Milliken v. Bailey

61 Me. 316
CourtSupreme Judicial Court of Maine
DecidedJuly 1, 1872
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 61 Me. 316 (Milliken v. Bailey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Judicial Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Milliken v. Bailey, 61 Me. 316 (Me. 1872).

Opinion

BarROWS, J.

Reed mortgaged the premises which the plaintiff seeks to redeem June 9, 1864, to Mr. Davis, one of the respondents. His right of redemption was attached by a creditor Sept. 28, 1864, and he again mortgaged the premises in October, 1864, to Robinson. On June 7, 1867, Reed’s right.to redeem from the Davis mortgage, having been seized on the attaching creditor’s execution on the 10th of April preceding, was sold at auction and bought by this plaintiff. But in making his return on the execution the officer gave as the date of the original attachment Sept. 20, 1866, instead of Sept. 28, 1864, and omitted to state how and to what hour of the day the sale upon execution was adjourned from June 1, 1867, which was the day designated for the sale in the notices given to the debtor and posted April 10, 1867, and published three weeks successively prior to June 1. And thus his return stood until the August term, 1870, after the commencement of this process, when the officer was permitted to amend his return according to the facts. But in the interim it would seem that Bailey, the other respondent, had taken an assignment of the Robinson mortgage from Robinson’s executors May 27, 1868, and had also, Dec. 31, 1868, received from his daughter, Mrs. Davis, a transfer of her mortgage which this plaintiff seeks to redeem. His right to do this is sharply contested by Bailey, who claims a foreclosure of both mortgages; of the Davis mortgage by virtue of entry made and possession taken for that purpose by Mrs. Davis June 4, 1868; of the' Robinson mortgage by virtue of a similar proceeding on his own part as assignee of the mortgagee.

[322]*322He commences his answer by denying the mortgage of the premises to Mrs. Davis and the assignment thereof to himself, because in the bill the southern boundary of one parcel is stated to be “ land of William Penny'when it should be Perry, and part of the northern boundary of the other parcel is said to be a road leading to one Hutchinson’s, when it should read Hutchins’. The identity of the parcels is, however,' sufficiently demonstrated. Falsa demonstratio non nocet, where the misprision is so readily corrected.

He next invokes the rules in chancery practice respecting the manner of putting in documentary evidence, and claims that everything except the bill and answers should be excluded, because the rules have not been observed; but the signature of his counsel admitting the genuineness of one of the documents filed as evidence by the complainant, and the proceedings before the court when the argument of the case was postponed, show clearly that it had been understood by the counsel on both sides that the formalities required by the rule should be waived, and after that it is too late, and would be unjust to insist upon them.

But it is further argued that the plaintiff had no right to redeem this (Davis) mortgage when he commenced his bill, or if he had such right, that this suit cannot.be maintained. And these positions are based for the most part upon the omissions in the officer’s return as originally made, above adverted to. The true answer is that the amendment allowed and made at the August term, 1870, perfected the evidence of the complainant’s title, and made it good from the date of the original proceeding, except so far as that construction of it might wrongfully affect intervening third parties, whose rights, where they acted in good faith, were not to be prejudiced by it. How far does this affect the relative positions of the parties in this suit ? ,

There is no evidence before us in this case to show that Bailey did not purchase the Robinson mortgage in 'good faith after the creditor’s sale of Reed’s right of redemption upon the execution, and before the amendment which carried back the date of the al[323]*323leged original attachment so as to make it anterior to that mortgage. Upon this showing, then, all Bailey’s rights as assignee of the Robinson mortgage must, notwithstanding the amendment, stand upon the same footing as though the original attachment had been in fact made Sept. 20, 1866, instead of Sept. 28, 1864.

It is, therefore, unnecessary to determine whether the respondent can properly introduce the return on the original writ in the creditor’s suit to show that, in point of fact, it was Reed’s right and interest in real estate in Kennebec county, and not in Sagadahoc, that the officer returned as attached; for this view of the effect of the amendment renders it immaterial as between these parties whether the complainant’s right originated in the sale of Reed’s equity on the execution, or relates to the date of the supposed original attachment. But it is one thing to have one's own rights protected from the effects of an officer’s mistake, and quite a different thing to make use of that mistake to operate a forfeiture of the rights of another man. All Bailey’s rights honestljr acquired before the amendment, as a prior incumbrance, must be protected, but it does not follow that he should be heard to say, that the complainant did not acquire whatever right of redemption from the Davis mortgage Reed had at the date of the sale on the execution. In the eye of the law it can make no difference to Bailey whether Reed or his creditor, whom this complainant represents, holds that right.

The amendment, then, relates back to the date of the original return, so as to transfer, as of that date, to the complainant, as against Reed and these respondents, ail the right of redemption of the Davis mortgage which Reed had at the time of the sale on execution. The plaintiff is entitled to be considered as the owner of that right when he brought his bill, although until the amendment was filed he was not in a condition to prove it. But still it is insisted that he cannot maintain this process because his demand for an account was made before the amendment, and therefore the respondents were under no obligation to comply with the demand.

If the respondents had refused to recognize the complainant as the owner of the equity when the demand was made, we might [324]*324have felt bound to limit the effect of the amendment, so far as to hold that they should not be responsible for any costs in any event; but, when the demands were made, the respondents did not object to rendering an account nor claim that the plaintiff was not the owner of tire equity; they gave him accounts which are manifestly not correct. The amendment, then, did not change anything in the position which they assumed towards the complainant.

Now, when the amendment has cured the apparent defect, the respondents cannot be heard to urge that they might have found a flaw in the plaintiff’s title at the time of his demand, when they recognized him then as the rightful owner, and any liability to costs to which they may have subjected themselves arises, not from a refusal to give an account, but from giving an incorrect one.

Mrs. Davis in her answer denies that any demand for an account was made on her; but the production in evidence of the statement of her claim, apparently made by her father for her, militates somewhat strongly against the correctness of this portion of her answer. She is a proper party to the suit, although she had assigned her interest in the mortgage before the filing of the bill, if she received rents or profits while she was in possession before her assignment, or rents and profits accrued during that time ■tvhich she might and ought to have collected and accounted for, or if any payments were made to her.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
61 Me. 316, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/milliken-v-bailey-me-1872.