Hanson v. Fergus Falls National Bank & Trust Co.

65 N.W.2d 857, 242 Minn. 498, 49 A.L.R. 2d 1379, 1954 Minn. LEXIS 668
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedJuly 23, 1954
Docket36,148
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 65 N.W.2d 857 (Hanson v. Fergus Falls National Bank & Trust Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hanson v. Fergus Falls National Bank & Trust Co., 65 N.W.2d 857, 242 Minn. 498, 49 A.L.R. 2d 1379, 1954 Minn. LEXIS 668 (Mich. 1954).

Opinions

Frank T. Gallagher, Justice.

The material facts in this case are not seriously in dispute. The action was brought to quiet title to a parcel of land in Otter Tail county containing about 134 acres. The land originally was patented by one Stengrim Hanson. On October 22, 1925, he executed a mortgage thereon to the Fergus Falls National Bank and Trust Company. Hanson died in 1931. On March 19, 1932, the bank bid the land in at a foreclosure sale of the above mortgage for $4,961.06 and secured a sheriff’s certificate of sale.

At the time of the foreclosure sale, Ole S. Bergerud, a son of Hanson, was in possession of the farm. He made a demand upon the sheriff that the farm be sold in separate parcels, which was done. March 19, 1933, which would have been the last day for redemption, fell on a Sunday, so the time for redemption expired on March 20, 1933. On that date, the Fergus Falls National Bank and Trust Company, as vendor, and Ole S. Bergerud, as vendee, entered into a contract for deed in the usual form under the terms of which the bank agreed to sell the farm to Bergerud for $5,258.72, the amount for which the land was bid in at the foreclosure sale plus interest to the date of the contract, all of which was to be payable on October 1, 1933. The contract contains a reservation reading: “All hunting rights are reserved by vendor * *

Ole S. Bergerud made an application to the Federal Land Bank of St. Paul for a loan which was dated sometime prior to November 14,1933. The application was approved for a loan of $4,200. On November 14,1933, the president of the Fergus Falls National Bank and Trust Company wrote to the treasurer of the Federal Land Bank asking to have the loan approved for a larger amount, which was refused. On November 28, 1933, the Fergus Falls National Bank and Trust Company executed a quitclaim deed of the premises [500]*500to Bergerud, who thereupon executed a first mortgage to the Federal Land Bank to secure the sum of $2,800 and a second mortgage for $1,400 to the Land Bank Commissioner, both dated December 1,1933. The quitclaim deed and both mortgages were duly recorded on December 30, 19,33. The Fergus Falls bank received and accepted the net proceeds of the loan as payment in full. In the quitclaim deed from the Fergus Falls bank was the following reservation:

“Reserving However To The Fergus Falls National Bank And Trust Company, Or Assigns All Shooting And Hunting Privileges Together With The Right Of Passage Or Travel Over For The Purpose Of Hunting During Hunting Seasons.” (Italics supplied.)

On December 6, 1935, the Fergus Falls National Bank and Trust Company executed an assignment which reads as follows:

“For Value Received, Fergus Falls National Bank and Trust Company a Corporation, does hereby assign all their right, title and interest in the shooting and hunting privileges, together with the right of passage or travel over for the purpose of hunting during the hunting seasons, * * * unto H. G. Dahl and J. S. Ulland, their heirs and assigns, Forever.”

The consideration actually paid for this assignment was one dollar.

After the death of Ulland, his heirs executed an assignment reading as follows:

“For value received, I, * * * do hereby assign all my right, title and interest in the shooting and hunting privileges, together with the right of passage or travel over for the purpose of hunting during the hunting seasons, * * * unto H. G. Dahl, his heirs and assigns, forever.”

On April 19,1937, the Federal Land Bank foreclosed its mortgage and became the owner of the land a year later. In 1938, the Federal Land Bank sold the farm to plaintiff on a contract for deed. Plaintiff thereafter complained to the Federal Land Bank about the hunting reservation, as the result of which the Land Bank entered into negotiations with the Fergus Falls National Bank and Trust Com[501]*501pany. At the conclusion, of these negotiations, the Federal Land Bank credited plaintiff’s account with $1,000. He in turn agreed to “take these hunting rights over.” On July 20,1943, the Federal Land Bank executed a limited warranty deed to plaintiff “Subject to- all existing easements and rights of way.” In order to pay the bank, plaintiff procured a loan of $3,500 from the Prudential Life Insurance Company and executed a mortgage to that company on the premises for that amount, which mortgage is subject to the reservation of record held by Dahl. Again in 1949, plaintiff executed a mortgage, subject to the reservation, to Prudential Life Insurance Company.

The case was tried to the court without a jury. The court found in effect that the quitclaim deed from the Fergus Falls National Bank and Trust Company reserved a valid easement; -that plaintiff accepted and retained the sum of $1,000 from the Federal Land Bank on account of the hunting reservation, which sum plaintiff accepted and retained with the understanding that the real estate would remain subject to and be encumbered by the reservation; that plaintiff recognized the validity of the reservation in mortgages and instruments which he executed and which were recorded in the office of the register of deeds; that for more than 18 years plaintiff, with full knowledge that the reservation was in existence and recorded against the land and with full knowledge that rights were claimed by Dahl and Ulland thereunder, did nothing to question the reservation and at all times recognized the same; that by reason thereof, even if plaintiff had any right to attack the reservation, he had lost the same both by laches and by permitting the statute of limitations to run against him; and that the reservation and easement are legal and binding, run with the land, and are assignable. The court ordered title quieted in Dahl as to said easement and reservation. Judgment was entered, and this appeal is from such judgment.

The first contention of plaintiff is that, when the Fergus Falls National Bank and Trust Company and Bergerud executed the contract for deed on March 20, 1933, the time for redemption had not expired; that the bank was not then the owner of the land; that [502]*502the contract for deed was intended as an extension of the time for redemption from the foreclosure sale; and that, as a consequence, the bank could not reserve the hunting rights since it never became the owner of the land.

There are several reasons why this position is not tenable. We have no doubt that the parties could have extended the time for redemption had they desired to do so (Tice v. Russell, 43 Minn. 66, 44 N. W. 886), in which case the ownership of the property would have remained as it was. The difficulty in this case is that, even if we were to so hold, the extended time at best would have expired on October 1, 1933, the date specified for payment under the contract. It is further -clear that redemption was never made by Bergerud but that he took title under a deed, not under a certificate of redemption.

Plaintiff next contends that the interest created by the reservation involved in this case is not such as can be held or owned by a banking corporation. We disagree with that contention, as it is our opinion that it can.

The almost universal holding from early times has been that the right to hunt on the premises of another is an incorporeal right designated as a “profit a prendre.” Minnesota Valley Gun Club v. Northline Corp. 207 Minn. 126, 290 N. W. 222; Davies’s Case, 3 Mod. 246; Wickham v. Hawker, 7 Mees. & W. 62; Ewart v. Graham, 7 H. L. Cas.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State of Minnesota v. Roger Benedict Schmid
859 N.W.2d 816 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 2015)
Goss v. C.A.N. Wildlife Trust, Inc.
852 A.2d 996 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 2004)
Figliuzzi v. Carcajou Shooting Club
502 N.W.2d 876 (Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 1993)
Farm Credit Bank of St. Paul v. Kohnen
494 N.W.2d 44 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1992)
Earth Protector, Inc. v. City of Hopkins
474 N.W.2d 454 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1991)
Peacock v. American Agronomics Corp.
422 So. 2d 55 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1982)
Mikesh v. Peters
284 N.W.2d 215 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1979)
Alexander Dawson, Inc. v. Fling
396 P.2d 599 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1964)
Alford v. Finch
155 So. 2d 790 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1963)
Hanson v. Fergus Falls National Bank & Trust Co.
65 N.W.2d 857 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1954)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
65 N.W.2d 857, 242 Minn. 498, 49 A.L.R. 2d 1379, 1954 Minn. LEXIS 668, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hanson-v-fergus-falls-national-bank-trust-co-minn-1954.