Hudson v. Randolph

66 F. 216, 13 C.C.A. 402, 1894 U.S. App. LEXIS 2582
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedNovember 27, 1894
DocketNo. 210
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 66 F. 216 (Hudson v. Randolph) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hudson v. Randolph, 66 F. 216, 13 C.C.A. 402, 1894 U.S. App. LEXIS 2582 (5th Cir. 1894).

Opinion

PARDEE, Circuit Judge.

The appellant C. P. Hudson assigns as error in the proceedings in the circuit court that the court overruled the demurrer to the complainant’s bill, contending that, on the face of the bill, the court ivas without jurisdiction in equity to grant relief. If the bill is viewed purely as one brought by the holder of the legal title to real estate against parties in pos[217]*217session, to recover possession with rents and profits, and to remove clouds from title, the assignment of error is well taken. It lias been settled since Hipp v. Babin, 19 How. 271, that the holdei of a legal title cannot maintain an action to recover possession of the property, although coupled with a demand for an accounting as to rents and profits. It is also settled that the holder of a legal title out of possession cannot maintain a suit in equity in the courts of the United States against one in possession, to recover the property and to remove clouds from the title. Whitehead v. Shattuck, 138 U. S. 346, 11 Sup. Ct. 276. See, also, Scott v. Neely, 140 U. S. 106, 11 Sup. Ct. 712; Cates v. Allen, 149 U. S. 451, 13 Sup. Ct. 883, 977. But it is also settled that in cases of-fraud, error, or mistake, presenting a case for equitable relief within Hie generally recognized rules of equity, the court is not ousted of jurisdiction, because the complainant may have a remedy at law, uniess that remedy at law is complete and adequate. Kilbourn v. Sunderland, 130 U. S. 505-515, 9 Sup. Ct. 594; Gormley v. Clark, 134 U. S. 338-349, 10 Sup. Ct. 554; Tyler v. Savage, 143 U. S. 79-95, 12 Sup. Ct. 340. In Kilbourn v. Sunderland, supra, the court, through Mr. Chief Justice Fuller, says, in relation to the case then in hand: “‘There cannot be any real doubt that the remedy in equity, in cases of account, is generally more complete and adequate than it is or can be at law’ (1 Story, Eq. Jur. § 450); and, as the remedy at law in the case in hand was rendered embarrassed and doubtful by the conduct of the defendants, and fraud had in equity a more extensive signification than at law, and, as charged here, involved the consideration of the principles applicable to fiduciary and trust relations between the parties throughout the period of ¡heir connection, we concur with the supreme court of the district in sustaining the jurisdiction,” — all of which, we think, may be said of the matters presented by the bill in this case.

A careful scrutiny of the bill in this case, in the light of the subsequent pleadings and the admitted facts, shows a case where the complainant, although the holder of the legal title, and seeking to recover possession, rents, and profits, and to remove clouds from title, is also seeking discovery and an accounting as to a certain mortgage upon the property which, by the machinations of the defendants, has been merged, through an alleged fraudulent foreclosure, into a superior title, when in fact it is not a legal title, and, if anything, is a mortgage, upon which payments have been made, and under which the complainant, as the holder of the legal title, is entitled to redeem when the validity of the mortgage and the amount due thereon shall have been ascertained by proper discovery. It requires no difficult construction of the bill, in connection with that part of the prayer for an accounting of the amount due upon the mortgage to the Scottish-American Mortgage Company, Limited, and for a decree permitting the complainant to be allowed to redeem, to hold the complainant’s bill to be a bill to redeem, as well as to recover possession and to remove clouds from title. As was said in Tyler v. Savage, supra, “Thus, there were in the case, as ingredients to support the jurisdiction of [218]*218equity, discovery, account, fraud, misrepresentation, and concealment,” may be said in tbe present case. It seems only necessary to notice, further, that, in the light of the pleadings and facts in the case, it cannot be pretended that the complainant has an adequate remedy at law.

The appellant O. P. Hudson also contends that the court below erred in not granting his motion to take the document filed by him, in connection with his answer, and called a “plea,” as confessed, qnd thereupon dismiss the complainant’s bill. The so-called “plea” states nothing but conclusions of law, and is but a recapitulation of the grounds urged in the demurrer, overruled by the court, and, as such, was properly1 disregarded. In addition to this, it may be noticed that, considered as a plea, it went to the whole bill, and, under well-recognized rules of equity pleading, it was waived when the pleader filed an answer to the whole bill.

The appellant also complains that after the master’s report, and when the cause had been heard upon exception's thereto, but before the court had rendered a decree upon said exceptions, he asked for leave to amend his answer to the crossi bill of the Scottish-American Mortgage Company, Limited, and also to amend his cross bill in the case, as per drafts tendered, which the court overruled and refused. As we understand the practice, the granting of leave to amend, coming at that stage of the case, was wholly within the discretion of the court. Further than this, we may say that we have considered the amendments proposed in behalf of C. P. Hudson, and, under the view .we take of the case, the same are immaterial. On the evidence and admissions submitted in the cause, we conclude, as evidently did also the master and the judge of the court below, that the equities were entirely against the claims and demands of C. P. Hudson; and we further conclude, on the merits of the case, that the decree appealed from is in no respect erroneous, so far as C. P. Hudson is concerned.

The first question raised by the appeal of the Scottish-American Mortgage .Company, Limited, is whether the complainant, Randolph, who acquired a lien on the lands in controversy August 15, 1885, is charged with constructive notice of a deed of trust executed by A. J. Hudson and wife to the Scottish-American Mortgage Company, Limited, on December 12, 1883, to secure the payment of a certain promissory note given by said Hudson, of even date with the trust deed, payable on the 12th day of December, 1888, to the order of the Scottish-American Mortgage Company, Limited, at the bank of Montreal, city of New York, for 'the sum of $5,000, with interest thereon at the rate of 11 per cent, per annum until fully paid. It is claimed by the complainant that although this deed of trust mortgaging the lands in controversy for the payment of the said note, and sufficiently describing the same, was duly executed, acknowledged, and proved, and was filed for record on December 19, 1883,. and thereafter, on December 22, 1883, was recorded in the proper office of Johnson county, yet, as the record as made did not describe the lands in controversy, but was insufficient to describe any lands, the complainant was not charged with notice, constructive or otherwise, [219]*219of the said trust deed. It seems that, although the trust deed deposited for record with the clerk of the county court of Johnson county contained a full and accurate description of the lands conveyed, yet the record actually made by the clerk by omitting part of one of the calls left the description vague and uncertain, if not meaningless.

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Bluebook (online)
66 F. 216, 13 C.C.A. 402, 1894 U.S. App. LEXIS 2582, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hudson-v-randolph-ca5-1894.