Fleming v. Branham

139 S.E. 267, 148 Va. 510, 1927 Va. LEXIS 251
CourtSupreme Court of Virginia
DecidedSeptember 22, 1927
StatusPublished

This text of 139 S.E. 267 (Fleming v. Branham) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fleming v. Branham, 139 S.E. 267, 148 Va. 510, 1927 Va. LEXIS 251 (Va. 1927).

Opinion

Chichester, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

The appellants are here upon appeal from a final decree of the Circuit Court of Dickenson county, which, among other things, decreed that John W. Flannagan, Jr., turstee, pay over to Chase, Branham and Chase, appellees, or their attorneys, the fund now in his hands amounting to $1,045.00, being the proceeds of a sale of personal property under a certain deed of trust from Sutherland to Flannagan, trustee, because, as the tidal court held, appellees had a prior lien on the property under two deeds of trust from Speed Mankin to S. H. Sutherland, trustee.

The facts of the ease are somewhat complicated, but the sole question in the case is whether the two deeds of trust referred to, to S. H. Sutherland, trustee, have been satisfied and should be released, or whether they are alive and constitute a lien upon the personal property thereby conveyed, prior to the lien of the deed of trust under which appellants claim and under which Flannagan, trustee, sold.

The suit was instituted by Flannagan, trustee, who had a balance of $1,045.00 in his hands, the proceeds of the sale referred to, by the filing of a bill of inter-pleader in which appellants and appellees, both of whom claimed first lien upon this fund, and Speed Mankin, were made defendants, asking the direction of the court in the disbursement of the fund.

Appellants filed their answer and the appellees filed their answer and cross bill, and there was an agreed statement of facts as to some features of the contro[514]*514versy, and the depositions of several witnesses. From all these it appears that R. S. Chase, C. C. Chase and W. J. Branham were sureties on a forthcoming bond in the penalty of $10,000.00 the condition of which was that certain personal property belonging to Speed Man-kin, levied on by a United States Deputy Marshal by fieri facias issued from the United States Court for the Western District of Virginia for the sum of $4,000.00, with costs and interest, making a total of $4,840.72, should be forthcoming on a certain date. Under this bond the property levied on was allowed to remain in the possession of Speed Mankin.

To secure the endorsers on the forthcoming bond, who are the appellees here, against loss on account of their endorsements, Speed Mankin executed two deeds of trust upon personal property, one bearing date February 24, 1921, and the other bearing date July 21, 1921. In both deeds of trust S. H. Sutherland was named as trustee, and they are designated in the record as deed of trust No. 1 and deed of trust No. 2. Deed of trust No. 1 conveyed sawmills, sawmill equipment, teams, etc., and the grantor, by consent of the parties, having traded some of the personal property conveyed by deed of trust No. 1, deed of trust No. 2 was executed to substitute other property for that which was sold, and the property conveyed was specifically impressed with the same trust as the property conveyed by the deed of trust No. 1. These deeds of trust provide that if Roland E. Chase, C. C. Chase or W. J. Branham, or any or either of them, should be required to pay off the said bond or any part thereof (italics supplied), then the trustee upon request shall sell, etc.

The forthcoming bond was forfeited and Speed Man-kin paid the judgment taken in the United States Court upon the forfeited bond, by a check of one T. B. [515]*515Beckwith for $3,500.00 and a cashier’s cheek for $2,-000.00 of the Dickenson County Bank, from which he borrowed that amount upon the endorsement of R. E. Chase, C. C. Chase and W. J. Branham, the appellees, but the deed of trust was not released. Speed Mankin having failed to pay the $2,000.00 note at maturity, it was, after many renewals, paid by the appellees.

Three years after the execution of the first deed of trust Speed Mankin sold the property in question to George C. Sutherland, one of the defendants to the bill of interpleader, and took from Sutherland a deed of trust to secure payment (among other purchase price indebtedness) of a note for $2,000.00 signed by Geo. C. Sutherland and payable to Speed Mankin. In this deed of trust John W. Flannagan, Jr., was named as trustee.

On July 25, 1923, Speed Mankin turned this $2,000.00 note over to Neel and Fleming (appellants here) as collateral for their respective debts due them by Man-kin of $275.00 and $561.16. On May 15, 1924, Man-kin assigned the balance of this note to Chase, Branham and Chase, appellees, as security for their endorsement for the $2,000.00 note, heretofore mentioned, which had been negotiated at the Dickenson County Bank and which, as stated, appellees had paid upon Speed Mankin’s failure to pay it.

It thus appears that Mankin assigned the $2,000.00 note, secured to him by the Sutherland deed of trust to Flannagan, trustee, first, to secure $275.00 due Fleming; second, to secure $561.14 due Neel (appellants), and third, to secure the appellees because of the loss they had sustained by the payment, as endorsers, of the $2,000.00 note, proceeds of which had been used in part to pay the judgment of the United States District Court on account of the forfeited forthcoming- bond.

[516]*516Flannagan, Trustee, sold the property under the Sutherland deed of trust, and appellants claim the fund of $1,045.00 in his hands is subject—first, to their liens by assignment of the $2,000.00 note, and secondly; to the lien of appellees. The appellees contend that by virtue of deeds' of trust, designated as Nos. 1 and 2 in the record, they have a first lien on the fund of $1,045.00, as it represents purchase price of property upon which they had a lien. Appellants contend, in reply, that deeds of trust Nos. 1 and 2 were satisfied when the forthcoming bond was paid by Speed Man-kin and should have been released. The trustee filed his bill of interpleader as heretofore stated asking direction of the court upon the matter in controversy.

The real issue, therefore, is, whether or not the two deeds of trust referred to remain in force, or whether they were satisfied by the payment of the forthcoming bond and should, properly, have been released.

Appellants contend: First, that when Speed Man-kin paid the Federal judgment with his own check the deeds of trust Nos. 1 and 2 were discharged; second, that when appellees accepted assignment of the balance of the Sutherland $2,000.00 note (which had previously been assigned to secure appellants) as security for the loss they had suffered on account of endorsements of the Mankin $2,000.00 note, they recognized the first lien of appellants on this Sutherland $2,000.00 nóte, and thereby waived any rights they had under deeds of trust Nos. 1 and 2, even if those deeds of trust had any validity.

Neither position of the appellants is tenable. While it is true that the first deed of trust (No. 1) was given primarily to secure the sureties on the forthcoming bond (appellees) against loss, it was expressly provided that “if Roland E. Chase, C. C. Chase or W. J. [517]*517Branham, or any or either of them, shall be required to pay off the said bond or any part thereof, then the trustee shall on request—sell.”

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

Related

Brant v. Virginia Coal & Iron Co.
93 U.S. 326 (Supreme Court, 1876)
Bansimer v. Fell
19 S.E. 545 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1894)
Knisely v. Williams
46 Am. Dec. 193 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1846)
Paxton v. Rich
7 S.E. 531 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1888)
Jameson v. Rixey
26 S.E. 861 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1897)
Hanna v. Wilson
46 Am. Dec. 190 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1846)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
139 S.E. 267, 148 Va. 510, 1927 Va. LEXIS 251, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fleming-v-branham-va-1927.