Flynn v. Curtis & Pope Lumber Co.

139 N.E. 533, 245 Mass. 291, 1923 Mass. LEXIS 1057
CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
DecidedMay 25, 1923
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 139 N.E. 533 (Flynn v. Curtis & Pope Lumber Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Flynn v. Curtis & Pope Lumber Co., 139 N.E. 533, 245 Mass. 291, 1923 Mass. LEXIS 1057 (Mass. 1923).

Opinion

Pierce, J.

This is a bill in equity filed in the Superior Court, December 8, 1919. The bill seeks to have declared invalid a foreclosure sale of a certain parcel of land situated in Brookline, Massachusetts; to have the defendants Myer R. Rittenberg and Morris Finkelstein, purchasers of said property, held to be purchasers with notice of the alleged invalidity of the sale and be ordered to redeliver said property subject to the first mortgagee to the plaintiff, upon payment of the amounts of money found to be due from the defendants or any of them. The bill further prays that the defendant company may be declared to hold said property [293]*293as mortgagee or trustee for the benefit of the plaintiff, merely as security for the plaintiff’s debt and that the plaintiff be allowed to redeem.

The case was sent to a master. Upon the coming in of the master’s report, after hearing the parties, a judge of the Superior Court filed the “ Memorandum and Order for Decree” which follows: “Upon the facts found by the master and the reasonable inferences to be drawn from them, I find that it was understood between the plaintiff and her husband, on the one hand, and the officers of the defendant corporation, on the other, at the time of the foreclosure sale in March, 1918, that the defendant corporation, acting through Lucey, its credit manager, was to take title to the property in question by virtue of a sale under proceedings to foreclose the second mortgage, and was to hold such title as security for any indebtedness due to it from the plaintiff and her husband, including moneys expended in the completion of the garage and dwelling house. I therefore rule that after the foreclosure sale Lucey held the property as equitable mortgagee of the plaintiff. I find and rule that the defendant Rittenberg was a purchaser for value without notice of any equitable rights. ...” The judge then ruled that the plaintiff was entitled to an accounting, ordered the exceptions to be overruled, the master’s report confirmed and the case recommitted to the master to take an account.

This order was followed by an interlocutory decree which ordered adjudged and decreed:

“1. That the plaintiff’s exceptions to the master’s report be, and hereby are overruled.

“ 2. That the master’s report be, and hereby is confirmed.

“ 3. That the defendant Myer Rittenberg is a bona fide purchaser for value, without notice.

“ 4. That the bill of complaint be dismissed as against the defendant Myer Rittenberg and the defendant Morris Finkelstein.

“ 5. That the defendant Curtis and Pope Lumber Company on October 15, 1919, held the property in question as equitable mortgagee of the plaintiff, to secure any indebted[294]*294ness due to it from the plaintiff and Martin Flynn, her husband, including moneys expended in the completion of the garage and dwelling house.

“ 6. That the plaintiff is entitled to an accounting from the Curtis and Pope Lumber Company for the difference between the fair value of the equity of redemption conveyed to the defendant Bittenberg on October 16, 1919, and the amount secured by said equitable mortgage, after making all proper charges and credits.

7. That the case be recommitted to the master to take the account from the Curtis and Pope Lumber Company of the equity of redemption conveyed to the defendant Bittenberg on October 16, 1919, and the amount secured by said equitable mortgage after making all proper charges and credits.”

The plaintiff and the Curtis and Pope Lumber Company appealed — and the judge, “ Being of the opinion that the interlocutory decree, entered June 16,1922, in above entitled cause, from which decree the plaintiff and defendants duly claimed appeal, so affects the merits of the controversy that the matter ought before further proceedings to be determined by the full court, . . . [reported] the case to the Supreme Judicial Court for that purpose upon the substituted bill of complaint, the defendant’s answers, the master’s report, the exceptions thereto, the memorandum and order for decree, the interlocutory decree, the plaintiff’s apneal and the defendant’s appeal and the defendant’s petition for report.”

We shall consider the questions raised as far as possible in the order in which they are presented in the briefs of the plaintiff and defendants. The plaintiff contends that the foreclosure notice and sale thereunder on March 19 was invalid for the following reasons: (1) Because the notice gave the date of sale as March 19 without any year; (2) Because the mortgagee knowingly employed an unlicensed auctioneer; (3) Because there was no one present to bid; (4) Because the mortgagee cannot directly or indirectly purchase the property himself, unless the mortgage so provides; (5) Because a mortgagee with a power to sell must [295]*295be personally present at the sale, and cannot appoint an agent to make the sale unless authority to make such appointment is granted in the instrument; and (6) Because an auctioneer,where there are no bids, cannot bid in the property for the mortgagee, the mortgagee not being present.

The master’s findings upon unreported evidence in relation to the notice of foreclosure and the conduct of the sale succinctly stated are as follows: The sale was advertised to take place on Tuesday, March" 19, (the year being omitted) at eleven o’clock a.m. The public notice advertised the property for sale subject to a $30,000 first- mortgage held by the Beacon Investment Association. The sale occurred at twelve o’clock. There were several persons present at the sale who came pursuant to the notice. These persons were not obliged to wait an undue length of time and the sale was not delayed an hour after the advertised time. At the hour fixed for the sale, there were present at the garage the following persons: Mr. Moffette, who later acted as auctioneer, Mr. Flynn, the husband of the plaintiff, Fred H. Williams, Esquire, attorney for Mr. Moor, the tenant of the garage under a lease given to the latter by the plaintiff . . . Mr. Moor, the tenant, Clarence L. Moor, a brother of the latter, Mr. Charles L. Aldrich, who held the third mortgage on the garage.” The master further finds that during the sale workmen and customers connected with the garage were passing in and out near where the sale was conducted, but there was no evidence that they gave any attention to the sale, . . . that Edward Moffette, who acted as auctioneer at the sale, was at that time and for many years prior thereto had been an employee of the Curtis and Pope Lumber Company; that his special duties related to the care of real estate owned by the company or upon which the company held mortgages. Mr. Moffette had previously been an auctioneer; . . . that Mr. Moffette had full charge of the sale in behalf of the defendant corporation; ” that “ the foreclosure notice had been drawn by an attorney, but the actual conduct of the foreclosure sale was left by the company in charge of Mr. Moffette; ” that Mr. Moffette had arranged with a duly licensed auctioneer to be present [296]*296and make the sale but owing to a misunderstanding as to the identity of the premises the licensed auctioneer went to another garage on the same street and waited at the other garage for Mr. Moffette to arrive; ” that “ Mr. Moffette arrived at the mortgaged premises a few minutes prior to the time fixed for the sale and put out a red flag; ” that “ At the time fixed for the sale, the licensed auctioneer not having arrived, Mr.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
139 N.E. 533, 245 Mass. 291, 1923 Mass. LEXIS 1057, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/flynn-v-curtis-pope-lumber-co-mass-1923.