Marshall & Ilsley Bank v. Ewig

283 N.W. 795, 230 Wis. 353, 1939 Wisc. LEXIS 80
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 7, 1939
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 283 N.W. 795 (Marshall & Ilsley Bank v. Ewig) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marshall & Ilsley Bank v. Ewig, 283 N.W. 795, 230 Wis. 353, 1939 Wisc. LEXIS 80 (Wis. 1939).

Opinion

Fritz, J.

The following facts were found by the court in part upon evidence which is undisputed, and in part upon evidence which warranted the court’s findings by the great weight and clear preponderance thereof. The note and mortgage in question were executed on August 26, 1925, by the defendant, Martha Ewig, to the plaintiff, as payee and mortgagee, and delivered to it on August 29, 1925, by her husband, William Ewig, as collateral security for indebtedness then existing on his part to the plaintiff. The mortgage lien was on a house and lot (hereinafter called the “Walnut street property”), which was deeded to the defendant on May 27, 1925, by Isadore Dornert and wife, and was paid for by means of her separate money, most of which she had acquired from sources other than her husband or his earnings, and had saved during the years prior, as well as subsequent, to her marriage forty years ago. She reserved and exercised such measure of control over that property as was consistent with her ownership thereof as her separate estate, and did not give any general power of attorney or authority to sell, mortgage, or otherwise dispose of her separate property without her signature or conveyance. In executing the note and mortgage in question, the parties intended that the collateral should stand for the repayment by William Ewig of the money which he then borrowed from the plaintiff. No future or additional loans were then in the contemplation of the parties, and no continuing guaranty to the plaintiff to cover any future or additional loans was required of, or signed by the defendant. By December 10, 1928, William Ewig had fully paid and discharged his indebtedness to the [356]*356plaintiff, and it returned the note and mortgage to him with a satisfaction thereof executed by the bank, which he retained without recording. On February 19, 1929, the plaintiff made a new loan of $1,800 to William Ewig upon his individual note; and to collateralize that loan, he, without any writing or other authority from the defendant, or her knowledge, direction, or consent, redelivered her $3,200 note and mortgage, and the satisfaction thereof, to the plaintiff. That new loan of $1,800 was paid and discharged by William Ewig on June 17, 1929, and the bank again returned to him the defendant's $3,200 note and mortgage, with a satisfaction thereof executed by the bank, which he again retained without recording. On September 30, 1929, the plaintiff made another loan of $1,500 to William Ewig upon his individual note, and to collateralize that loan he again delivered defendant’s $3,200 note and mortgage and the second satisfaction thereof to the plaintiff, without any new mortgage or other writing or authority from her, or her knowledge, direction, or consent. That loan of $1,500 was never repaid, but was increased to over $6,000 by additional loans made from time to time to William Ewig, and the defendant’s note and mortgage remained in the plaintiff’s possession without her knowledge or consent. None of the attempts to revive defendant’s note and mortgage for the purpose of collateral, as stated above, was accompanied by any request to the defendant to execute a new note or mortgage, or any other writing to revitalize the note and mortgage of August 26, 1925, and no such instrument was ever executed by her.

The facts thus found warranted the court’s conclusion that William Ewig’s discharge of his debt to the plaintiff on December 10, 1928, and the plaintiff’s satisfaction of the defendant’s note and mortgage of August 26, 1925, then extinguished and canceled her obligation to the plaintiff, and her mortgage as security therefor, and that her note and [357]*357mortgage ceased to have legal existence upon and after the discharge and satisfaction thereof on December 10, 1928. The extinguishment of William Ewig_’s indebtedness on December 10, 1928, likewise extinguished on that date the defendant’s obligations under her note and mortgage, which had been given for his accommodation as collateral security for but that indebtedness. As this court has said, “a mortgage is not property at all independent of the debt it secures. The extinguishment of the debt ipso facto et eo instante extinguishes the mortgage.” Fred Miller Brewing Co. v. Manasse, 99 Wis. 99, 102, 74 N. W. 535; Cumps v. Kiyo, 104 Wis. 656, 659, 660, 80 N. W. 937.

However, the plaintiff contends that William Ewig was the owner of the Walnut street property, which was covered by the mortgage, and that by his acts he effectually revived the mortgage lien. Those contentions, based as they are upon plaintiff’s claim that William Ewig was the owner of that property, cannot be sustained. The court’s findings that the property was acquired by the defendant by her separate means, and deeded to and held by her as her separate estate, are warranted, as stated above, by the great weight and clear preponderance of the evidence, and, consequently, cannot be set aside on appeal. Interior Woodwork Co. v. Buhler, 207 Wis. 1, 6, 238 N. W. 822. Plaintiff does not claim that the transaction by which the property was acquired and deeded to defendant was fraudulent or that title was taken in her name with intent to hinder, delay, or defraud future creditors of her husband. Under the circumstances, even if he had contributed part of the purchase price, or her savings were made in part out of allowances to her for household expenses, he, while solvent, had the right, as against subsequent creditors, to make a gift thereof to her. Dockry v. Isaacson, 187 Wis. 649, 205 N. W. 391. Because he was not the owner of the mortgaged property, and was not a party to the mortgage, there is no basis for applying the [358]*358proposition asserted by plaintiff that a mortgage though paid or satisfied may be kept alive or revived by an oral agreement of the parties thereto'. Even if that may be the rule under some circumstances, in respect to an agreement to that effect made between the parties to a mortgage, that rule would not be applicable herein because there is no factual basis for finding any such agreement was ever made between the defendant and the plaintiff. On the contrary, the evidence established, as the court found, that the parties intended that the note and mortgage should stand as collateral for only the loan made to William Ewig in August, 1925; that no future or additional loans were then in the contemplation of the parties, and no continuing guaranty to the bank to cover such loans was required of or signed by the defendant; and that the redeliveries to the plaintiff of the note and mortgage, and its satisfaction thereof, to collateralize subsequent loans, after those instruments had been delivered to him upon his discharge of the indebtedness incurred in August, 1925, were without the defendant’s knowledge or consent, or any request to or any new writing or authority from her.

But, it is further contended by the plaintiff that the defendant, by acquiescence and failure on her part to disaffirm after adequate notice thereof, or by retaining benefits with full knowledge of the facts, authorized or ratified the subsequent pledge and revived the mortgage as security for indebtedness incurred by William Ewig subsequent to' the indebtedness discharged on December 10, 1928.

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Bluebook (online)
283 N.W. 795, 230 Wis. 353, 1939 Wisc. LEXIS 80, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marshall-ilsley-bank-v-ewig-wis-1939.