Krinsky v. Title Guarantee & Trust Co.

163 Misc. 833, 298 N.Y.S. 31, 1937 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1438
CourtAppellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York
DecidedMay 21, 1937
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 163 Misc. 833 (Krinsky v. Title Guarantee & Trust Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Krinsky v. Title Guarantee & Trust Co., 163 Misc. 833, 298 N.Y.S. 31, 1937 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1438 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1937).

Opinion

Frankenthaler, J.

This action was brought to rescind the purchase of a guaranteed first mortgage certificate from the defendant, on the ground that the latter falsely represented to plaintiff that the certificate represented an undivided share in a bond [835]*835and mortgage maturing June 1, 1934, whereas the fact was that, the bond and mortgage did not mature until June 1, 1936. I

On July 23, 1931, plaintiff’s husband, acting as her agent, applied1 to defendant for a certificate in the face amount of $1,000 in a mortgage that would not run for more than three years.” The defendant, on receipt of $1,000, forwarded a certificate, dated July 24, 1931, which recited the receipt by it of $1,000 from plaintiff and assigned to the latter an undivided share equal to that amount, with interest thereon at the rate of 5½% per annum, in the bond of Hart Properties, Inc., Dated January 19, 1926, for $85,000., due* June 1, 1934, and in the first mortgage securing the same.” The asterisk in the above quotation referred to a footnote reading as follows: “ While the bond secured by the mortgage mentioned in this certificate is payable by its terms on its due date, the policy of the Bond and Mortgage Guarantee Company, entitles it at its option to a period of eighteen months thereafter in which to collect the principal. Regular payment of interest meanwhile is guaranteed.”

Plaintiff’s husband examined the certificate, and, finding that it corresponded with his request in that the mortgage was due not more than, three years later, placed the certificate in his safe. In May, 1936, plaintiff’s husband learned that on July 22, 1931, two days prior to the date of the certificate purchased by plaintiff, the defendant had entered into an agreement with Hart Properties, Inc., extending the mortgage to July 1, 1936, with the following provision for amortization payments: $500 on January 1, 1932; $1,250 on June 1, 1932; $1,250 on June 1, 1933; $1,000 on June 1, 1984; $1,000 on June 1, 1935; and the balance of $80,000 on June 1, 1936. On May 28, 1936, a short time after this discovery, plaintiff notified the defendant that she rescinded the purchase of the certificate and tendered it back to the defendant, demanding the return of the purchase price. On the defendant’s refusal to accept the tender, the present action was brought.

The defendant offered testimony to establish that it had issued certificates, aggregating $5,000, which were intended to be payable out of the amortization payments provided for in the extension agreement. However, instead of inserting a provision in the certificates to the effect that they were payable out of the amortization payments and making the due date of each certificate correspond to the due date of the amortization payment out of which it was to be paid, the defendant issued certificates in which the maturity of the bond and mortgage was dated to correspond with the due dates of the amortization payments out of which the respective certificates were intended to be payable. [836]*836None of these certificates contained any language which would indicate that they were payable, out of amortization installments maturing prior to the due date of the bond and mortgage. Each of these certificates is in the form of the certificate issued to the plaintiff. Plaintiff’s certificate is the only one issued by the defendant in which the due date of the bond and mortgage is described as June 1, 1934.

Plaintiff contends that since her certificate contained no statement that it was to be payable out of an amortization payment due on June 1, 1934, but merely misstated the due date of the bond and mortgage as being June 1, 1934, plaintiff would not have been entitled to the entire amortization payment of $1,000 due on that date had the mortgagor made such payment. Expressed somewhat differently, plaintiff argues that all the holders of certificates in the bond and mortgage would have been entitled to share pro rata in the amortization payment due June 1, 1934, had such payment been made, and that the mere misdescription of the due date of the entire bond and mortgage did not have the effect of making plaintiff’s certificate due on June 1, 1934, or of giving plaintiff the sole and exclusive right to receive the amortization payment due on that date.

The facts of this case are different from those present in Matter of People ex rel. Van Schaick v. Goldstone (N. Y. L. J. Additional Special Term, July 13, 1934; affd., 242 App. Div. 755), and Matter of People ex rel. Van Schaick v. Oste (Id., Additional Special Term, July 13, 1934; affd., 242 App. Div. 755). Both these cases were decided by me in the Additional Special Term for Rehabilitation. In the Goldstone case (supra) the certificate of the respondent guaranteed payment as and when collected out of the installment of said bond and mortgage becoming due on the date of the maturity of this certificate,” and also stated that the bond and mortgage was payable “ in semi-annual installments of Six Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($6,500), on the first day of May and November in each year.” In the Oste case (supra) the certificate expressly provided that it was payable out of installment of said bond and mortgage which becomes due October 1, 1932,” and guaranteed payment of the principal sum as and when collected out of the installment becoming due on the date above noted.” In view of these express provisions I overuled the contentions of the Superintendent of Insurance, in each case, that all the certificate holders had the right to share pro rata in each installment payment and that the certificate does not vest in respondent ownership of the installment of the bond and mortgage ” maturing on the date specified in the certificate. In the instant case, however, plain[837]*837tiff’s certificate contained no language indicating that it was payable out of an installment payment of principal due under the bond and mortgage. The recent decision of the Appellate Division in U. S. Hat Co. v. Title Guarantee & Trust Co. (248 App. Div. 569) seems controlling authority in favor of the defendant’s contention that plaintiff’s certificate was the only one entitled to participate in the amortization payment due on June 1, 1934, had such payment been made by the mortgagor. In the case cited the bond and mortgage, in the sum of $500,000, had provided for five amortization payments of $50,000 each, due February 1, 1931, and semiannually thereafter. The balance of $250,000 was due on October 1, 1933. The defendant had issued certificates in the aggregate face amount of $50,000 for each of the amortization payments, describing the due date of the bond and mortgage differently in each set of $50,000, according to the due date of the amortization payment in which the particular certificate was intended to participate. The certificates were substantially identical with that issued to plaintiff in the present case and contained no language indicating that they were payable out of amortization installments. All the amortization payments, aggregating $250,000, had been made. The plaintiff in the case under discussion held a certificate in which the due date of the bond and mortgage was correctly stated, the company’s intention being that this certificate should be paid out of the balance of $250,000 due at the maturity of the bond and mortgage.

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Bluebook (online)
163 Misc. 833, 298 N.Y.S. 31, 1937 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1438, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/krinsky-v-title-guarantee-trust-co-nyappterm-1937.