F. A. Patrick & Co. v. Knapp

145 N.W. 598, 27 N.D. 100, 1914 N.D. LEXIS 29
CourtNorth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 11, 1914
StatusPublished

This text of 145 N.W. 598 (F. A. Patrick & Co. v. Knapp) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering North Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
F. A. Patrick & Co. v. Knapp, 145 N.W. 598, 27 N.D. 100, 1914 N.D. LEXIS 29 (N.D. 1914).

Opinion

Burke, J.

June 12, 1905, Annis Brown was the owner of a business block in the city of Dickinson, North Dakota, and upon that date she executed a mortgage upon the premises to one Hilliard to secure the sum of $5,000. August 1, 1908, she 'obtained a further loan from Hilliard in the sum of $2,000, for the purpose of placing the building in repair, and as security assigned to him “the rents and profits of said described premises until the full amount of said note shall be paid.” This assignment was never placed on record with the register of deeds of Stark county, but under its terms Hilliard assumed the management of the premises, rented the same, collected the rent, and applied the proceeds upon his $2,000 note. September 11, 1908, plaintiffs obtained [103]*103judgment against Annis Brown, caused execution to issue, and the premises were sold on the 31st day of December, 1910, to satisfy the amount of said judgment, plaintiffs being the purchasers at such sale. Said sale was thereafter duly confirmed by the court. This action was thereupon commenced by the plaintiffs to recover rents and profits of the premises from Knapp, who was the tenant in possession. Billiard intervened in said suit, and shortly thereafter caused foreclosure proceedings upon his $5,000 mortgage, which resulted in a sale of the premises to him on July 1, 1911. No redemption was made from either sale.

Two separate questions are presented to us for decision. First, who was entitled to the rents from December 31, 1910, until July 1> 1911; and second, to whom did the said rents belong after that date.

(1) Until December 31, 1910, Annis Brown was the owner of the premises in question, and had a right to the rents and profits, or might assign or hypothecate the same. It is undisputed that she did so assign the rents and profits to Hilliard. Upon that date all her interest in the said premises were sold upon execution sale to the plaintiffs, Patrick & Company. They became the owners of the premises subject to the mortgage of Hilliard, and subject to the various rights of redemption held by Annis Brown and her creditors. See Clement v. Shipley, 2 N. D. 430, 51 N. W. 414; Whittled v. St. Anthony & D. Elevator Co. 9 N. D. 224, 50 L.R.A. 254, 81 Am. St. Rep. 562, 83 N. W. 238; Page v. Rogers, 31 Cal. 294, from which we quote: “The legal title remains in the judgment debtor, with the further right in him and his creditors having subsequent liens, to defeat the operation of a sale already made during a period of six months, after which the equitable estate acquired by the purchaser becomes absolute and indefeasible, and the mere dry, naked, legal title remains in the judgment debtor, with authority in the sheriff to devest it by executing a deed to the purchaser. Even during the period which elapses between the sale and expiration of the time for redemption, the statute regards the purchaser as the owner in equity and gives him the rents and profits; . . . in short, it gives him the entire beneficial interest in the property except the actual possession.” See also Kline v. Chase, 17 Cal. 596; North Dakota Horse & Cattle Co. v. Serumgard, 17 N. D. 466, 486, 29 L.R.A.(N.S.) 508, 138 Am. St. Rep. 717, 117 N. W. 453.

[104]*104Section 7148, Rev. Codes 1905, reads: “The purchaser from the time of the sale until a redemption, and a redemptioner from the time of his redemption until another redemption, is entitled to receive from the tenant in possession the rents of the property sold, or the value of the use and occupation thereof. ...”

Thus, upon the sale of Annis Brown’s interest in the land, we find her devested of the equitable title and the right to collect rents and profits, which have been transferred by the sale to plaintiffs herein. It must necessarily follow that any prior assignment or hypothecation of those rents must fail with the passing of her title. If she could not collect the same herself, she certainly had no right to collect them through an assignee. Upon said date Patrick & Company stepped into her shoes and became the owners of the property as truly as she had been, subject only to the prior encumbrances held by Hilliard and the right of redemption by other lien holders. No redemption having been made from the sale, they were not required to account for the rents which they x*eceived. The parties would evidently be in the same position as though Patrick & Company had, on the 31st day of December, 1910, purchased the premises from Mrs. Brown. In view of the fact that no mortgage foreclosure proceedings had been instituted at that time, and that the assignment of the lease was not of record, and had not been brought to the attention of Patrick & Company, would they not be entitled to the rents until a sale of the premises under the mortgage? Section 7148, supra, makes no distinction between purchasers at execution and mortgage foreclosure sales, and the case of Gaynor v. Blewett, 82 Wis. 313, 33 Am. St. Rep. 47, 52 N. W. 313, treats the proposition in this wise: “He [Hilliard in this case] could not get any better right than his lessor, the mortgagor defendant [Mrs. Brown—in this case] had. It matters not that he did not know, as he says, that there was any intention to apply for the appointment of a receiver. He knew, or is chargeable with knowledge, that the court might make such an appointment ... so far as the possession of the premises is concerned; the appointment of the receiver had the effect of an equitable ejectment. Were this otherwise the beneficial results of a receivership could be easily defeated by giving a lease of the premises in question long -enough to last during the probable duration of the litigation, and by collecting the rent in advance. The receiver, on his [105]*105appointment, became entitled, as against tbe appellants, to tbe possession and use of tbe premises, and bis rights are in no way affected by tbe provisions of tbe lease and payment in advance of rent.” In tbe Wisconsin case, sale bad been made on foreclosure and a receiver appointed to collect tbe rents, which is tbe only difference between that and the case at bar, excepting that tbe rents in that case bad been paid for one year in advance to tbe assignee, who corresponds to Mr. Hilliard in tbis case. In the case of Harris v. Foster, 97 Cal. 292, 33 Am. St. Rep. 187, 32 Pac. 246, tbe tenant bad paid tbe rents in advance for the whole term of bis lease. Foreclosure had been begun and tbe mortgagee attempted to collect tbe rents from tbe tenant. We quote: “Tbe defendant contends that as be leased tbe land before it was purchased by tbe plaintiff at tbe foreclosure sale, and paid to the then owners tbe rent in advance for tbe whole term, in accordance with the agreement contained in tbe lease; that be is not liable to tbe plaintiff. , . . Tbe plaintiff having become tbe purchaser of the land under a deci’ee foreclosing a mortgage made long before tbe date of defendant’s lease, and of wbicb mortgage tbe defendant bad notice, it is no defense to tbis action that defendant paid tbe rent in advance. Tbe lessor, to whose title plaintiff has succeeded, was not entitled to tbe rent accruing, or to tbe value of tbe use and occupation of tbe property, subsequent to tbe sale under the judgment of foreclosure, unless such lessor effected a redemption from the sale; and the payment of rent for tbe period extending beyond tbe date of such sale was made by defendant at bis peril. Tbis necessarily results from tbe well-established rule that a subsequent grant or lease of mortgaged premises is subject to the prior mortgage, if the purchaser or lessee bad either actual or constructive notice of such mortgage.

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Related

Griffith v. Burlingame
51 P. 1059 (Washington Supreme Court, 1898)
Kline v. Chase
17 Cal. 596 (California Supreme Court, 1861)
Harris v. Foster
32 P. 246 (California Supreme Court, 1893)
Bank of Pennsylvania v. Wise
3 Watts 394 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1834)
Martin v. Martin
7 Md. 368 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1855)
Clement v. Shipley
51 N.W. 414 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1892)
Whithed v. St. Anthony & Dakota Elevator Co.
83 N.W. 238 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1900)
North Dakota Horse & Cattle Co. v. Serumgard
117 N.W. 453 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1908)
Abercrombie v. Redpath
1 Iowa 111 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1855)
Van Driel v. Rosierz
26 Iowa 575 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1869)
Knapp v. Isenberger
45 Iowa 670 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1877)
Taliaferro v. Gay
78 Ky. 496 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1879)
Loving v. Commonwealth
80 Ky. 507 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1882)
Norris v. Williams
65 S.W. 439 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1901)
Smith v. Newman
130 S.W. 953 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1910)
Gaynor v. Blewett
52 N.W. 313 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1892)

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Bluebook (online)
145 N.W. 598, 27 N.D. 100, 1914 N.D. LEXIS 29, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/f-a-patrick-co-v-knapp-nd-1914.