Mauzy v. Flint

83 N.E. 757, 42 Ind. App. 386, 1908 Ind. App. LEXIS 64
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 28, 1908
DocketNo. 6,282
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 83 N.E. 757 (Mauzy v. Flint) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mauzy v. Flint, 83 N.E. 757, 42 Ind. App. 386, 1908 Ind. App. LEXIS 64 (Ind. Ct. App. 1908).

Opinion

Comstock, J.

Appellee brought suit against appellants, alleging that on November 20, 1902, appellee, being the owner and seized in fee simple of certain real estate (de-. scribing it), sold and conveyed the same by a good and sufficient warranty deed to appellant James Mauzy; that, as a part of the purchase price, said appellant executed to appellee three several promissory notes- for $600 each, payable on January 1, 1904, 1905 and 1906, respectively, with interest on each note at seven per cent from date and attorneys’ fees; that, to secure the payment of said notes, said James Mauzy executed a mortgage on said real estate, in which mortgage his wife, the appellant Hamitie Mauzy, joined. Judgment is asked on the notes, with interest and attorneys’ fees, and a decree for a foreclosure of the mortgage.

To this complaint appellant James Mauzy filed his amended first and his second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth paragraphs of answer, in each of which, except the second, it is alleged that the mortgage was executed to appellee by appellants James and TIamitie Mauzy, to secure the payment of the notes in suit, which were executed by appellant Janies Mauzy, evidencing the unpaid purchase money for the real estate described in the mortgage, and which on the day and at the time the notes and mortgage were executed was sold and conveyed with covenants of warranty by appellee to said appellant.

In the amended first paragraph of answer it is further alleged that the acreage is short, and that appellee, at the time of the conveyance, was the owner of only eleven-twelfths of said real estate, and that the agreed price was $39.18 per acre; that the shortage was nineteen acres, and asking a set-off, at the agreed price, for that number of acres. The third paragraph is in set-off, on account of shortage in acreage, in the sum of $500. The fourth paragraph alleges that the notes and mortgage sued upon were executed by appellants for the unpaid purchase money for [389]*389the real'estate described in the mortgage; that at the time of the execution of the deed therefor appellee fraudulently represented, by the description of the land in the deed, that the tract contained 114.58 acres, when appellee well knew that he could only convey an undivided eleven-twelfths interest in the same, and that Dorothy J. Hickey was tenant in common and owner in fee of the undivided one-twelfth of said real estate; that, by reason of the defect of title, appellant James Mauzy was greatly inconvenienced in securing a loan from a trust company, or others who might loan money to him, with which he could discharge his obligation to appellee. For these reasons the set-off for $1,500 is asked. The fifth paragraph is an answer in set-off in the sum of $450. The sixth paragraph alleges that a decree was entered in the Brown Circuit Court, declaring that Dorothy J. Hickey was the owner of one-twelfth of the real estate mentioned in the complaint; that said appellant did not know this, but that appellee did, and fraudulently concealed the fact; that by reason of same said appellant was deprived of selling and conveying the right of way to the Indianapolis Southern Railway Company for $500, and securing a switch, side-track and depot on said real estate; that he is thereby inconvenienced, and asks a set-off for any amount that may be found due on the notes in suit.The second paragraph of answer was a joint answer in general denial. Appellee’s demurrers for want of facts to the amended first and the sixth paragraphs were sustained, and overruled as to the third, fourth and fifth paragraphs. The cause was put at issue by reply in denial. Upon proper request, the court made a special finding of facts, stated conclusions of law and rendered judgment thereon in favor of appellee for $2,045.40, including the sum of $282.75 attorneys’ fees.

The facts found by the court show substantially that on November 20, 1902, plaintiff and his wife, Isabel Flint, executed a warranty deed for certain real estate (deserib[390]*390ing same, being the same- real estate described in the mortgage, a copy of which is filed with the complaint and in the deed filed with the answer). Said deed was accepted by defendant Mauzy, and on said date said defendant executed to said plaintiff three promissory notes, copies of which are set out and filed with the complaint' as parts thereof. They were for the balance of the purchase money of said real estate. Afterwards, on December 27, 1902, said defendant, his wife, Hamitie, joining therein, executed to plaintiff a mortgage on said real estate to secure the payment of said notes. Immediately after the execution of the conveyance and the notes and mortgage as aforesaid, said defendant was given possession of the real estate described in said deed, and ever since has had and now has exclusive, uninterrupted and peaceful possession thereof, without any interference or molestation, and ,the defendant’s immediate grantor had held for more than twenty years the exclusive, uninterrupted and adverse possession of said real estate. Said Mauzy was not induced to enter into the agreement to purchase said real estate by any misrepresentation as to title of plaintiff, or by the fraudulent conduct of the plaintiff herein. At the April term, 1878, of the Brown Circuit Court, in an action by Ellen Shank et al. v. David S. Campbell et al., in a suit to quiet title, the court appointed a commissioner, who conveyed by a deed, duly approved by the court, to Dorothy J. Hickey, one of the parties to the suit, an undivided one-' twelfth .of about thirty-six acres (describing it), the same being a part of the real estate described in the mortgage filed with the plaintiff’s complaint. The court finds that said real estate has been in the exclusive, adverse and continuous possession of the defendant herein and his immediate grantors for more than twenty years last past, and that said Dorothy J. Hickey has not asserted any claim of title or ownership, as against this defendant, to said real [391]*391estate, or any part thereof as embraced in said mortgage, and that said defendant has not been disturbed in the peaceful possession of the same; that said defendant is not entitled to any deduction from the purchase money on account thereof. The court finds further the amount which has been paid on said notes to which appellant is entitled to credit, and the amount remaining due and unpaid.

As conclusions of law the court finds that the plaintiff is entitled to a judgment for the amount found due to him and to a decree of foreclosure of the mortgage, and that said defendant is not entitled to any deduction from the purchase money, by reason of. the claim of defective title. The defendants excepted severally to each conclusion of law.'

The errors assigned are the action of the court (1) in sustaining appellee’s demurrer to the first and sixth paragraphs of appellant Mauzy’s answer; (2) in overruling said appellant’s motion for a new trial.

The only first paragraph of answer in the record is the amended first paragraph. We take it that the specification of error is intended to apply to, and shall be considered as applied to, that paragraph. It is argued that the first paragraph was sufficient to withstand a demurrer, because it alleges that, at the time of the eonvevance of the real estate • by appellee to appellant Mauzy, appellee had no title, and since that had acquired no title to the real estate so conveyed.

1. The complaint alleges that appellee, as the owner of and seized in fee simple with,- sold and conveyed said real estate to appellant Mauzy, by a good and sufficient warranty deed.

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Bluebook (online)
83 N.E. 757, 42 Ind. App. 386, 1908 Ind. App. LEXIS 64, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mauzy-v-flint-indctapp-1908.