Mortgage Trust Co. of Pennsylvania v. Redd

38 Colo. 458
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedSeptember 15, 1906
DocketNo. 5055; No. 2621 C. A.
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 38 Colo. 458 (Mortgage Trust Co. of Pennsylvania v. Redd) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mortgage Trust Co. of Pennsylvania v. Redd, 38 Colo. 458 (Colo. 1906).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Gunter

delivered tbe opinion of tbe court:

Tbis was an action to foreclose a trust deed. At tbe close of'the evidence for plaintiff — plaintiff in error — upon motion of defendant, Etta L. Redd, tbe court entered a judgment of nonsuit. It will be seen, as our opinion proceeds, that tbe vital question upon tbis review of that ruling is tbe validity of a judgment of tbe district court of said Arapahoe county, rendered May 27, 1889, permitting a guardian to sell tbe real estate of bis wards, which realty later and at tbe date of tbe institution of tbis action was covered by tbe above trust deed. Tbe procedure- in securing tbe last mentioned judgment, that is, tbe order permitting tbe sale, was under section 2083,1 Mills’ Ann. Stats.; reading, so far as pertinent to this ruling, as follows:

“To obtain such order, tbe guardian shall present to tbe district court * * # a petition setting [461]*461forth, the condition of the estate, and the facts and circumstances on which the petition is founded. Notice of such intended application shall first be given by publication in some public newspaper, published in the county where such proceeding is to be had, for three successive weeks; or, if no such newspaper is published, then'by posting written notices, in three of the most public places in said county, at least three weeks before the time of the hearing by the court. ’ ’

The facts material to this review are:

Etta L. and Lillie B. Redd, minors, owned certain real estate. Their guardian filed in the district court of said county his petition for leave to sell said realty, and, on May 27,1889, the court made an order of sále containing, inter alia, this recital:

“Now, on this day, came the said petitioner, Alexander W. Redd, guardian of the persons and property of the above named Lillie B. Redd and Etta L. Redd; infant wards, and presented to the court here his verified petition as guardian aforesaid, praying leave and authority to sell at private sale and dispose of certain real estate of which said wards are jointly possessed in fee, * * * and it appearing to the court that said wards aforesaid had been duly and personally notified in the premises, and that three weeks publication of notice had been made and had according to law.”

July 16, 1889, the guardian filed a second petition in the same case, asking therein permission to incumber said property to secure funds for the use of said wards. Leave was granted to incumber until a sale at a reasonable price could be made, and, acting thereunder, on July 16, 1889, the guardian, as such, borrowed of plaintiff $2,000, giving his promissory note as guardian therefor, of date July 23, 1889, payable August 1, 1892, and to secure the same, gave the trust deed involved. May, 1890, pursuant to the [462]*462order of sale of May 27, 1889, the guardian, for the consideration of $6,500, sold and conveyed the real estate to one Braun, subject to the trust deed. June 26, 1890, Braun sold and conveyed to defendant, Kline, said realty by warranty deed, subject to said trust deed. October 17, 1891, Lillie B. Redd, then of full age, for a valuable consideration conveyed all of her interest in said property to Braun. August 1, 1892, the note for $2,000, secured by the trust deed, fell due, and Kline, who claimed ownership of said real estate through the warranty deed from Braun, and through the operation of the above deed of 1891 of Lillie B. Redd, for the purpose of securing an extension of the note, entered into a written agreement with plaintiff whereby he promised to pay the note at its maturity as fixed by the extension,- and further agreed that, in ease of default in payment of the note, said premises might be sold “according to the provisions of said deed of trust. ’ ’ September 15, 1892, the guardian’s sale made to Braun was reported to and approved by the court. June 5, 1893, Kline conveyed the premises to one Findlay, who, July 21, 1894, reconveyed to Kline. Such is the history of the title to the date (April, 1896) of the institution of this suit to foreclose. The proceeding is against the land, there being no effort to hold Etta L. Redd personally. Alexander W. Redd, Lillie B. Redd, Etta L. Redd, Findlay, Kline, the heirs of Braun, and others unnecessary to mention, were made parties defendant. All of defendants defaulted except Etta L. Redd, who appeared by answer and cross-complaint and by counsel at the trial. At the close of the evidence for plaintiff, defendant, Etta L. Redd, moved a nonsuit, which, as stated, was granted. To- review the judgment entered in pursuance of this motion, the case is hete.

[463]*463As Kline, by his above-mentioned agreement of August 1, 1892, in consideration of an extension in the time of payment, assumed the note and agreed that the trust deed should be a lien on the realty in question, he cannot question the validity of the note or trust deed, nor is he doing so. Further, if Kline is the owner of said realty, then Etta L. Redd has no interest in this proceeding to foreclose, which is directed solely against the realty, and no right to object to it. There is no question about Kline’s ownership of the realty, if the judgment permitting the sale by the guardian of May 27, 1889, is valid.

In this proceeding to foreclose the trust deed, defendant, Etta L. Redd, by her answer, assails the validity of that judgment, on the ground of an alleged jurisdictional infirmity.

Although this ground of assault — lack of jurisdiction — is urged in this proceeding to foreclose, which proceeding is collateral to that in which the judgment so assaulted was rendered, yet it is the right of the defendant to so attack the judgment, and, if jurisdictional infirmity be shown, it will be fatal here to that judgment. In Wilson v. Hawthorne, 14 Colo. 530, 533, the court said:

“Though the authorities are somewhat conflicting upon questions of this kind, we think that the better doctrine is, that a judgment rendered without obtaining jurisdiction of the person may be impeached and set aside by a proceeding in equity for that purpose; that in such proceeding the recitals of the record will not be taken to import absolute verity; and also that an action brought upon a judgment pronounced without obtaining jurisdiction of the person of the defendant may be defeated by a proper answer, under a system of procedure allowing equitable defenses to be interposed in all civil actions. To warrant such relief, the contradiction of the record

[464]*464must be clearly established; but we need not discuss the kind or quantum of evidence required, since, in this case, no issue was taken on the cross-complaint.” —Colo. Civil Code, §§ 59, 60; Bliss, Code PL, § 347; Freem. Judgm., §495; Marr v. Wetzel, 3 Colo. 2; Great West Min. Co. v. Woodmas of Alston Min. Co., 12 Colo. 46; Thompson v. Whitman, 18 Wall. 457; Ridgeway v. Bank, Hump. 523.

In Hallack v. Loft, 19 Colo. App. 83, it is said:

“The right to attack a judgment for jurisdictional infirmity, or for fraud, is not confined to the complaint; it extends as well to the answer and replication. ’ ’

See, also: Smith v. Morrill, 12 Colo. App. 233; Symes v. People, 17 Colo. App. 466; Symes v. Charpiot, 17 Colo. App. 463; Tabor v. Bank of Leadville, 35 Colo. 1.

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Bluebook (online)
38 Colo. 458, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mortgage-trust-co-of-pennsylvania-v-redd-colo-1906.