Haley v. Atlantic National Fire Insurance

106 S.E. 122, 151 Ga. 158, 1921 Ga. LEXIS 189
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedFebruary 18, 1921
DocketNo. 2092
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 106 S.E. 122 (Haley v. Atlantic National Fire Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Haley v. Atlantic National Fire Insurance, 106 S.E. 122, 151 Ga. 158, 1921 Ga. LEXIS 189 (Ga. 1921).

Opinion

George, J.

(After stating the foregoing facts.) Herbert E. Haley, during his lifetime, borrowed $10,000 on his home placó on Mulberry street in the City of Macon, $22,500 on the Eindlay foundry property, and $25,000 on the Lawton-Jordan property, all from Isaac Block. The loan on the Lawton-Jordan property was subsequently reduced to $20,000. Haley failed to pay these loans, and Block instituted proceedings to foreclose them. Haley interposed [160]*160various objections to the foreclosure proceedings, but Block finally obtained judgments. Further litigation ensued; and when Block advertised the properties for sale Haley interposed affidavits of illegality. Under agreement, one of the affidavits, of illegality was withdrawn; and the Mulberry street place, or home place, was sold, in May, 1917, and Block became the purchaser of this property. Block entered into an agreement with the Rutherford Investment Company, a corporation, in which Haley was interested and of which he was president, by the terms of which the investment company was to be permitted to redeem the Mulberry street property upon conditons stated. The consideration of this agreement, or a part thereof, was a transfer of certain city lots, parts of the Rutherford place, to Block. At the same time a rent contract was made by Block with Haley, by the terms of which Haley agreed to pay certain rent for the Mulberry street property. One thousand dollars was paid to Block on August 1, 1917, and was credited on the fi. fa.; but other conditions of the agreement were not carried out. In October, 1917, Block made a new agreement with the Rutherford Investment Company, Herbert F. Haley Inc., and Herbert F. Haley individually. In substance the agreement recited the terms of the previous agreement and the desire that further time be given on some of the conditions therein named; that judgments had been obtained in favor of Block 'against Haley on .the Findlay foundry loan and the Lawton-Jordan loan, and that affidavits of illegality had been filed to said judgments; that in consideration of the withdrawal of the affidavits of illegality Block agreed to give further time to redeem the Mulberry street property and also agreed not to sell the Findlay foundry and Lawton-Jordan properties until the first Tuesday in January, 1918; and that in the event certain payments were made before that time, further indulgence should be granted to Haley. The terms of this agreement were not carried out, and on the first Tuesday in January, 1918, the Findlay foundry property and the Lawton-Jordan properties were sold by the sheriff and were purchased by Block for $5,000 each. On the date of the sale Block entered into another agreement with Haley and the two corporations named, which agreement referred to the previous agreements, and recited that Haley had failed to comply with the terms thereof, and that in consequence the Findlay foundry and Lawton-Jordan properties had been sold, but gave to Haley the [161]*161privilege of redeeming these properties upon named conditions to be performed within twenty days thereafter. At the expiration of the twenty days the agreement was extended ten days. On the tenth day after the extension Block’s attorney communicated with Haley and reminded him that his time was about to expire and that he would be given until midnight to comply with the conditions named in the agreement. Haley promised to comply, but failed to do so. He died the next day. Mrs. Haley qualified as executrix of her husband’s will, and her representatives thereafter advised Block’s attorney that they had found the agreements hereinbefore referred to among the papers of Haley, and in effect asked that Mrs. Haley be substituted for Mr. Haley in the agreements. Block’s attorney and Mrs. Haley’s representatives entered into negotiations to that end. In the meantime Block, through his attorney, sold the Mulberry street property at a larger sum than Mrs. Haley was willing to pay for it; and it was agreed that this excess should be credited on the two remaining fi. fas., Mrs. Haley having theretofore advised Block that she would pay the indebtedness due him and take over the properties. At this point there is some conflict in the evidence. Mrs. Haley contended that an agreed sum was to be paid and was paid as the purchase-price of the Findlay foundry and the-Law-ton-Jordan and Rutherford properties, and a separate sum for the judgments against Haley. It is not disputed that Block (the negotiations on his part having been conducted entirely by his attorney) insisted upon the payment of the full balance due upon the judgments after the amount realized from the sale of the Mulberry street property had been credited thereon. In making the calculation it is also undisputed that payments made by Haley during his lifetime on account of his indebtedness, and the rents paid by him for the dwelling-house under the first agreement mentioned above, were credited on the remaining fi. fas. It also appears that nothing was charged by way of purchase-price except the principal, interest, attorney’s fees and cost, taxes and insurance paid by Block on account of said properties, and certain incidental expenses incurred by him in protecting or defending his claims upon said properties. The amount finally agreed upon was $48,382.50. Block refused to convey the real estate for any sum which would leave an unpaid balance on the fi. fas.; that is to say, Block insisted upon the payment of the full balance due on the fi. fas., plus certain additional [162]*162items above mentioned, as a condition precedent to a transfer of the properties or the fi. fas. Mrs. Haley insisted, however, that she was unwilling to pay more than $36,000 for the land, and that she in fact paid $36,000 for the Findlay foundry property, the LawtonJordan property, and the Eutherford lots; and that the balance, to wit, $12,383.52, was paid for the transfer of the judgments. It is, however, not disputed that the balance of $12,383.52 was to be paid for these judgments, because such amount represented the unpaid balance on the judgments after crediting the judgments with the purchase-price of the real estate. Two separate checks were given by Mrs. Haley to Block, one for $36,000 and one for $12,383.52. The checks were accepted and the deeds to the property from Block to Mrs. Haley were executed and delivered, and the fi. fas. transferred to her. Mrs. Haley contends that Herbert F. Haley, at the time of his death, had no right whatever, by option to purchase or otherwise, in the real estate conveyed to her by Block. On the other hand, the company (the defendant in error) contends that it was not necessary for the estate of Herbert F. Haley to have an enforceable interest in the properties in order to prevent Mrs. Haley from purchasing them at less than the judgment debts, under the admitted facts. This is the controlling question; and in the view we take of the matter it is unnecessary to rule upon the questions of pleading and practice presented by the record.

The evidence'establishes without dispute that Block was willing to surrender the real estate and the judgments upon the payment of the judgment debts, including certain items mentioned above, even though he had purchased the properties at foreclosure sale, and even though the right of Haley or the corporation to redeem the property or any part of it had expired. It is likewise undisputed that Block refused to make a conveyance of the properties, dr any of them, unless and until he received the full amount due upon the judgments. It appears that it was immaterial to him whether a portion of the money due him should be considered as the purchase-price of the real estate and a portion as the purchase price of the fi. fas.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
106 S.E. 122, 151 Ga. 158, 1921 Ga. LEXIS 189, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/haley-v-atlantic-national-fire-insurance-ga-1921.