Ferguson v. Wagner

41 Ind. 450
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 15, 1872
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 41 Ind. 450 (Ferguson v. Wagner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ferguson v. Wagner, 41 Ind. 450 (Ind. 1872).

Opinion

Worden, J.

—This was an action by the appellee, Lewis Wagner, against Sebastian C. Ferguson and Joseph Z. Wagner and their wives, to foreclose a mortgage executed by the said Sebastian and Joseph Z., together with their wives, to the said Lewis, to secure the payment of a note for one thousand dollars, due one year from date, with interest at the rate of ten per cent, per annum. The note and mortgage were dated June 28th, 1869. Richard Ferguson was made a party defendant to answer as to his interest in the premises, he having purchased the equity of redemption.

The mortgage contained the following clause:

“We, the mortgagors, expressly agree to pay the sum of money above secured, without any relief from valuation or appraisement laws, reserving to themselves the right, and this note and mortgage is given upon that expressed condition, to pay the mortgage within the period of twenty days from the date hereof, the sum of nine hundred dollars, eight hundred dollars cash and one hundred dollars in a promissory note payable one day after date, which he agrees to accept in consideration of the above mortgage debt and. cause the same to be entered of record.”

The defendants Sebastian C. Ferguson and Joseph Z. Wagner pleaded a tender of the money, and a note signed by them, in accordance with the terms, and within the time provided for by the above stipulation, and brought the [452]*452money and note into court and deposited them with the clerk.

Richard Ferguson answered, that, within twenty days after the execution of the note and mortgage, he purchased the interest of the said Sebastian in the premises, with full knowledge of the existence of the mortgage and the conditions thereof; that it was a part of the condition of his purchase that eight hundred dollars of the purchase-money paid by him should be applied by the said Sebastian in the discharge of the said mortgage debt, in accordance • with the conditions of the mortgage; that he subsequently purchased the interest of the said Joseph Z. Wagner; that all his purchases have been made subject to the mortgage, and with the knowledge that the payment had been tendered to the mortgagee, in accordance with the conditions of the mortgage, within the period of twenty days after the execution thereof, and that the tender had been kept good, etc.; wherefore he says that the mortgaged premises are discharged of the lien, etc.

The plaintiff replied in these words:

“Wagner v. Ferguson. The plaintiff for reply to defendant’s answer, says that he denies each and every allegation to the answer.”

There was a second paragraph of the replication, but as no point is made upon it in the brief of counsel, we need not notice it further.

The cause was submitted to the court for trial, and the court found the facts specially, and stated its conclusions of law thereon. We set out so much of the facts found and the legal conclusions as are necessary to an understanding of the grounds upon which a reversal is asked in the brief of counsel for the appellants. The court found, amongst other things, “that the defendants Sebastian C. Ferguson and Joseph Z. Wagner, on the 12th day of July, 1869, made and signed their promissory note for one hundred dollars, payable to the plaintiff, due one day after date, waiving valuation laws, and stipulating to pay ten per cent, per annum inter[453]*453est; that the defendant Joseph Z. Wagner, on the day last aforesaid, informed the plaintiff that such a note had been drawn up and signed, and was in the possession of his codefendant, Sebastian C. Ferguson, who intended to deliver the same, together with eight hundred dollars, to plaintiff in payment and satisfaction of the said mortgage, but warned the plaintiff not to accept the said note, as his signature thereto had been procured by fraud, and he would not pay the same; that soon after the plaintiff had been so informed, and on said 12th day of July, 1869, the defendant Sebastian C. Ferguson tendered to the plaintiff eight hundred dollars in cash, and the note for one hundred dollars above described, if the plaintiff would assign and transfer the said note for one thousand dollars and the said mortgage to the defendant Richard Ferguson; that the said eight hundred dollars and the one-hundred-dollar note 'aforesaid were not tendered to the plaintiff unconditionally and in payment and full satisfaction of said one-thousand-dollar note and mortgage, but the said tender was made upon the condition that the said note and mortgage should be assigned and transferred to the said Richard Ferguson as aforesaid and the plaintiff refused to accept said money and note so tendered, for the reason that the same was offered, not in payment and satisfaction of said note and mortgage, but for the purpose of procuring the assignment of the same to Richard Ferguson.”

As a conclusion of law upon the facts found by the court, the court say, “that there was no tender by the defendants, or either of them, to the plaintiff of eight hundred dollars and a promissory note for one hundred dollars, within twenty days after the execution of the note and mortgage sued on, in payment and satisfaction thereof, as was contemplated by the provisions of the mortgage; that the plaintiff had the right to reject the conditional tender made to him, and hold the defendants liable upon the note and mortgage sued on.”

There was no exception to the conclusion of law upon the [454]*454facts found, but the defendants moved for a new trial, for the reason, amongst other things, that the finding was not sustained by the evidence. The defendants excepted. Richard Ferguson moved for judgment in his favor on the pleadings, because his separate answer was not replied to, and was therefore to be taken as confessed to be true, but this motion was overruled, and he excepted. It was ordered that the plaintiff receive the eight hundred dollars tendered by defendants, and deposited with the clerk, and have judgment of foreclosure for the residue of the thousand dollars and interest.

There are but two questions made in the cause. First. Does the evidence sustain the finding of the court on the subject of the tender? Second. Was Richard Ferguson entitled to judgment on the ground that his answer had not been replied to?

The evidence in respect to the tender was somewhat conflicting. Possibly it might be said that the evidence preponderated in favor of the defendants. But there certainly was evidence in support of the finding. The plaintiff testified as follows: “On the 12th of July, 1869, Joseph Z. Wagner, one of the defendants, came to me in the field, in Howard county, and told me that Ferguson would be down to make a tender on that mortgage. He said he had the money and a note signed by himself and Ferguson for one hundred dollars, and warned me not to take the tender, and said that the note had been got by fraud, and that the Fergusons wanted to get the property in their own hands. Soon after he went away, Ferguson came. He brought Alfred Brower with him. He said that he had come to redeem that mortgage, and that if I would come to the house and sign it over to his father, Richard Ferguson, he would give me the money; he never offered me any note; he said he had a note signed, and' would put a stamp on it and cancel it; he never, said that I could have the note and money without the conditions; I don’t consider that he ever made a tender of the note at all ; I never saw it; he never offered to make the tender in full [455]

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Bluebook (online)
41 Ind. 450, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ferguson-v-wagner-ind-1872.