Dunaway v. Local Bldg. & Loan Ass'n

1938 OK 125, 77 P.2d 574, 182 Okla. 323, 1938 Okla. LEXIS 540
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 1, 1938
DocketNo. 27549.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 1938 OK 125 (Dunaway v. Local Bldg. & Loan Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dunaway v. Local Bldg. & Loan Ass'n, 1938 OK 125, 77 P.2d 574, 182 Okla. 323, 1938 Okla. LEXIS 540 (Okla. 1938).

Opinion

HURST, J.

This is an action to quiet title to certain property upon which the defendant claims an interest by virtue of a mortgage thereon, the foreclosure of which defendant seeks in its cross-petition. The controversy arises from the following facts: On January 34, 1927, W. M. and Alva K. Diddle owned the property in question. They subscribed for 30 shares of stock of defendant association and executed a “Nonnegotiable Mortgage Note” to it in the sum of $3,000 on the above date. At the same time, a mortgage, the terms of which will be set out in greater detail hereafter, covering the property and the 30 shares of stock was executed by the Diddles as security for the debt. The note and mortgage called for monthly payments of $37.50, of which $19.50 was to be paid as interest on the loan, and $18 monthly dues upon the stock, which stock, when fully paid, discharged the obligation.

Thereafter the property was conveyed and the loan transferred to the defendant Sher-ritt, who, in turn, transferred the property to the plaintiffs by the warranty deed containing the following recital:

“To have and to hold said described premises * * * free, clear and discharged of and from all former * * * mortgages and other liens and encumbrances of whatsoever nature, except a first mortgage of ($3,000) three thousand dollars to the Local Building and Loan Company of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. * * *”

The mortgage referred to above contained the following clause:

“First: Said mortgagors being the owner of thirty shares of stock of the said the Local Building and Loan Association, and having borrowed of said Association, in pursuance of its by-laws, the money secured by this mortgage, will do all things which the by-laws of said Association require shareholders and borrowers to do, and will pay to said Association on said stock and loan the sum of Thirty-seven Dollars and Fifty cents ($37.50) per month, on or before the 30 th day of each and every month until said stock shall mature as provided in said 'by-laws. * * *”

After the foregoing transaction, plaintiffs filed a form “Application for Transfer of Loan” with the defendant association, which contained, among other things not pertinent here, the following:

“I (or .we) hereby make application to your association to have your mortgage loan No. 22643, for $3,000.00 * * * transferred on your books to the name of Mary M. Dun-away. * * *
“I (or we) have purchased the real estate described in the mortgage securing said loan, and will and do hereby assume and agree to pay said loan and to comply with all the terms and conditions thereof, provided you consent to this transfer.”

Defendant formally consented to and did transfer plaintiffs’ names on the books of the company. At the time of the transfer to plaintiffs, the following by-law of defendant association was in effect: “A transfer of the real property and loan shall automatically transfer the collateral stock to the new owner of said realty.”

Plaintiffs paid $37.50 monthly to defendant association until the sum of $3,000 had been paid, and declined to make further payments. They instituted this action to quiet title to the premises claiming the note and mortgage had been paid. The defendant cross-petitioned for foreclosure of the mortgage, seeking no personal judgment against plaintiffs. The trial court, after the evidence was in, sustained defendant’s motion for a directed verdict for the balance due on the note and mortgage and decreed foreclosure of the mortgage. Default judgment was entered against the defendant Sher-ritt. Plaintiffs appeal, making ten assignments of error, which have been briefed under three propositions.

The first proposition is that the trial court erred in holding that the plaintiffs assumed the obligation of the stock purchase contract entered into between the Diddles and the defendant association. *325 Plaintiffs’ theory in this regard is that the purchase of stock and the borrowing of money from a building and loan association have been declared to be two transactions having no connection with each other so as to support an action for usury (McGuire v. Oklahoma City Building & Loan Association [1925] 112 Okla. 158, 241 P. 800; Walker v. Local Building & Loan Association [1936] 176 Okla. 168, 54 P.2d 1078). Plaintiffs further contend that when they purchased the property they assumed only the payment of the loan, and not the purchase of the stock, and therefore, the payments made by them which were credited on the purchase of the stock by the defendant association should be credited, with interest, on the loan. Plaintiffs also contend that, since they bought only Sherritt’s equity of redemption, they did not assume payment of the mortgage indebtedness by the warranty deed to them from Sherritt, and consequently could not have assumed the purchase of the stock, which was part of the obligation contained in the mortgage and which had no reference to the sale of the land. Plaintiffs further state that the by-law, set out hereinbefore, has no application to them, for the reason that they had not agreed to abide by the laws of the association.

We need not determine whether plaintiffs are correct in asserting that they did not assume the purchase of the stock by the deed to them from Sherritt, or whether thereby the by-law of the association quoted above was made applicable to them. The assumption of the obligation to purchase the stock was consummated' in the “Application for .Transfer of Loan” which plaintiffs made to defendant association. By that instrument, they expressly assumed and agreed “to pay said loan and to comply with all the terms and conditions thereof.” The loan consisted of the $3,000, with interest, advanced by defendant association to the Diddles, and the “terms and conditions thereof” were embodied in the nonnegotiable mortgage note and the mortgage securing same, both of which instruments expressly provided for the payment of $37.50 monthly, part of which was to be applied as monthly dues on the stock and part as interest due on the sum borrowed, and of which note and mortgage plaintiffs had notice. Plaintiffs agreed to comply with these terms and conditions. Gunby v. Armstrong, 133 F. 417. To hold otherwise, and to hold as contended by plaintiffs, would nullify plaintiffs’ agreement to comply with all the terms and conditions of the loan.

This conclusion is substantiated by plaintiffs’ conduct with reference to the transaction. The record discloses that after the property was conveyed to them, they acquired possession of the passbook issued by the defendant association; placed their name on its cover, and lined out Diddle’s name thereon; that when they made their monthly payments, same were entered in the book by the defendant association under the heading of “Dues” and “Interest” in the sums agreed upon; that on the- face of the passbook itself the following appeared: “Installment Stock, Glass B, Monthly Payment, Dues — $18.00, Interest $19.50, Total— $37.50”; that dividends on the stock were entered in the appropriate column in the passbook; and that plaintiffs had possession of the book up to the time of the trial, except when it was returned for audit. No evidence appears in the record wherein plaintiffs objected to the crediting of $18 per month to the stock or that they refused to accept the dividend credited to them on the stock.

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Bluebook (online)
1938 OK 125, 77 P.2d 574, 182 Okla. 323, 1938 Okla. LEXIS 540, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dunaway-v-local-bldg-loan-assn-okla-1938.