Ely v. Hoida

226 P. 525, 70 Mont. 542, 1924 Mont. LEXIS 86
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedMay 29, 1924
DocketNo. 5,450
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 226 P. 525 (Ely v. Hoida) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ely v. Hoida, 226 P. 525, 70 Mont. 542, 1924 Mont. LEXIS 86 (Mo. 1924).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE STARE

delivered the opinion of the court.

On June 18, 1910, Anthony J. Hoida and Adeline Hoida made, executed and delivered to Antonio Ely, as administrator of the estates of Frank Ely and Annie Ely, deceased, their promissory note for the sum of $2,000, payable one year after date, with interest at seven per cent per annum, and, to secure payment thereof at the same time executed and delivered to said Ely a mortgage covering real estate described therein as lots 17 and 18 in block 1 of the Lennox addition to the city of Butte, which mortgage was duly recorded on July 5, 1910, in Volume 33 of Mortgages, page 225, in the office of the clerk and recorder of Silver Bow county. This mortgage will be hereafter referred to as the Ely mortgage.

On January 7, 1911, by a decree of distribution entered in the estates of Frank and Annie Ely, the above note and mortgage were set over and transferred to Annie, Mary, Lewis, [544]*544Francis and Antone Ely, minor children and heirs at law of said decedents, and the same passed to their then guardian, Antonio Ely. Thereafter, prior to February 8, 1917, Mary, Annie and Lewis attained their majority, and Annie sold her interest in this note and mortgage to the other heirs. On or about the eighth day of February, 1917, Thomas J. Fenlon was appointed guardian of the estates of Antone and Francis in place of Antonio Ely.

About February, 1917, Antone and Francis Ely, by their guardian, Thomas J. Fenlon, and Mary and Lewis Ely, commenced an action designated A8682 in the district court of Silver Bow county against Anthony J. Hoida and Adeline Hoida et at., to foreclose the Ely mortgage, alleging that the indebtedness secured thereby had not been paid. The defendants Anthony J. and Adeline Hoida filed an answer in said action which, in effect, admitted the allegations of the complaint as to the cause of action and ownership of the note and mortgage, and pleaded a payment of the note. The pleadings of the other defendants in- that action are not material to a consideration of this appeal.

On February 1, 1911, said Anthony J. and Adeline Hoida made, executed and delivered to Jennie Bateman their promissory note for $3,000, due one year after date, bearing interest at eight per cent per annum and, to secure its payment, at the same time executed and delivered to said Bateman a mortgage covering certain real estate, described therein by metes and bounds, which mortgage was thereafter, on February 21, 1911, duly recorded in Book 12 of Mortgages at page 425, in the office of the clerk and recorder of Silver Bow county, and will be referred to as the Bateman mortgage.

On May 4, 1917, and subsequent to the commencement of the action designated as A8682, Jennie Bateman commenced an action in the district court of Silver Bow -county, designated as cause No. A8909, against Anthony J, and Adeline Hoida, to foreclose the above-mentioned mortgage, joining as defendants [545]*545therein the plaintiffs named in cause No. A8682, as to whom her complaint alleges that they “have or claim to have some interest or claim upon the said premises or some part thereof as purchasers or mortgagees thereof, which interest or claims are subsequent to and subject to the lien of plaintiff’s mortgage,” To this complaint the defendants Hoida filed an answer containing a general denial. The defendants who were plaintiffs in case No'. 8682 filed an answer, which, after formal admissions and denials not material here, as an affirmative defense and as a showing of their interest in the premises claimed to be covered by the Bateman mortgage, set forth the facts with reference to the execution of the Ely mortgage as contained in the complaint in case No. A8682, and upon information and belief alleged “that the property mentioned and described in plaintiff’s complaint is the same or a portion of the same property as that mentioned and described” in the Ely mortgage, and “that at the time of the making, execution, and delivery of the mortgage referred to in plaintiff’s complaint [she] was neither a bona fide purchaser nor encumbrancer in good faith and for value and without notice, but expressly allege the fact to be that plaintiff took said note and mortgage with notice of the prior lien of said Annie Ely, Mary Ely, Frank Ely, Lewis Ely, and Frances Ely upon and against the property mentioned and described therein.”

The allegations of the affirmative defense contained in this answer were put in issue by a reply, which further alleged that the indebtedness secured by the Ely mortgage had been paid.

By stipulation of counsel for all the parties the two causes, Nos. A8682 and A8909, were consolidated and tried to the court without a jury. After hearing the testimony the court made findings of fact and conclusions of law and entered a decree of foreclosure of both the Ely and Bateman mortgages, and adjudged that the lien of the Bateman mortgage was subject and inferior to the lien of the Ely mortgage. From this [546]*546judgment Jennie Bateman, the plaintiff in case No. A8909, alone has appealed.

Counsel for respondents contend that appellant has in this court adopted a theory wholly different from that advanced in the lower court, and is thereby precluded from urging the points now made against the validity of the court’s decree. The bill of exceptions does not purport to contain all the evidence introduced at the trial, but the recitals therein, together with the court’s findings, seem to indicate that the matters relied upon by appellant on this appeal were presented to and considered by the court, and we therefore proceed to an examination of the cause upon the merits.

The principal question presented for consideration is whether the court erred in holding that' the lien of the Bateman mortgage was subordinate and inferior to the lien of the Ely mortgage.

Upon the trial of the action in the district court a plat of the Lenox addition to the city of Butte was introduced in evidence, and the same has been certified to this court as an original exhibit. From this plat it is made to appear that the Lenox addition embraces a portion of the Summit Valley placer, M. E. 3125; that it contains six blocks, numbered 1 to 6, consecutively, beginning on the west; that the lots in block 1 facing the west are numbered from 1 to 14, inclusive, beginning on the north, while the lots of this block facing east are numbered 26 to 39, inclusive, beginning on the south; so that this block does not contain any lots numbered 17 and 18. Blocks 3 and 4 of the addition each contain lots which are numbered 17 and 18. Immediately south of and adjoining block 1, but wholly outside the Lenox addition, an area is shown upon the plat in which the land covered by the metes and bounds description of the Bateman mortgage is located. '

It is not questioned but that full consideration was given for the Bateman mortgage, and there is no evidence in the record which shows or tends to show that Bateman had any actual [547]*547knowledge or notice of the Ely mortgage at the time she took her mortgage, so that, if her security was at all affected by the Ely mortgage, it was because the record thereof imparted construetivee notice to her. By section 6934, Bevised Codes of 1921, it is provided: “Every conveyance of real property acknowledged or proved, and certified and recorded as prescribed by law, from the time it is filed with the county clerk for record, is constructive notice of the contents thereof to subsequent purchasers and mortgagees.”

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Bluebook (online)
226 P. 525, 70 Mont. 542, 1924 Mont. LEXIS 86, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ely-v-hoida-mont-1924.