First State Bank v. Mussigbrod

271 P. 695, 83 Mont. 68, 1928 Mont. LEXIS 23
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 14, 1928
DocketNo. 6,291.
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 271 P. 695 (First State Bank v. Mussigbrod) 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
First State Bank v. Mussigbrod, 271 P. 695, 83 Mont. 68, 1928 Mont. LEXIS 23 (Mo. 1928).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE MATTHEWS

delivered the opinion of the court.

Herein are considered three separate appeals from a judgment and decree in a foreclosure proceeding instituted by the First State Bank of Philipsburg against Herman S. Mussigbrod and Mary S. Mussigbrod, his wife, and Ludwig S. Mussigbrod.

The complaint, filed December 2, 1925, is in the ordinary concise form for the foreclosure of a real estate mortgage; it alleges the execution and delivery, by Herman S. and Mary S. Mussigbrod, on September 12, 1923, of five certain promissory notes totaling $27,175, and the execution and delivery of a certain mortgage on the date last mentioned, as security for the payment of the notes. This mortgage covers in excess of 3,000 acres of land in Beaverhead county. The notes were *73 payable one year after date. The complaint alleges nonpayment, and that plaintiff is the owner and holder of the notes; it further alleges that Ludwig S. Mussigbrod claims some interest in the lands described in the mortgage, but that any claim he may have is subsequent and junior to the claim of plaintiff. The prayer asked judgment against the defendants and that the judgment be declared a lien upon the lands described, with order of sale, etc., and that judgment be entered against Herman S. Mussigbrod and Mary S. Mussigbrod for any deficiency remaining after such sale.

Ludwig S. Mussigbrod answered by alleging that he claimed an interest in the lands as a legatee under the will of Peter S. Mussigbrod, deceased, and denied that such right was subsequent or inferior to any right of plaintiff, and further alleged that, at the time the mortgage was given, Herman S. Mussigbrod was a “mere trustee” holding the property in trust, and had no right or authority to mortgage or encumber the property or any part thereof, which facts were well known to the plaintiff, its Officers and agents, at the time of the execution of the purported mortgage. He attached to his answer a copy of the will mentioned.

Certain of the subsequent pleadings seem to have been drafted in utter disregard of the rule that “only the ultimate facts, and not the evidence to support those facts, should be set forth” (Enterprise Sheet Metal Works v. Schendel, 63 Mont. 529, 208 Pac. 933) and the statutory provision that those facts be stated in “ordinary and concise language.v (Sec. 9129, Rev. Codes 1921.) The pleadings as a whole cover approximately 350 pages of the record and more than a brief synopsis thereof would unduly cumber this opinion.

Herman S. and Mary S. Mussigbrod answered admitting the execution of the notes sued upon, but alleging that there was no • consideration therefor; they then allege that the plaintiff had theretofore loaned divers sums of money to Ludwig S. Mussigbrod and set out in full numerous notes executed to the bank, which notes they allege were prior to September 12, *74 1923, secured by collateral. They then allege that in 1922 Herman S. Mussigbrod signed a note to the bank for the sum of $2,600, but allege that it was to cover an overdraft of Ludwig’s and was left with the bank on promise that the officers thereof would secure Ludwig’s signature thereto, which was not done. They admit the execution and delivery .of a note to the bank for $1,400, executed and delivered for money loaned Herman S., and allege that he is willing to pay it. They deny that they were at any time indebted to the bank in any sum in excess of $1,400. The answer then alleges that the notes sued upon were in effect renewal notes for all those mentioned theretofore and that the mortgage was given upon the representation of the officers of the bank that that institution was in bad condition . and the collateral given by Ludwig was insufficient and that they had to have additional security to show the bank examiner, or the bank would be forced to close, and that the mortgage would never be foreclosed but only held for the protection of the bank; that the officers well knew that Herman S. did not own the lands described and that their signatures to the notes and mortgage were obtained by fraud.

They allege, further, that, with the exception of one tract described as lot 2 of section 30, T. 1 S., R. 15 W., the lands were owned at that time in the proportion of one-fourth each by the estate of Peter S. Mussigbrod, deceased, Helene Cremer, Martin S. Mussigbrod and Herman S. Mussigbrod, and that this fact was well known to the plaintiff. As to lot 2 in section 30, these defendants allege that it was included in the mortgage by inadvertence and mistake of the scrivener as being included in the description of lands covered by a mortgage theretofore given by Peter S. Mussigbrod, by his attorney-in-fact, Ludwig S. Mussigbrod, but in fact was the property of Mary S. Mussigbrod individually. They also claim an interest in the lands solely as legatees under the will of Peter S. Mussigbrod.

*75 To the answers of the parties made defendants,-the plaintiff replied, denying all of the affirmative allegations made and alleging that it is a bona fide encumbrancer for value and without notice of any infirmities and took the mortgage relying upon the record title to the property, showing title in Herman S. and Mary S. Mussigbrod.

By order of court Herman S. and Ludwig S. Mussigbrod, as executors of the will of Peter S. Mussigbrod, were made parties defendant and thereafter filed their separate answer. It will be noted that in the answer of Herman S. and Mary S. Mussigbrod it is alleged that Herman S. Mussigbrod was the owner of a one-fourth interest in the lands; this party, of the same name, is the father of the original defendant; in the answer filed on behalf of the estate, Herman S. Mussigbrod, as an executor, has affixed to his name the abbreviation “Jr.” This answer but amplifies those of Herman S. and Mary and Ludwig S. Mussigbrod 'and was met by similar reply, with the addition of a plea of estoppel by deed through which the record title descended to Herman S. Mussigbrod, Jr.

Thereafter Helene Cremer, Martin S. Mussigbrod and Herman S. Mussigbrod, Sr., were permitted to file a complaint in intervention by which it is alleged that long prior to 1913 these parties, termed the “German heirs,” with Peter S. Mussigbrod owned a one-half interest in lands in Deer Lodge and Beaverhead counties, and in that .year, or just prior thereto, by a trade with the owners of the remaining half interest, acquired full title to the Beaverhead lands which were' conveyed to Peter S. Mussigbrod as the record title holder, in trust, however, for himself and these interveners; they attached thereto an agreement of date September 13, 1912, and duly recorded. The complaint in intervention further alleges that the interveners never authorized Peter S. Mussigbrod to sell or convey their interests in the land; that they were never indebted to plaintiff, had no knowledge of the mortgage and that plaintiff had knowledge of their owner *76 ship ajid the trusteeship at the time the mortgage was executed and delivered.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Lozeau v. Lake County, Mont.
98 F. Supp. 2d 1157 (D. Montana, 2000)
Shiflet v. May
49 Va. Cir. 542 (Augusta County Circuit Court, 1998)
Peterson v. Kabrich
691 P.2d 1360 (Montana Supreme Court, 1984)
Adair v. Capital Invest. Co.
525 P.2d 548 (Montana Supreme Court, 1974)
First National Bank of Twin Bridges v. Sant
506 P.2d 835 (Montana Supreme Court, 1973)
Platts v. Platts
334 P.2d 722 (Montana Supreme Court, 1959)
Ballenger v. Tillman
324 P.2d 1045 (Montana Supreme Court, 1958)
Sorrels v. Ryan
281 P.2d 1028 (Montana Supreme Court, 1955)
Firemen's Ins. v. Show
110 F. Supp. 523 (D. Montana, 1953)
Campanello v. Mercer
227 P.2d 312 (Montana Supreme Court, 1951)
Rogers v. Rogers
209 P.2d 998 (Montana Supreme Court, 1949)
Montgomery v. First National Bank
136 P.2d 760 (Montana Supreme Court, 1943)
Lewis v. Bowman
121 P.2d 162 (Montana Supreme Court, 1942)
Streetbeck v. Benson
80 P.2d 861 (Montana Supreme Court, 1938)
Bride v. Stormer
10 N.E.2d 208 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1937)
Clack v. Clack
41 P.2d 32 (Montana Supreme Court, 1935)
Garry v. Musselshell Mercantile Co.
31 P.2d 293 (Montana Supreme Court, 1934)
Davidson v. Stagg
22 P.2d 152 (Montana Supreme Court, 1933)
Johnson v. Johnson
15 P.2d 842 (Montana Supreme Court, 1932)
Bitter Root Creamery Co. v. Muntzer
300 P. 251 (Montana Supreme Court, 1931)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
271 P. 695, 83 Mont. 68, 1928 Mont. LEXIS 23, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-state-bank-v-mussigbrod-mont-1928.