Higgins v. Dennis

74 N.W. 9, 104 Iowa 605, 1898 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 381
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedFebruary 1, 1898
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 74 N.W. 9 (Higgins v. Dennis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Higgins v. Dennis, 74 N.W. 9, 104 Iowa 605, 1898 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 381 (iowa 1898).

Opinion

Given, J.

I. The sole question involved in this appeal is as to which of mid mortgages is entitled to* priority., There is no* dispute as to the facts, and they are substantially as follows: One A. J. Beasihaw owned the mortgaged property, with an unsatisfied mortgage thereon to* the New England Loan & Trust Company for three hundred and fifty dollars, and a mortgage to J. K. and W. H. Gllcrest for seventy-two dollars. On the tenth day of August, 1886, Beasihaw sold the property to the defendant Dennis for nine hundred and fifty dollars, six hundred dollars to be paid in cash, sufficient of which was to be applied to the satisfaction of said mortgages to the New England Loan & Trust Company and to J. K. and W. H. Gil crest. For the balance of the purchase price, namely three hundred and fifty dollars, M. E. Dennis was to execute to* Beashaw her promissory note secured by mortgage on the premises. To procure the amount with which to make the cash payment, M. [607]*607E. Dennis applied to the Iowa Loan & Trust Company for a loan, stating in her application that, “to- secure the same, I will give first mortgage on the following property,” describing that in controversy. On the said tenth day of August, 1886, Eeashaw executed a deed for said property to M. E. Dennis, subject to said two mortgages to the New England Company and to- the Gilerests, “which the said M. E. Dennis is to assume and agrees to pay.” This -deed was- deposited with the Iowa Loan & Trust Company, to be delivered when said two existing mortgages were -satisfied. On that clay M. E. Dennis executed to Eeashaw the promissory note and mortgage -sued upon. She also, -on that clay, executed and delivered to the Iowa Loan- & Trust Company the mortgage set up in its answer, to s-ecure the loan to her of -six hundred dollars'. The six hundred dollars wore applied in satisfaction of said two- prior mortgages, and the balance thereof paid to Eeashaw. Eea.shaw knew of the execution of the mortgage to the defendant company, and consented that it should be a first mortgage. There is no evidence, however, that said defendant company knew of the execution of the mortgage to Eeashaw. Thes-e three instruments, thus executed and delivered on the same -clay, were each filed . for record on that day and in the following order: The mortgage from M. E. Dennis to the Io-wa Loan & Trust Company ivas, filed for record at 4 o’clock and fifty minutes; P. M.; the deed from Mr. Eeashaw to- M. E. Dennis was filed for record at 4 o’clock and fifty-five minutes P. M.; and the mortgage from M. E. Dennis to A. J. Eeashaw was filed for record at 5 o’clock and twenty-five minutes P. M. Mr. Heighton, of the Iowa. Loan & Trust Company, who transacted the business on bel tal f o-f the company in the loan to- M. E. Dennis, to-ok said-deed and the mortgage to- the company to- have the proper transfer made, and to- file the same for record. He first stopped at the andito-r’-s office and left the deed [608]*608to have the transfer made. He then proceeded to the recorder’s office, filed said mortgage to the company for record, returned to the auditor’s office, obtained the deed, and immediately went to the recorder’s office, and had it filed for record. It was in this manner that the mortgage came to be filed for record five minutes before the deed was filed. The- promissory note sued upon is an ordinary, negotiable promissory note, dated August 10, 1886, and due on or before two years from date. The mortgage securing said note is in the usual form.. Before maturity Beashaw assigned said note and mortgage to H. T. Harriett, who thereafter, and before maturity, assigned the same to Benjamin Higgins, now deceased, and through whom the plaintiff became and now is the owner of said note and mortgage.

II. Plaintiff’s first contention, is. that, as holder of the negotiable note sued upon, and of the mortgage as an incident thereto', she is, in the .absence of proof, assumed to have obtained them in good faith, for value, before maturity, and that she is, therefore, not chargeable with the knowledge of Beashaw, nor his agreements, with respect to the defendant’s, mortgage-. This claim may, for the purpose of this suit be conceded; and, being conceded, the question of priority cannot be determined by the knowledge or agreements of Beashaw. The two mortgages were executed and delivered on th same day, but it does not appear in what order; therefore, the question of priority cannot be determined by the order of their execution -and delivery. No reference is made in either mortgage to the other; therefore, the question of priority cannot be determined from anything appearing in the mortgages. The mortgage to the defendant was executed to secure- a loan of borrowed money, to be paid, and which was paid, as a part of the purchase price, and the plaintiff’s- mortgage was executed to- .secure the balance of the purchase price. There is conflict in the authorities as .to whether each [609]*609may be regarded as given for purchase money, but we think that each is in such a sense for the purchase price that neither can be said to have priority on that ground. See 1 Jones, Mortgages, section 472; Laidley v. Aiken, 80 Iowa, 112. We will not pursue these propositions further, as they are not really contentions in the case. We have referred to them to- show that, as stated by plaintiffs counsel, “the only question in this case is ivhetker. p-laintiff is- charged with the knowledge imparted by the recording of the Iowa Loan & Trust Company’s mortgage prior to- the recording of the -deed placing title in the mortgagor.” It is plaintiff’s contention that she is not chargeable with knowledge of anything appearing upon the record prior to the time the deed- to Miss Dennis was. filed for record, namely 4:55 p. m., August 10, 1886. It is -argued that, if the searcher of the record must go back of that time, he must go back indefinitely, even to the beginning of the record, and that this would be impractible, if not impossible. In support of this contention, cases are cited wherein a party not having legal title executed a mortgage which was placed on record before the deed by which the mortgagor subsequently -acquired the legal title. In these cases it was held that one purchasing subsequent to the deed conferring the legal title was not charged by the record with knowledge of the mortgage previously recorded. Of these cases we note Trust Co. v. Maltby, 8 Paige, 361; Turk v. Funk, 68 Mo. 18; Calder v. Chapman, 52 Pa. St. 359; Jones, Mortgages, section 471; 20 Am. & Eng.. Enc. Law, 597. These cases •are not in point, for the reason that, in this, Miss Dennis had the legal title at the time she executed and delivered these mortgages. She had the legal title for the reason that the deed to her was -either executed and delivered prior to the execution and delivery of the mortgages or contemporaneous therewith. The rights of a mortgagee to after-acquired by title is not involved in this case. The [610]*610question before us is simply ■whether' the plaintiff is chargeable with knowledge of what appeared upon the record in the chain of title, only from the hour and minute at which Miss Dennis’ deed was filed for record, or from the day of its execution. Authorities are cited in which it is said that the searcher need only go back to the time that evidence of title was filed for record, but surely such a rule should not apply to these facts. Suppose that Miss Dennis had withheld her deed from record for several days-, and executed a.

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Bluebook (online)
74 N.W. 9, 104 Iowa 605, 1898 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 381, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/higgins-v-dennis-iowa-1898.