acres of land [describing it], to secure said Druckamiller as surety for said David Coy; and whereas it is agreed and understood that said real estate mortgaged is of greater value than necessary to secure said Druekamiller, and in consideration of said Jemima Coy’s joining in and signing said mortgage; now, if said-Druebamiller, his administrators, executors or assigns, should foreclose said mortgage and sell said real estate on such foreclosure, and the title thereby pass from said Coys, then only shall said Druckamiller be liable for the payment of said amount, and should said mortgage never be foreclosed, and said real estate never be sold on said foreclosure, then no amount shall ever be due on this instrument and this instrument to be without any interest thereon until said, real estate is sold as aforesaid; the same is to be without relief from valuation and-appraisement laws.”

The complaint averred foreclosure of the mortgage and sale thereunder, and the passing of the title of said real estate to appellant. To this complaint appellee answered (1) by general denial; (2) admitting the averments of the complaint as to the execution of the instrument sued on, the foreclosure of the mortgage and sale of the lands, but aver[502]*502ring that at the time of the execution of the mortgage to appellant there was an equity in said lands above the amount of said mortgage sufficient to justify the payment of the $500, as agreed; that afterwards the husband of appellee became indebted in the sum of $515, and, on account of his failure to pay the interest on said indebtedness, was about to be sued thereon, which would have resulted in depriving the family of their goods and chattels, and, at the solicitation and request of appellee and her husband, appellant secured the payment of said indebtedness; that, to induce him so to secure said indebtedness, appellee and her husband joined in a second mortgage to appellant upon the same land covered by the mortgage referred to under said instrument; that, on account of the default of said husband, appellant was obliged to and did pay all of said debts so secured by him, and which were included in both of said mortgages, and that the same have not been repaid to him; that, after his payment of said indebtedness, he brought suit and foreclosed both of said mortgages on said land, and sold the same for $100 less than the amount of his judgment. against the husband of appellee; that he has paid more than the amount of appellee’s claim in excess of his said first mortgage at appellee’s instance and request.

The third paragraph admitted the execution of the contract, but averred that after its execution, for a good and valuable consideration, then amounting to the sum of $515, assumed and subsequently paid by appellant at the request of appellee for and on behalf of her husband, then in life, it was agreed by and between appellee and appellant that said contract sued on should be null and void and be canceled, and appellee at said time for said consideration agreed to destroy the same; that appellant performed his part of said agreement, but that appellee failed to destroy the instrument, as agreed.

The fourth paragraph of answer embodies substantially [503]*503the averments of the. second and third paragraphs. To the second, third and fourth paragraphs of answer appellee demurred, which demurrer was sustained. Appellant withdrew his first paragraph of general denial and refused to plead further, and judgment was rendered upon the complaint in favor of appellee.

1. The only question presented by this appeal is upon the rulings of the court in sustaining the demurrer to the answers of appellant. The instrument sued on is clearly an indemnity bond maturing upon the breach of the

condition specified therein.

2. In the averments of the second paragraph there is nothing to show that it represented the inchoate interest of the wife, or that the amount secured by the second mortgage, together with that secured by the first and the amount of the instrument sued on, exceeded the value of the land. The averments of the answer are that appellant was induced to secure the second indebtedness by the execution to him of a second mortgage on said land. The execution of this mortgage did not necessarily grant appellant a right adverse to said bond of indemnity. It is true, the second mortgage was executed without any indemnity or limitation; but appellee might well have been induced to sign said second mortgage, relying upon the fact that she had her bond for $500, if she lost the land, and appellant might have been induced to accept said second mortgage as security upon the belief that the value of the land would amply protect him as against the amount of his obligation so assumed, as well as the bond he had executed. For these reasons the second paragraph of answer was insufficient and the demurrer properly sustained.

The third and fourth paragraphs, however, by their averments, present a different question. As the averments of the third are embodied in the fourth, the discussion will relate to the fourth paragraph. By this paragraph it is shown, as a defense to the action, that appellee, to induce [504]*504appellant to become the surety for appellee’s husband, agreed with appellant to join her husband in said second mortgage, and also to waive and cancel the bond sued on; that appellant, in accordance with said contract, did secure the debts of the husband of appellee, and not only secured them but paid them, fully performing his part of said agreement and asking that she should be required to perform hers.

3. Against this defense it is urged that such an agreement,, on the part of the appellee, was a surety contract, and within the prohibition of §7855 Burns 1908, §5119 R. S. 1881, which is as follows: “A married woman shall not enter into any contract of suretyship, whether as indorser, guarantor, or in any other manner; and such contract, as to her, shall be void. ’ ’ Of course, if the contract relied on was a contract of suretyship of any kind or character, it is unenforceable as ^gainst appellee, who, at the time it was made, was a married woman.

4. A contract of suretyship is defined to be- a contract “whereby one person engages to be answerable for the debt, default or miscarriage of another. ’ ’ 2 Burrill’s Law Dict., 500. See, also, Koh-i-noor Laundry Co. v. Lockwood (1895), 141 Ind. 140.

5.. Measured by this rule, it is evident that the contract between appellee and appellant was not a contract of surety-ship. Under it, as alleged, appellee assumed no liability for the debts of her husband.

6. .After the contract was executed, whether her husband paid his debts or appellant paid them for him could not affect her separate property. She did not pledge any of her property further than to waive her right to her inchoate .interest in her husband’s real estate, and this, under our decisions, she had power to do. Cupp v. Campbell (1885), 103 Ind. 213, and cases cited.

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Related

Gifford v. Gifford
107 N.E. 308 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1914)
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105 N.E. 594 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1914)
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103 N.E. 869 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1914)

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Bluebook (online)
85 N.E. 1028, 42 Ind. App. 500, 1908 Ind. App. LEXIS 78, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/druckamiller-v-coy-indctapp-1908.