McCornick v. Brown

125 P. 197, 22 Idaho 52, 1912 Ida. LEXIS 18
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedMay 31, 1912
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 125 P. 197 (McCornick v. Brown) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McCornick v. Brown, 125 P. 197, 22 Idaho 52, 1912 Ida. LEXIS 18 (Idaho 1912).

Opinion

STEWART, C. J.

This action was commenced in the district court of the fourth judicial district in and for Blaine county by W. S. McCornick, doing business as W. S. McCornick & Co., against M. Shaughnessy personally, and as executor and trustee under the will of Eudora Shaughnessy, deceased, Philip S. Shaughnessy, Walter D. Shaughnessy and Eudora B. Shaughnessy Yan Horn, for the foreclosure of a mortgage upon a group of mining claims consisting of the Monarch Lode, Lot No. 37, Bay State Lode, Lot No. 38, Bon Ton Lode, Lot No. 39, and Mountain Boy Lode, 'Lot No. 40, in the county of Blaine.

The complaint alleges that the defendant, M. Shaughnessy, is indebted to the plaintiff upon four certain promissory notes executed by M. Shaughnessy to plaintiff as follows: One promissory note dated January 2, 1906, for the sum of $2,623; one promissory note dated April 2, 1906, for the sum of $250; one promissory note dated February 8, 1907, for the sum of $250; and one promissory note dated April 12, 1907, for the sum of $250.

It is also alleged that on the 8th day of February, 1907, the defendant, M. Shaughnessy, personally and as executor and trustee under the will of Eudora Shaughnessy, deceased, Walter D. Shaughnessy, Philip S. Shaughnessy and Eudora B. Shaughnessy Van Horn, for the purpose of securing the payment of the several notes so given, made, executed and delivered to the plaintiff a certain deed of conveyance in the [55]*55nature of a mortgage upon the property described in the complaint. This mortgage is attached to the complaint, and it appears that the same is signed as follows: “M. Shaugh-nessy, personally and as executor and trustee under the last will of Eudora Shaughnessy, deceased; Walter D. Shaugh-nessy, by M. Shaughnessy, his attorney in fact; Philip S. Shaughnessy, by M. Shaughnessy, his attorney in fact; Eudora B. Shaughnessy Van Horn, by M. Shaughnessy, her attorney in fact.” The recording of the mortgage is alleged, and also that the plaintiff was the holder of the notes, and that the same had not been paid and that there is due thereon the principal and interest and attorneys’ fees, and a decree of foreclosure is demanded.

The record in this ease contains a copy of a demurrer filed by M. Shaughnessy as executor and trustee under the will of Eudora Shaughnessy, deceased, while the order of the trial court recites the action of the court upon the demurrer as follows: “The defendants herein, M. Shaughnessy, personally, and as executor and trustee under the will of Eudora Shaugh-nessy, deceased, Philip S. Shaughnessy, Walter D. Shaughnessy and Eudora B. Shaughnessy Van Horn, having heretofore, by their attorneys interposed demurrers to the complaint of plaintiff herein, and the same having heretofore been argued and submitted to the court and the court being now fully advised in the premises, it is ordered that the said demurrers and each of them be and the same are hereby overruled.”

There is some controversy between counsel as to whether demurrers were filed by Philip S. Shaughnessy, Whiter D. Shaughnessy and Eudora B. Shaughnessy Van Horn, but from this record we are inclined to think from the order of the trial court that demurrers were filed by all of the defendants, and this court will consider the complaint as though demurrers had been filed by all of the defendants.

The demurrer is upon the ground, first, that the complaint does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action against the defendant, as executor or trustee under the will of Eudora Shaughnessy, deceased; second, that the complaint is insufficient in that (a) it does not sufficiently appear that [56]*56the defendant was ever appointed, or now is, the executor or trustee under the will of Eudora Shaughnessy, deceased; (b) it does not appear that any demand was ever made upon the defendant, M. Shaughnessy, for the payment of the note referred to in the complaint for the sum of $250, dated February 8th, 1907; (c) it does not appear that any demand was ever made upon the defendant, M. Shaughnessy, for the payment of the note referred to in said complaint, dated April 2, 1907; (d) it does not appear that the note dated April 12, 1907, was secured by the alleged assignment referred to in the complaint; third, that the complaint does not sufficiently set forth or show that the defendant, M. Shaugh-nessy, had the authority to'execute or deliver the mortgage described in the complaint; fourth, that the complaint is insufficient because it does not appear that M. Shaughnessy had the authority to execute or deliver the assignments on property held by him as executor and trustee under the will of Eudora Shaughnessy, deceased, to secure his own private and individual indebtedness.

This demurrer was overruled, and an answer was filed.

The answer admits the execution of the mortgage, sought to be foreclosed, by M. Shaughnessy, in person and as executor and trustee, but denies the authority of Shaughnessy to execute the same as executor or trustee, and denies that Walter D. Shaughnessy, Philip S. Shaughnessy and Eudora B. Shaughnessy Van Horn executed or delivered said mortgage. The answer also admits that M. Shaughnessy, acting as attorney in fact, executed the mortgage, but denies that Shaughnessy had any right or authority to execute or deliver the same; and admits that the defendant, M. Shaughnessy, personally, and assuming to act as executor and trustee under the will of Eudora Shaughnessy, and as attorney in fact for Philip S. Shaughnessy, Walter D. Shaughnessy and Eudora B. Shaughnessy Van Horn, executed and delivered the mortgage. The answer also alleges that the property described in the mortgage belonged to the estate of Eudora Shaughnessy, deceased, and that such estate was under probate in the district court of Blaine county, and that Philip S. Shaughnessy, [57]*57Walter D. Shaughnessy and Eudora B. Shaughnessy Yan Horn are the children of Eudora Shaughnessy, deceased, and as such are heirs under the will of Eudora Shaughnessy, deceased; that M. Shaughnessy in executing the mortgage assumed to act as executor and trustee of the will of Eudora Shaughnessy, deceased, and also attorney in fact for Philip Shaughnessy, Walter D. Shaughnessy and Eudora B. Shaugh-nessy Yan Horn in the execution and delivery of the mortgage, and that the indebtedness and the whole thereof was a personal indebtedness of M. Shaughnessy.

The cause was tried to the court and findings of fact, conclusions of law and judgment entered. In the findings of fact the trial court found that the defendant, M. Shaughnessy, was indebted upon the notes set out in the complaint; that on the 9th day of February, 1907, M. Shaughnessy, personally and as executor and trustee under the last will of Eudora Shaughnessy, deceased, Walter D. Shaughnessy, Philip S. Shaughnessy and Eudora B. Shaughnessy Van Horn, for the purpose of securing the payment of said notes, executed and delivered the conveyance as a mortgage described in the complaint ; that the plaintiff is owner of the notes.

As conclusions of law the court found, first, that the plaintiff was entitled to judgment against M. Shaughnessy for the principal and interest due upon the notes and attorneys’ fees; second, that the plaintiff was entitled to a decree declaring the mortgage described in the complaint to he a lien upon the property described, and foreclosing the same, and for the sale of said property, with the privilege of redemption within six months from the date of said sale; and thereupon entered a decree declaring that plaintiff recover from the defendant, M.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
125 P. 197, 22 Idaho 52, 1912 Ida. LEXIS 18, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccornick-v-brown-idaho-1912.