Gerwig v. Shetterly

64 Barb. 620, 1873 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 24
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedApril 1, 1873
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 64 Barb. 620 (Gerwig v. Shetterly) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gerwig v. Shetterly, 64 Barb. 620, 1873 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 24 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1873).

Opinion

By the Court, E. Darwin Smith, J.

The first of the above entitled actions was instituted to stay proceedings upon the foreclosure by advertisement of the mortgage mentioned in the pleadings, and bearing date May 11, 1868, and to cancel and set aside said mortgage as usurious. And the suit secondly entitled was instituted by Shetterly as assignee of the same mortgage, to foreclose it, or, if the court should hold it usurious, then to set aside a satisfaction of a previous mortgage dated November 28, 1864, and foreclose such mortgage; setting- up, further, that the first mentioned mortgage was given and executed as a substitute for the mortgage last mentioned. The referee has found the first mentioned mortgage usurious, and given judgment according to the prayer of the complaint, that the same be cancelled and given up as usurious, and dismissed the complaint in the second suit. These causes were tried together, by the same referee, and the judgments rendered by the referee were based upon the finding in both suits, in form, that the first mentioned mortgage aforesaid was usurious. The referee in the first entitled suit does not state particularly the facts upon which he bases the finding that said bond and mortgage is usurious, but refers to the complaint for the grounds of such report, and finds “that the said bond and mortgage was executed upon the illegal and usurious consideration set forth in the plaintiff’s complaint.” The complaint states the consideration or usurious agreement as follows : “That it was agreed with Edgar Peckham that if the said plaintiff would make Ms bond and mortgage for the sum of $4,314, with interest thereon, and to secure the payment thereof would, with his wife, make, acknowledge and deliver to said Edgar Peckham a mortgage upon lands described in the notice of foreclosure and sale of the mortgages referred to, and in conjunction with said bond and mortgage would also make his negotiable proinissory [615]*615note for $400 with interest, payable in one year, and deliver the same to the said Edgar, then the said Edgar, in consideration thereof, would advance or would loan money to said plaintiff, to the amount of $4,314, or would pay up, satisfy and discharge a bond made by said plaintiff, upon which there was unpaid the sum of $4,314, and would also procure the owner of the mortgage, which was given to secure the payment of said bond, to cancel, satisfy and discharge the same.”

In the answer to this complaint, in the second entitled suit, the usurious agreement is set out as follows: “The defendant states that on the 11th of June, 1866, (the date of the second mortgage,) the defendant applied to the said Edgar Peckham (the mortgagee) for a loan, or for information where a loan might be procured, and thereupon an agreement was made and entered into between said defendant and the said Edgar Peckham, whereby said Peckham agreed to loan to said defendant about $4,000, or a sum sufficient to pay a bond and mortgage made by said defendant; if said defendant would make and deliver to him his bond for the amount so loaned, with interest, and make and deliver to him also his promissory note for $400 and interest.”

The usurious agreement thus alleged in the pleadings, on the part of Grerwig, the mortgagor, in the two suits, it will thus be seen was an agreement for the loan of $4,314 money by Peckham to said mortgagee, for which he was to receive a bonus, in the said promissory note, of $400.

The undoubted facts and proofs in the case do not establish any such usurious agreement. The proofs and admissions in the pleadings clearly show that the said Edgar Peckham was not a lender of money, and never proposed or agreed to loan money to the said Grerwig, as stated in said pleadings—and had none to loan; but, on the contrary, was in urgent need and want of money himself, and anxious to raise or realize it upon a bond [616]*616and mortgage held by him,.executed by said Gerwig to Cyrus Peckham, the father of said Edgar, for a debt owing previously to said Cyrus and Edgar; that part of said mortgage was due, and said Edgar was pressing said Gerwig for payment, and that the plan to raise money for their common purpose and benefit was to sell said bond and mortgage; and for that purpose they both applied to one Wagner to buy said bond and mortgage; that upon Wagner’s objecting to said bond and mortgage that they were payable to said Cyrus Peck-ham, and embraced some land not owned at the time when it was given by said Gerwig, it was agreed to make a new mortgage for the amount due upon such former mortgage, covering some other small pieces of land, and to except such piece not really bound by said former mortgage; and that such bond and mortgage to secure $4,314 was accordingly executed to Edgar Peckham as a substitute for such former mortgage payable to said Edgar Peckham, to whom said mortgage belonged, and to whom the money secured thereby was payable in fact. That the mortgage in question was made for this purpose, and to put it into a shape that said Wagner would buy the same, and that the said Edgar Peckham could sell and transfer the same. That said bond and mortgage was given for the precise debt, and the precise amount then due and owing from the said Gerwig on the former bond and mortgage, then held by said Edgar Peckham, and the same was sold by the said Edgar Peckham and assigned to said Wagner at a discount of $800—of which amount said Gerwig paid said Peckham, in his said promissory note of $400, one-half—it being agreed between said Edgar and Gerwig that each should pay one-half of such discount. Wagner afterwards assigned such bond and mortgage to the National Bank of Vernon, and the bank assigned the same to Christian Shetterly, who was the owner and holder thereof when these actions were brought.

[617]*617The question is, whether this transaction made said bond and mortgage, so given and sold, void for usury.

No question is made that this $4,314 bond and mortgage was given for an honest debt of said Gerwig to Peckham. It was in Peckham’s hands, therefore, in the respects mentioned, a valid mortgage for its full face, and he might sell and dispose of it at his discretion, and. at such price as he pleased. His sale of it to Wagner was,- then, a valid' sale. Wagner had nothing to do or say about any loan of money, but was willing to purchase a bond and mortgage which was “right,” as he said, and free from any legal defence. All the conversations with him on the subject were to this effect, that he would purchase the bond and mortgage if made satisfactory. There is not in the case any such transaction as a loan of money by him, or by Edgar Peckham, to Gerwig. There was no loan of money made or contemplated by any party, and this.ground of usury presented in the pleadings on the part of the said Gerwig, is entirely unsustained. The receipt by Peckham of the $400 for one-half the discount, or shave, (as they call it,) on the sale of the bond and mortgage, was extrinsic to that sale, and to said bond and mortgage. In the case of (Green v. Elmer (4 Seld. 422) the bond and mortgage was made to sell, and contained an excess of $300 over and above the debt for which it was professedly given, to secure the discount or usurious premium on the sale.

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Bluebook (online)
64 Barb. 620, 1873 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 24, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gerwig-v-shetterly-nysupct-1873.