Fortune v. Barnhart

200 N.W. 610, 199 Iowa 329
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedNovember 11, 1924
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 200 N.W. 610 (Fortune v. Barnhart) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fortune v. Barnhart, 200 N.W. 610, 199 Iowa 329 (iowa 1924).

Opinion

Faville, J. —

The plaintiff in the original action was the owner of a farm of 360 acres. It appears that he sold the farm, and received as evidence of part of the purchase price a mortgage on the premises for $27,250. The purchaser in turn sold the farm to the defendants L. W. Barnhart and wife, who assumed the payment of said mortgage. Subsequently, the title was conveyed to appellant.

“ In 1920, the Barnharts executed a second mortgage on said premises to appellee W. J. Steckel, trustee, for the -sum of $4,000. The plaintiff brought suit for the foreclosure of said first mortgage. The Barnharts and the mortgagors were made parties defendant, as were also appellant and appellee Steckel. A decree of foreclosure was entered on or about the 25th day of May, 1922, and a special execution was issued and levy made on the premises, and the same was sold to the plaintiff, as purchaser, in nine separate tracts of forty acres each, the total amount of the sale being $31,969.23. On March 22, 1923, Steckel attempted to make a redemption from said sale, as a junior lien holder, and paid to the ■ clerk the total amount of the sale of the several tracts under execution, and filed affidavit stating that there was then due upon his junior lien $3,114. This affidavit will be discussed later.

It is conceded that, on June 19, 1923, appellant was the owner and holder of the legal title to all of the lands described in said mortgage, and'the holder of the right of redemption in and to said lands, and that on said date she paid to the clerk $22,112.39 in redemption of five of the forty-acre traets that had been sold under the sheriff’s' execution in the foreclosure sale, and at said time deposited with the clerk of the district *331 court the sum of $3,180, being the amount then due on Steckel’s junior mortgage. Thereupon, appellant filed her application, under Section 4057, Code, 1897, for an order to fix and determine the amount required to be paid to make full redemption of said premises, and to determine whether or not Steckel had legally redeemed from the foreclosure sale.

Notice of said application being duly'served, Steckel appeared in resistance thereto. A hearing and trial was had, and it was ordered and decreed that Steckel’s redemption Avas legal, and that he Avas entitled to the amount paid by appellant in redemption from the foreclosure of the first mortgage, and also to the full amount due on his junior mortgage. From this order the title holder redemptioner appeals.

The question at issue'is whether the redemption by the junior mortgagee was made in such manner as preserved his lien against the five forty-acre tracts sought to be redeemed by the title holder redemptioner. The amount due on the junior lien holder’s mortgage, $3,180, was paid into the hands of the clerk of the district court, and under stipulation is held pending the determination of this question.

No question is raised as to the legality of the foreclosure proceedings, or of the sale under the special execution. The land was sold in nine forty-acre tracts. Different amounts Avere bid for each of said tracts, and the homestead forty acres were offered for sale last. It appears that nine separate certificates of sale were issued to the purchase!’, each being for the amount paid on one particular forty-acre tract.

When Steckel, as junior lien holder,'sought to redeem from this sale, he paid to the clerk the total amount due on all of said certificates of sale, and filed an affidavit in which he stated that he Avas a junior lien holder to the certificates of sale issued to the purchaser under said special execution, and that he had a lien on the premises • described in said certificates of sale, as evidenced by a mortgage of $4,000, which was particularly described, and on Avhich he averred there was due $3,114, and stated:

“Which amount I credit on my lien in redeeming from all the sheriff’s certificates of sale of the above described land.”

The affidavit further recited the amount due at said date *332 on each of the several certificates of sale, with interest, a.nd the aggregate amount thereof, which amount Steckel paid to the clerk.

Did Steckel effectually redeem as a junior lien holder, ■ so that the title holder was required to pay the amount due on the junior mortgage, in order to effectuate redemption of the five tracts?

The method of redemption by a junior mortgagee is pointed out by the statute. We have quite recently had occasion to consider the statutes involved, and to discuss the question of redemption by a junior mortgagee, in Burns v. Hanby, 184 Iowa 727, and Gates v. Ives, 191 Iowa 851.

Section 4056, Code, 1897, provides the method by which a junior lien holder may redeem from a senior lien holder. Said section is as follows.:

“The mode of redemption by a lien holder shall be by paying into the clerk’s office the amount necessary to effect the same, computed as above provided, and filing therein his affidavit, or that of his agent or attorney, stating as nearly as practicable the nature of his lien and the amount still due and unpaid thereon. If he is unwilling to hold the property and credit the debtor thereon the full amount of his lien, he must state the. utmost amount he is willing to credit him with. If the amount paid to the clerk is in excess of the prior bid and liens, he S/hall refund the excess to the party paying the same, and enter each such redemption made.by a lien holder upon the sale book, and credit upon the lien, if a judgment 'in the court of which he is clerk, the full amount thereof, including interest and costs, or such less amount as the lien holder is willing to credit therein, as shown by the affidavit filed.”

There is no question in this case but that Steckel complied with the provisions of Code Section 4056, in that he made reimbursement of the amount bid by the holder of each of the nine certificates of sale, including all of the costs, with interest, and said amount was paid by him to the clerk of the court.

We held, in Burns v. Hanby, supra, that, for a junior redemptioner to effectuate a valid redemption, it was necessary that the redemption be in substantial conformity with said Section 4056. In this case, the land was sold under the fore *333 closure of the mortgage,' in nine separate and distinct tracts. Nine certificates of sale were issued. In this particular instance, one party was the purchaser of nine of the certificates; but it might well have happened that nine different purchasers each had acquired a separate certificate of sale of a particular tract.

The junior redemptioner, in attempting to redeem, computed the amount due upon each of said nine certificates of sale, and paid to the clerk the total amount due on all of said certificates. He also filed an affidavit, in which he stated the nature of his lien '“and the amount still due and unpaid thereon. ’ ’

It is contended by appellee Steckel that he strictly and literally complied with the express provisions of the statute, and that this is all that is required.

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Bluebook (online)
200 N.W. 610, 199 Iowa 329, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fortune-v-barnhart-iowa-1924.