Fleming v. Franing

1908 OK 234, 98 P. 961, 22 Okla. 644, 1908 Okla. LEXIS 64
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedNovember 23, 1908
DocketNo. 2130, Okla. T.
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 1908 OK 234 (Fleming v. Franing) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fleming v. Franing, 1908 OK 234, 98 P. 961, 22 Okla. 644, 1908 Okla. LEXIS 64 (Okla. 1908).

Opinion

*646 TurNer, J.

(after stating tlie facts as above). As there is no assignment of error relied on in plaintiffs brief, we will select one from his petition in error which will reach the merits of 'this controversy, and that is: “That the decision and judgment of the court is not sustained by sufficient evidence, and is contrary to law.” It is insisted that as the first mortgage provides: “Fourth. Upon any breach of the first, second and third special covenants of this mortgage hereinbefore enumerated * •* * the holder of this mortgage may declare the entire sum or sums secured hereby, due and payable by giving ten days’ notice and shall be entitled to a foreclosure of this mortgage for the satisfaction thereof,” and as said second special covenant therein' provides: “Second. That the first parties will pay all taxes and assessments, whether general or special, lawfully levied or assessed on said premises, before the same become delinquent” — that there is sufficient in this record to disclose a breach of this covenant, giving plaintiff the right to foreclose, and that the court erred in failing to so hold. For a breach of this covenant the amended and supplemental petition states, in substance, that defendants failed to pay all taxes and assessments levied upon the mortgaged property before the same became delinquent for the years 1902 and 1903, and the same was sold for the taxes of 1902, that the taxes of 1903 were paid by the purchaser at the sale for the taxes of 1902, and that on August 22, 1904, while the land yet remained unredeemed, plaintiff gave due notice, as required in the fourth special covenant aforesaid, and thereby elected to and did declare a default and the entire sum secured by said mortgage due and payable. This is expressly admitted by defendants, but it is by them contended that, on the same day, and before this suit was brought, all taxes, penalties, and interest lawfully assessed against said premises had been by them paid off and discharged, and plaintiff duly notified thereof, and that consequently, at* the time of the commencement of this action, a breach of this covenant did not exist, and no right to foreclose either of these mortgages had accrued.

*647 As tliis statement of facts is expressly admitted by plaintiff in his reply, and the testimony so discloses, we will now determine what effect, if any, the payment of said taxes before suit' had on plaintiff’s right to declare a default because ,of their delinquency, and on his right to bring this suit. It is contended by defendant that the effect was that the default was redeemed and a bar to the suit. In this we concur. It has been repeatedly so held. 2 Jones on Mortgages, § 1185, lays down the general rule that:

“* * * If after a default in the payment of taxes the mortgagor pays'the same without prejudice to the mortgagee, and before suit is brought to declare the debt due because of the default, such payment is a bar to the suit” — citing Smalley v. Ranken, 85 Iowa, 612, 52 N. W. 507.

In that case in the trial court suit had been brought to declare the debt due because of a default, and foreclosure had been decreed upon an agreed statement of facts to the effect that the debt had matured b} the terms of the mortgage because of a failure to pay taxes, but that such had been made a basis of default, by amendment, after said taxes had been paid. The Supreme Court in reversing the case said:

“The condition of the mortgage that all taxes should be paid within 30 days from the time they became due and payable is a ground upon which it is sought to declare the note due and sustain the action. * * * The object of the condition of the mortgage was to enable the plaintiff to treat the debt as due, and save himself from loss because of the default. After the payment of the taxes all such liability for loss was at an end. Ilis situation was exactly as if there had been no default as far as the conditions for forfeiture were concerned. To justify a forfeiture under such circumstances would work an injustice that the qourt ought not to permit. We think the payment of the taxes, after a breach of the condition for their payment, and in a way that no prejudice could result because of the default, and before suit brought to declare the debt due because of the default in payment, is a bar to such a proceeding.”

Ver Planck v. Godfrey et al., 42 App. Div. 16, 58 N. Y. Supp. *648 784, is also directly in point. There the court in the syllabus say:

“Under a mortgage clause providing that the whole amount shall become due, at the option of the mortgagee, for a default in the payment of taxes for 60 days, a default for that time does not entitle the mortgagee to forclose, where the taxes are thereafter paid by the mortgagor, and notice thereof given to the mortgagee before action is begun.”

And in passing, after reciting the facts, said:

“Upon the foregoing facts we are at a loss to understand upon what equitable principle a judgment of foreclosure and sale could be decreed. At most there was but a technical default in the payment of the taxes, which were promptly paid by the mortgagor as soon as her attention was called to them. The plaintiff had not been injured by the default; neither had her security been impaired or diminished in the slightest degree. The payment of the taxes before the commencement of the action restored the parties to their original positions, and the complaint should therefore have been dismissed. The case of Shaw v. Wellman, 59 Hun, 447, 13 N. Y. Supp. 527, is directly in point. There Judge Daniels, delivering the opinion of the court, said: Ut further appears that these taxes were paid on the 21st of October, 1889, and that fact was alleged by a supplemental answer as a defense to this action. This payment, in its effect, fully restored all the rights intended to be protected by this part of the mortgage. It indemnified both the plaintiff and his assignee against all possible prejudice- or loss arising from default. And, when this appears, It is the policy of equity tó consider the default to have been redeemed by a payment.’ Noyes v. Anderson, 124 N. Y. 175, 26 N. E. 316, 21 Am. St. Rep. 657, is also in point.”

Under this view of the case that the payment of taxes before suit was a bar to this suit for the default stated, it is unnecessary to discuss whether, as is contended by defendants, plaintiff, by accepting $350 as one year’s interest on this debt on August 15, 1904, with knowledge that the property had been sold for taxes, thereby treating the mortgage as a subsisting one, in effect waived the default. We think it sufficient to say that such were the facts, and that there is authority to support the contention *649 that -they did constitute a waiver, but upon this we express no opinion. Jacobs et al. v. Swift, 8 Kan. App. 857, 56 Pac. 1127. It will thus be seen that, if a right of action accrued to plaintiff to foreclose the second mortgage by reason of said nonpayment of taxes, payment thereof before suit also operated as a bar to a suit for its foreclosure, and that the court did not err in so holding.

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

Related

Balducci v. Eberly
500 A.2d 1042 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1985)
Gilbert v. Pennington Trap Rock Co.
39 A.2d 647 (New Jersey Court of Chancery, 1944)
Luke v. Patterson
1943 OK 240 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1943)
MacKey v. Dobrucki
166 A. 393 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1933)
Dabney v. Hooker
1926 OK 751 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1926)
Core v. Smith
1909 OK 322 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1909)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1908 OK 234, 98 P. 961, 22 Okla. 644, 1908 Okla. LEXIS 64, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fleming-v-franing-okla-1908.