Larson v. Metcalf

207 N.W. 382, 201 Iowa 1208
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedFebruary 16, 1926
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 207 N.W. 382 (Larson v. Metcalf) 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
Larson v. Metcalf, 207 N.W. 382, 201 Iowa 1208 (iowa 1926).

Opinion

Morling, J.

On March 1, 1920, the defendant C. A. Watts sold to plaintiff, Larson, a tract of land by contract in substitution of one previously existing, the terms of which need not be considered, further than to say that $10,000 was paid by plaintiff on the two contracts, and performance was to be, but was not, made March 1, 1921. On March 1, 1920, plaintiff took possession by a tenant, who remained on the farm until after the deed to -Metcalf later referred to. On June 27, 1921, Watts gave notice of intention to declare a forfeiture, and on August 6, 1921, declared the forfeiture, and served notice of it. About the time of the service of notice of intention, the plaintiff, Larson, commenced an action at law against Watts, to recover the *1210 $10,000, and also to recover for material and labor expended on the land, and for commission paid on a loan, and for interest and taxes, alleging plaintiff’s readiness and Watts’s refusal to perform, and rescission by plaintiff. The case was submitted to a jury upon the questions of plaintiff’s readiness and Watts’s refusal to carry out the contract, and the amount to be awarded to plaintiff, if anything. The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff, though for an amount considerably less than his claim. On September 25, 1922, judgment was entered on the verdict.

The defendant J. T- Metcalf is a banker, and, pending the action at law (on August 10, 1921), Watts conveyed the land to Metcalf. On January 16, 1924, the petition in this suit was filed, to establish a vendee’s lien for the amount of the judgment.

Defendants submit three propositions: First, that in this state a vendee is not entitled to a lien. Second, even though a vendee may have a lien, still the plaintiff had an election between recovering at law and relying upon his lien, and by suing and recovering at law, he made his election, and waived claim to lien. Third, Metcalf is a purchaser in good faith, and the lien cannot be enforced against him.

I. Our attention has not been called to any opinion by this court in which the vendee’s lien, under that name, has been referred to. Nevertheless, the equitable estate of the vendee in the land contracted for, — his equitable ownership, the foundation principle of the English and American cases which gives rise to the vendor’s lien, and, on refusal of the vendor to perform, raises a vendee’s lien, — has been the law of this state since the decision of Pierson v. David, 1 Iowa 23, to be presently referred to. In In re Estate of Miller, 142 Iowa 563, 566, it is said:

“The interest acquired by the vendee is ‘land,’ and the right and interest conferred by the contract upon the vendor is ‘personal property.’ In case of the death of the vendee, his interest in the land would descend to his heirs. In ease of the death of the vendor, his interest would pass as personal estate to his administrator. A judgment against the vendee would become a lien on the land, inferior, of course, to the rights of the *1211 vendor. A judgment against the vendor would not become a lien upon the land * * * ’ ’

In O’Brien v. Paulsen, 192 Iowa 1351, 1353, we accepted the English rule, as laid down in Paine v. Meller, 6 Ves. Jr. 349, by Lord Eldon, as follows:

“ * * * for, if the party by the contract has become in equity the owner of the premises, they are his, to all intents and purposes. They are vendible as his, chargeable as his, capable of being incumbered as his; they may be devised as his; they may be assets; and they would descend to his heir. ’ ’

In Cumming v. First Nat. Bank, 199 Iowa 667, after referring to the Miller case, we said:

“The title in equity passed to the vendee. It is not dependent upon a conveyance nor the payment of the purchase money; nor is possession or delivery of possession a necessary incident. ’ ’

We take up first defendant’s reasons for disputing the existence of a vendee’s lien. He urges that a vendee’s lien, where recognized, “exists as a corollary of the vendor’s lien,” and that, as the vendor’s lien is now by statute denied after a conveyance by the vendee, the vendee’s lien must likewise be held to end with a conveyance by the vendor. The vendee’s equitable title to the land is not a corollary of the vendor’s equitable title to the purchase money. The vendee’s lien upon the land for a return of the money that he has invested in it when the vendor refuses to perform is not a corollary of the vendor’s lien upon the land for the purchase money. These respective estates and liens are correlative. They correspond. They are derived from the same principle, but neither is a corollary of or derived from the other. The fundamental principle of Pierson v. David results, as we shall see, in the giving of both liens. The destruction of one by the statute does not result in the destruction of the other merely because they have the same parentage. They may be twins, but they are not Siamese twins. The statute does preserve the principle, for it permits foreclosure by the vendor, and declares that the vendee, for the purpose thereof, shall be treated as a mortgagor. Sections 12382, 12383, Code of 1924. The vendor can protect his lien without the grace of the vendee, for he can, as the statute provides (Section 10057, Code of *1212 1924), reserve it in the conveyance which he alone executes. The vendee has not similar protection. He must depend upon his possession and his equitable estate. To deny the vendor a lien after conveyance does not put him at the mercy of the ven-dee. To require restoration by the vendee on rescission for the vendor’s fault, and then to deny the vendee a lien, open the way for a vendor to fraudulently appropriate the money paid or improvements made by the vendee, by merely conveying his legal estate to a confederate, or a purchaser with notice. The statute (Section 10057) refers to vendors’ liens only. It does not abolish the vendor’s lien, but restricts it. It does not impose these restrictions upon a vendee’s lien, and it would be legislating to declare that the statute which applies to vendors’ liens applies conversely to vendees’ liens.

The statute relating to the vendor’s lien first appeared in the Code of 1873, Section 1940. In Pierson v. David, 1 Iowa 23, this court said:

“Under our law, where so much strictness is required with regard to placing on the appropriate records evidences of liens and incumbrances, it would seem that, in the absence of fraud, courts should be careful in the recognition of this lien. And yet, there is much of good conscience, equity, and natural justice in providing that the vendor shall not be regarded as having lost all dominion over his property until he is paid the agreed price. This lien or trust, though formerly objected to, as being in contravention of the policy of the statute of frauds, and for other reasons, is now firmly established. Its necessity is, indeed, too apparent, the beneficial consequences too clear, and its equitable existence too well sustained, to need now either authority or reason, to prove its origin or design. * * * This vendor’s lien, it must be borne in mind, however, is an equitable mortgage, and does not contemplate any writing to evidence it.

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

Related

Cox v. RKA CORP.
753 A.2d 1112 (Supreme Court of New Jersey, 2000)
Pierce v. Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co.
548 N.W.2d 551 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1996)
Insurance Co. of North America v. Ventling
771 P.2d 388 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1989)
Hillblom v. Ivancsits
395 N.E.2d 119 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1979)
Parker v. Morrell
59 Mass. App. Dec. 34 (Mass. Dist. Ct., App. Div., 1976)
West-Nesbitt, Inc. v. Ralston Purina Company
266 A.2d 469 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 1970)
Western Motor Rebuilders, Inc. v. Carlson
335 P.2d 272 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1959)
Brown Et Ux. v. Cleverly Et Ux.
70 P.2d 881 (Utah Supreme Court, 1937)
Dolliver v. Elmer
260 N.W. 85 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1935)
Martinsen v. Morton Farmers Mutual Insurance
251 N.W. 503 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1933)
Miswald-Wilde Co. v. Armory Realty Co.
210 Wis. 57 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1933)
Johnson v. Smith
231 N.W. 470 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1930)
Richeimer v. Fischbein
149 A. 26 (New Jersey Court of Chancery, 1930)
Skinner v. Scholes
229 N.W. 114 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1930)
Lee v. American Trust & Savings Bank of Lowden
228 N.W. 570 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1930)
Gossage v. Waddle
18 S.W.2d 975 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1929)
Forsyth Leasing Co. v. Sacks
225 A.D. 440 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1929)
Murray v. McDonald
212 N.W. 711 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1927)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
207 N.W. 382, 201 Iowa 1208, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/larson-v-metcalf-iowa-1926.