Funk v. Voneida

11 Serg. & Rawle 109
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMay 17, 1824
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 11 Serg. & Rawle 109 (Funk v. Voneida) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Funk v. Voneida, 11 Serg. & Rawle 109 (Pa. 1824).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Duncan, J.

The great change introduced by the act of assembly, rendering real estate subject to judicial sale, for payment of debts, and the necessity imposed on our courts, from the want of direct chancery jurisdiction, of considering every equitable, tangible interest in land, subject to levy and sale, produce, frequently, consequences which call for a liberal exercise of equitable powers, ■accommodated to this new state of things.

I will consider the special errors .assigned, in the following order.- 1st, Whether any breach of covenant entered into by the"*" grantor, had occurred, so as to render him liable to any action, without some evidence of direct, actual damages; and 2d, Whether the plaintiff, without having laid' any consequential damages, could give any evidence of them — and’ this will dispose of the whole case.' The words, grant, bargain and sell, by the operation of law, and the express words of the act,of assembly, are a covenant against incumbrances done or suffered, by the grantor; in other words, that the estate was not defeasible, by any act done by him. The action is brought on this covenant. Now, this covenant was [112]*112broken the very instant it was entered into. The special covenant is by no means inconsistent with this general covenant. The implied covenant is not controlled by the special one — the effect of the words grant, bargain and sell, .can only be limited “ by express words contained in the deed.” Such is the direct provisión of the act. There is no express limitation; and to imply one, would be contrary to natural justice, and the intention of the parties. It is an unqualified covenant against incumbrances done and suffered by the grantor, or those under whom he claims ; nor can it make any difference, that the mortgage was recorded, and the plaintiff had, therefore, constructive notice. It is no answer to his complaint, t.o say, it was his duty to search the record, and to have protected himself by some special covenant, against this specific incumbrance. It was no part of this case, that he had actual notice; but if he had, it could make no difference.

The plaintiff covenanted against all incumbrances. The rule as to the vendee, is caveat emptor. So, let the vendor take cafe of the covenants he enters into. There was no special stipulation on the subject, and the plaintiff might safely rely on the general one. Notice of the mortgage would make no difference, as was determined in Levit v. Witherington, 1 Lutw. 317. In an indenture reciting a lease, where the party covenanted, that the original lease was good and unincumbered, on action of covenant, alleging an incumbrance, notice of it was pleaded, and on demurrer, the plaintiff had judgment. An action on the case, for deceit, would, I apprehend, lie, if there was no covenant, the incumbrance being concealed. In that action, notice to the grantee would be decisive in favour of the grantor; but it cannot alter the case in this action of covenant. The mortgage here was a subsisting incumbrance; the covenant was, therefore, broken; an ouster or eviction, was not necessary. An allegation of a breach as wide as the covenant, was sufficient to entitle the plaintiff to nominal damages; and the defendants, by pleading covenants performed, have admitted the existence of the incumbrance. A mortgage, though there can be no recovery on it, until a year after last instalment becomes due, is a present incumbent weight on the inheritance, from the moment it was given. The law on this subject is laid down with precision and accuracy, in the very able judgment of Chief Justice Parsons, in Prescott v. Truman, 4 Mass. 630: “If a mortgage-is the incumbrance, it being only a collateral security, the grantee can only recover nominal damages, unless he has removed it, because the mortgagee can compel the mortgagor to pay the debt, which is the principal security; but, if the grantee has paid it, so that the mortgage is discharged, the sum secured by the mortgage is the measure of damages.” Aud I am of opinion, that where the mortgage money is not due, but the grantee chooses to pag it, th.- jury ought to allow him the fair price it necessarily cost him; for it would be a most inconvenient doctrine to hold, that the vendee was to wait [113]*113ten years!, until the last instalment became due, and the vendor a beggar. But whether the plaintiff paid it or not, still he was entitled to nominal damages — the covenant, was broken. The mistake consists in supposing the eviction to be 'the breach of covenant; whereas, it is but a consequence of .the breach; the breach was an immediate one. The existence of the incumbrance was the breach; consequential damages arose from the eviction; but cause of action from the-.incumbrance; and here was the error of the learned judge, whose opinion was, “ that if no suit was brought, nor damages sustained, he was -not damnified By any breach of covenant; the action ivas brought too soon. He could- not support a suit of this kind until some damage was actually sustained; and until he was put to trouble by it from default of defendants,- in Uot discharging the incumbrances as they arose, he cannot complain of the covenant; and the mortgage being a record, was notice'to all the world; it was the plaintiff’s duty to search the record, and he might have protected himself by special covenants, and as he had not done so, he could not sustain his action.”

On the second head of inquiry, it is to me evident, that if the plaintiff had laid the consequential damages he offered to prove, the evidence should have been received; but as they were not laid, and not Confessed by the plea of covenants performed, it is as evident, the evidence was properly overruled. If he had- discharged the mortgage, this ought to have been stated'as the actual gravamen. So, if by a judicial sale he had sustained, as was alleged, the ultimate damages which he ever could sustain,- this gravamen ought to have'been laid. This is a ne\V consequence, arising from the liability of lands to sale for payment of debts. There being no Court of Chancery to which the grantee could apply for relief; and as he would be remediless, unless he,could recover in this action, we must apply the rules of equity^ to this state of things, urn-known to the common law. It will- not do to wait until the day' of payment arrives, or until it pleases the mortgagee to proceéd. The mischief is done already; he’ has sustained the ultimate damages he ever can sustain. The purchaser at sheriff’s sale,- as his assignee could Support no action, as,on a covenant running w'ith the land; he has sustained no injury; and this, even on the reason of the common law. The grantee ought to recover all the actual damages hé has sustained by the grantor’s violation of his covenant, because the very sale is a consequence of the incumbrance. If there is a judgment against him for the smallest sum, insufficient to condemn his lands, by taking in the mortgage, which is a reprisal, if due. within seven years, his land is condemned, and sold by means of this very incumbrance; sold for l'éss, minus the mortgage money. Is not this an actual damnification to this amount, occasioned by the breach of covenant? if it was a judgment with stay of execution, and the lands sold on-a judgment against grantee, and the prior judgment against grantor, paid out of the proceeds of the' [114]*114sale, this is a damnification.

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Bluebook (online)
11 Serg. & Rawle 109, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/funk-v-voneida-pa-1824.