Gaskell v. Viquesney

23 N.E. 791, 122 Ind. 244, 1890 Ind. LEXIS 75
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 21, 1890
DocketNo. 13,661
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 23 N.E. 791 (Gaskell v. Viquesney) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gaskell v. Viquesney, 23 N.E. 791, 122 Ind. 244, 1890 Ind. LEXIS 75 (Ind. 1890).

Opinion

Coffey, J.

On the 30th day of August, 1876, Jules A. Viquesney and wife executed to George "W. Robinson a mortgage on real estate in Danville, Hendricks county, Indiana, to secure the payment of a promissory note for the sum of $1,446.76, which mortgage was duly recorded. Prior [245]*245to said date tlie said Jules A. Viquesney had executed two other mortgages upon the same real estate, one to Enion Singer and another to Tracy and Bingham, the last named being the senior mortgage on said real estate.

The mortgage executed to Singer was foreclosed in the Hendricks Circuit Court,and the property therein described bid in by John N. Shirley and William N. Crabb for the sum of $973.93, and on the-28th day of May, 1878, they received a sheriff's deed therefor. George W. Robinson was not made a party to the suit to foreclose this mortgage.

The appellant subsequently became, and now is, the owner of the note and mortgage executed to the said Robinson, and now prosecutes this suit for the purpose of being allowed to redeem from the sale on the Singer mortgage, and to charge the said Shirley and Crabb with the rents and profits of said real estate during the time they have held and been in possession of the same. Crabb has conveyed his interest in the property to Shirley. The appellee Shirley answered :

First. That he was the owner in fee of the land described in the complaint, having purchased the same of Thomas J. Cofer, assignee in bankruptcy of the said Jules A.Viquesney, on the 20th day of June, 1877, and having received a deed therefor from said Cofer as such assignee; the said Viquesney having previously been adjudged- a bankrupt by the United States District Court for the State of Indiana ; that he also held title to said real estate under a sheriff's deed therefor, executed by the sheriff of Hendricks county on the 28th day of May, 1878, which deed was executed to him on a sale of said premises by the sheriff of said county in the foreclosure proceeding, set out in the complaint, on the Singer mortgage; and that the mortgage executed to the said George W. Robinson, which the appellant is now seeking to foreclose, was executed without any consideration, and for the purpose of cheating, hindering, and delaying the creditors of the said Viquesney.

The second paragraph avers that the mortgage in suit was [246]*246given as an indemnity, and that said Robinson had never been damaged, or compelled to pay the debt against which the mortgage was given to secure him.

Third. In the third answer to.so much of the complaint as demands and requires him to account for the rents and profits of the real estate described in the complaint, he averred that he was the owner in fee of the real estate described in the complaint by virtue of a judicial sale made of the same by order of the District Court of the United States for the district of the State of Indiana, on the 20th day of June, 1877, by one Thomas J.' Cofer, who was the assignee in bankruptcy of the said Jules A. Yiquesney, the said Yiquesney having, prior thereto, been duly adjudged a bankrupt by said court upon proper petition; that the said Cofer executed to him a deed for said real estate, which'was duly confirmed by said district court; that he is also the owner of said real estate, and holds title thereto by virtue of a sheriff’s deed executed to him by the sheriff of Hendricks county, Indiana, on the 28th day- of May, 1878, pursuant to a sale of said real estate in the foreclosure proceedings on the Singer mortgage set up in the complaint.

This answer also sets up the mortgage executed by Yiquesney to Tracy and Bingham ; alleges the foreclosure of the same in the district court of the United States for the district of Indiana; and the payment of the sum of $1,265.74 by the appellee in satisfaction thereof to protect his title.

The appellee Shirley also filed a cross-complaint, in which he set up the amount paid at the sheriff’s sale on the Singer mortgage, and the amount paid to discharge the Tracy and Bingham mortgage and decree, and asked to be allowed therefor in the event a decree ^was entered permitting the appellant to redeem.v

The court overruled a demurrer to this answer, and the appellant excepted.

Upon issues formed the cause was tried by the court, who entered a finding and decree that the appellant was entitled [247]*247to redeem the property covered by the Robinson mortgage upon payment to the appellee Shirley of the sum of 13,992.

The appellant filed a motion for a new trial, which was overruled, and she excepted.

The errors assigned are :

First. That the court erred in overruling the appellant’s demurrer to the first and second paragraphs of the answer of the appellee Shirley.

Second. That the court erred in overruling the appellant’s demurrer to the third paragraph of the answer of Shirley.

Third. That the court erred in overruling the appellant’s motion for a new trial.

As the appellant does not discuss the first assignment of error, the same may be regarded as waived.

The first objection urged against the third paragraph of the answer is that it attempts to answer the whole complaint, and that it can, at most, amount to an answer to so much of the complaint as seeks to require the appellee Shirley to account for rents and profits. Counsel is in error in assuming that the answer attempts to answer the whole complaint. It is addressed to so much of the complaint only, as we understand the plea, as seeks to charge the appellee with the rents and profits of the mortgaged premises during the time he-occupied them. The question is, therefore, presented as to whether the answer contains facts sufficient to bar the appellant’s claim for rents and profits of the mortgaged premises.

It is believed to be the universal rule, in all cases where the mortgagee takes and retains possession of the mortgaged premises under his mortgage, that he must account for the rents and profits received by him from the premises while he holds the same under his mortgage. 2 Jones Mortgages, (4th ed.), section 1114; Troost v. Davis, 31 Ind. 34; Hannon v. Hilliard, 83 Ind. 362 ; Arnold v. Cord, 16 Ind. 177; Taylor v. Conner, 7 Ind. 115.

[248]*248Such rule, in the absence of some statute upon the subject, rests upon the reasonable doctrine that while the mortgagee is the holder of the legal title to the mortgaged premises, he holds such title, nevertheless, subject to the equitable right of the mortgagor to pay the debt and thus destroy or put an end to his legal title and that the mortgagee is entitled to no more than his debt which the mortgage was intended to secure. Hence it is that when the.mortgagor desires to redeem from a mortgagee who has been in the possession of the mortgaged premises under his mortgage he has the right, in a court of equity, to call upon the mortgagee to account for •the amount received by way of rents and profits, for the purpose of determining how much, if anything, is required in order to discharge the mortgage debt.

This doctrine extends to cases where there has been an attempt to sell the premises under the mortgage, where such sale is defective and does not divest the title of the mortgagor. Hannon v. Hilliard, supra.

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Bluebook (online)
23 N.E. 791, 122 Ind. 244, 1890 Ind. LEXIS 75, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gaskell-v-viquesney-ind-1890.