Equitable Life Assur. Soc. of United States v. Ellis

65 S.W.2d 250, 16 Tenn. App. 551, 1933 Tenn. App. LEXIS 27
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedApril 25, 1933
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 65 S.W.2d 250 (Equitable Life Assur. Soc. of United States v. Ellis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Equitable Life Assur. Soc. of United States v. Ellis, 65 S.W.2d 250, 16 Tenn. App. 551, 1933 Tenn. App. LEXIS 27 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1933).

Opinion

CROWNOVER, J.

This suit was brought by the complainant to foreclose a deed of trust and to have a receiver appointed to take charge of the crops growing upon the land.

E. L. Crosswy owned a tract of land of 240.5' acres in Robertson county. He sold it to George S. Ellis and wife, taking their note in payment for same. Ellis and wife borrowed $15,000 from the Central Trust Company, on June 1, 1923, and executed a note for same and a deed of trust to secure same, conveying the 240.5 acres. Ellis paid some of this money to Crosswy and executed a second trust deed on the land to secure the payment of the rest. The second deed of trust was foreclosed on August 26, 1926, and Crosswy purchased the land at the foreclosure sale, subject to the first deed of trust. He did not assume the payment of the note of Ellis and wife to the Central Trust Company.

The Central Trust Company assigned the deed of trust to the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States and indorsed and delivered the note to same.

R. W. McLemore was named as trustee in the deed of trust and joined in the transfer of the deed of trust and indebtedness to the Equitable Life Assurance Society. The deed of trust provided for the appointment of a substitute trustee should the original trustee be unable or refuse to act as trustee, and in accordance with the provisions of said deed of trust the complainant appointed J. B. Keeble, Jr., as substitute trustee by a writing duly executed and registered.

No payments were ever made on the $15,000 note, but Crosswy paid the interest for 1927 and 1928; and it matured on June 1, 1928.

’On August 21, 1929, complainant filed a bill in the chancery court of Robertson county for foreclosure of the trust deed, for injunction *553 to prevent the cutting of the tobacco crop growing upon the land and to prevent the cutting of timber, and for the appointment of a receiver to take possession of the land and apply its rents and profits, and especially the tobacco crop, to the payment of any judgment rendered or amount found due upon said note. The bill alleged the land would not sell for an amount sufficient to pay the note, interest), etc. The trustee was not made a party to the bill.

Injunction ivas granted.

Crosswy filed a demurrer to the original bill, the grounds of same being: (1) No equity. (2) Plain and adequate remedy to foreclose through the trustee by advertisement and sale without resort to court proceedings. (3) Bill shows no reason why court had to be resorted to. (4) That the real object and purpose of the bill was to procure the crops then about ready to be severed. (5) That the trustee named in the trust deed was a necessary and proper party to the suit, and was not made such. (6) That no grounds for injunction were laid, and that it was improvidently granted. (7) That no ground for the granting of the injunction to prevent the cutting of the tobacco was shown in the bill. (8) That the court will take judicial knowledge of the fact that the tobacco 'in the natural order of things ought to be cut. And (9) that the bill does not show that Crosswy has done anything with regard to said tobacco or that he was about to do anything thereto that should not be done. He answered and denied that he had assumed the debt of the Equitable; and denied that he had cut any timber to sell, but showed that he had cut some logs to be sawed into lumber to build a shed to one of the barns on the place to store the tobacco. He alleged that he had greatly enhanced the value of the farm by making improvements thereon to the extent of from $1,000 to $1,500. He alleged that there was no necessity to file the bill to foreclose, as the trustee in the deed of trust had the right to foreclose by advertisement and sale: that the bill was filed for the purpose of appropriating his tobacco crop in payment of the mortgage. He admitted that he would cut the tobacco; that it ought to be cut. He pleaded estoppel against the complainant, for it stood by and saw him improve the place and plant and produce the crops and made no objection; therefore it ought not to have an injunction or receiver.

On August 31, 1929, the chancellor modified the injunction so as to permit Crosswy to cut the remainder of the tobacco and sufficient timber in addition to that already cut to shed the barn. At this hearing the substitute trustee in the deed of trust was made a party complainant on motion of complainant. The chancellor refused to appoint a receiver.

On September '9, 1929, the complainants filed a petition for the appointment of a receiver, in which they alleged, in addition to the *554 allegations of their original bill, that the defendants Ellis and, Crosswy were insolvent. On the same date they filed a petition for an injunction to prevent Crosswy from disposing of his interest in the,tobacco, which was granted.

Crosswy filed demurrers and answers to the two petitions. The demurrers raised the following questions: (1) Want of equity. (2) The petition shows the tobacco has or will be cut, and complainants are not entitled to have such tobacco as was cut placed in the hands of a receiver, and do not so allege. (3) That it does not affirmatively appear that at the time of the filing of the petition the tobacco was yet attached to the land. (4) That the petition in effect admits they are not entitled to a receiver to take charge of tobacco severed from the land. (5) No sufficient allegation for appointment of a receiver. (6) That complainants have no lien on the tobacco and did not acquire such by filing the bill, or otherwise, and do not claim any such lien. (7) Because the petition shows that it is the debt of Ellis and wife, while the petition admits that the tobacco is the property of Crosswy, and they do not show they are entitled to appropriate the same to the payment of the debt. (8) That the'allegation that com-i plainants do not believe that the land will bring a sufficient amount to pay the debt is insufficient. (9) That the allegation that the complainants “are informed on good authority” that defendant Crosswy, Geo. S. Ellis, and wife are insolvent is not a sufficient allegation. (10) That Crosswy is not a party to the trust deed, and that the provision in the same for the appointment of a receiver did not confer upon the court any further power than it had by law, and that no other ground sufficient was stated. (11) That, if the provision in the trust deed authorizing the appointment of a receiver did enlarge the power of the court, it is against public policy. (12) That, if such provision did enlarge the power of the court, it deprived defendant of property without due process of law and violated the Federal Constitution. (13) That such a provision, if it enlarge the court’s powers, violated the Constitution of Tennessee. (14) Because it is not alleged that Crosswy will or has fraudulently disposed of his interest in said tobacco. The answers, filed at the same time, raised the same questions as the demurrer, and set up that at the time the original bill was filed about a fourth of the tobacco had been cut, and that when the petition was filed that two-thirds had been cut. He denied complainants’ right to any of the relief asked in the petitions or to any judgment against him for or on any account.

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Bluebook (online)
65 S.W.2d 250, 16 Tenn. App. 551, 1933 Tenn. App. LEXIS 27, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/equitable-life-assur-soc-of-united-states-v-ellis-tennctapp-1933.