Federal National Mortgage Ass'n v. Carrington

374 P.2d 153, 60 Wash. 2d 410, 1962 Wash. LEXIS 327
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 23, 1962
DocketNo. 36145
StatusPublished

This text of 374 P.2d 153 (Federal National Mortgage Ass'n v. Carrington) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Federal National Mortgage Ass'n v. Carrington, 374 P.2d 153, 60 Wash. 2d 410, 1962 Wash. LEXIS 327 (Wash. 1962).

Opinion

Don worth, J.

This is an appeal from a summary judgment foreclosing a certain real estate mortgage (and a chattel mortgage on a coal and wood range) and awarding a deficiency judgment against the original mortgagors and also against appellants whose connection with the transaction is described below.

[411]*411Respondent is a corporation organized and existing under a 1934 act of Congress which is known as the Federal National Mortgage Association Charter Act (12 U. S. C. A., Title 12, §§ 1717 to 1723, inclusive).

The trial court, at the time of granting the motion for summary judgment, had before it the files and records in the cause and the affidavits filed by the parties and found that there was no genuine issue as to any of the material facts which were set out in its findings of facts.

These findings, which are not challenged in appellants’ brief (except finding No. 1, referred to below), may be summarized as follows:

On or about January 31, 1950, the mortgage involved in this action was executed by William H. Carrington and wife and delivered to Sparkman & McLean Company, a corporation, to secure their promissory note payable to its order in the principal sum of $5,850 with four per cent interest. The detailed provisions of the note and mortgage need not be described except as hereinafter mentioned.

In March, 1950, Sparkman & McLean Company assigned, transferred, and endorsed the note and mortgage to respondent which has ever since been the owner and holder thereof for value in due course.

In February, 1953, Carrington and wife sold the mortgaged property to Chester L. Pope and wife under an executory real-estate contract subject to the mortgage. Finding No. 7 states that the contract provided, in part:

“ ‘The purchaser agrees: (1) To pay before delinquency all payments of whatsoever nature required to be made upon or by virtue of said mortgage.’ ”

In July, 1957, the vendees transferred their interest in the contract to appellants (who are Mrs. Pope’s parents) by deed and assignment thereof. Finding No. 7 further states that the instrument provided, in part:

“ ‘The grantee hereby assumes and agrees to fulfill the conditions of said real estate contract’, which includes the obligations of the purchasers to make all payments required by the mortgage.”

[412]*412Thereafter, in accordance with the acceleration clause in the note and mortgage, respondent elected to treat them as due and payable because of the failure of the original makers and mortgagors to pay the monthly installments of principal and interest due thereon on November 1, 1959, and on the first day of each succeeding month thereafter. In the note and mortgage, the original makers and mortgagors consented to a deficiency judgment and agreed to pay a reasonable attorney’s fee in the event of foreclosure. The trial court allowed $650 as a reasonable attorney’s fee in addition to the amount of its judgment for principal, interest, unpaid taxes, expense of title search and costs.

The total judgment entered June 2, 1961 (exclusive of costs) was $4,401.33, and respondent’s mortgage in this sum was declared therein to be a first and paramount lien on the mortgaged property.

In appealing from the summary judgment of foreclosure entered by the trial court, appellants state their assignments of error as follows:

“1. The statement in the first paragraph of the Findings of Fact and Conclusions, of Law (p. 2, lines 7-10) is not correct. That statement is as follows: ‘The Court finds there is no genuine issue as to any of the material facts set out below and that the plaintiff is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.’
“2. Findings of Fact No. 1 is not supported by any evidence.
“3. Conclusions of Law No. II is not supported by the required evidence and is in conflict with the law on the subject.
“4. Conclusions of Law No. Ill is not supported by the required evidence and is in conflict with the law on the subject.
“5. The Decree of Foreclosure should not have been entered against the appellants herein.”

In support of their first assignment of error, appellants argue that there was a genuine issue of fact as shown by the two affidavits of appellant husband and, therefore, it was error to grant respondent’s motion for summary judgment. He deposed in substance as follows:

[413]*413Some time after the Popes (appellants’ daughter and son-in-law) had purchased the mortgaged premises from the original mortgagors, they moved to California, leaving the property vacant. Appellants were then approached by a trust officer of a Seattle bank who offered to obtain a quitclaim deed for them from the Popes in favor of appellant husband so that the latter could take over the property and save the Popes’ equity therein, allegedly worth about $1,500. The trust officer informed appellant husband that he could not lose any money by so doing because he could either sell or rent the property and make monthly payments out of the proceeds.

Accordingly, appellant husband expended $942 of his own funds in remodeling the property and ultimately sold it in 1959 for $6,500 (the purchaser paying only $300 earnest money which the realtor retained as part of his commission). The purchaser took possession of the property and resided there for two or three weeks when he departed for parts unknown. Appellant husband, at the time of executing his first affidavit, had received no funds from the sale (or rental) of the premises and had lost $942 of his own funds. Of this sum $900 was loaned to appellant husband by the Seattle bank to remodel the premises under an agreement that it would be secured by a mortgage on the property and that no further payments would be required unless and until the property was sold. At that time it was anticipated that the value of the Popes’ equity would be realized by appellants.

The Seattle bank prepared the deed and purchaser’s assignment of the real-estate contract and sent it to the Popes, who were in California, for signature. It was executed by them and returned to the bank. Appellants had nothing to do with the preparation, execution, or recording of the document.

We have stated the substance of appellant husband’s two affidavits because the only possible basis for holding that there was a genuine issue of fact presented to the trial court must be found in the statements contained therein.

After considering the substance of these affidavits, [414]*414we agree with the trial court that no genuine issue of fact existed which had any bearing on respondent’s right to foreclose the mortgage and to be awarded a deficiency judgment against appellants as well as the original mortgagors.

It should be borne in mind that the trust officer had no authority to bind respondent by any agreement which he negotiated with appellants on behalf of the Seattle bank with reference to the remodeling loan. We find no support in the record for the statement in appellants’ brief that the Seattle bank was a representative of respondent. Even if it were the collection agent to receive monthly payments on the note, there is no evidence that it had any authority to waive or modify respondent’s rights under the mortgage.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
374 P.2d 153, 60 Wash. 2d 410, 1962 Wash. LEXIS 327, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/federal-national-mortgage-assn-v-carrington-wash-1962.