Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance v. Murphy

114 N.W. 360, 103 Minn. 104, 1908 Minn. LEXIS 791
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedJanuary 10, 1908
DocketNos. 15,412—(124)
StatusPublished

This text of 114 N.W. 360 (Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance v. Murphy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance v. Murphy, 114 N.W. 360, 103 Minn. 104, 1908 Minn. LEXIS 791 (Mich. 1908).

Opinion

START, C. J.

The plaintiff brought this action in the district court of the county of Ramsey to have its mortgage upon certain real estate in the city of St. Paul, and the certificate of sale on a foreclosure of the mortgage, corrected, on the ground of mistake, so as to describe and include the land here in controversy, and, further, to have it adjudged that neither of the defendants has any interest in or lien upon such land. The defendants Murphy, Cady, and Iowa Rand Company separately answered, each claiming some interest in or lien on the land in controversy. Findings of fact were made by the trial court favorable to the defendants named, and judgment directed accordingly. The plaintiff appealed from an order denying its motion for a new trial.

The tract of land actually described in the plaintiff’s mortgage, and the tract claimed to have been omitted therefrom by mistake, are now known as “lots 4 and 5 of Auditor’s subdivision No,. 35 to St. Paul.” Mr. William Dawson acquired lot 4 in 1874 and lot-5 in 1879. The mortgage here in question, as to the land in controversy, was practically a renewal of a mortgage given in 1874, and at a time when -the mortgagor owned lot 4 only. The trial court, in effect, found that all of the property now known as “lot 4” and a part of the property now known as “lot 5” are now and have been since the year 1889 covered by a brick and stone building; that prior to the year 1889, and at all times herein mentioned, the building covered lot 4, but did not cover any part of lot 5 until the month of June, 1889, when it was enlarged and extended by Mr. Dawson so as to cover a part of lot 5, and until that time lot 5 was vacant and unoccupied; that in the month of October, 1887, Mr. Dawson executed a mortgage to the plaintiff, the one here in question, which was duly-recorded, covering and describing by metes and bounds lot 4 only; that lot 5 was not described in or covered by the mortgage, nor was it the intention of the parties thereto at the time the mortgage was executed to include lot 5 therein, nor was it omitted therefrom by mistake; that on March 10, 1897, Mr. Dawson, being insolvent, made an assignment for the benefit of his creditors, and on November 14, 1903, the assignment proceedings were wound up and the assignee [106]*106discharged; that the assignee did not sell or dispose of lot 5, because both he and Mr. Dawson believed that it was covered by the mortgage; that the plaintiff duly foreclosed its mortgage, and the land therein described (lot 4) was purchased by it at the foreclosure sale, from which there was no redemption, and since December, 1898, the plaintiff has been and now is the owner and in possession of lot 4, and since that time has been and now is in possession of lot 5; that on'May 18, 1899, judgment was duly entered and docketed in the district court of the county of Ramsey against Mr. Dawson, which on April 11, 1902, was duly assigned by the judgment creditor to the defendant Murphy; that on October 2, 1905, an execution was issued on the judgment, and by virtue thereof lot 5 was duly levied upon and sold to the defendant Murphy for $2,000; that subsequent to the commencement of this action, and before the time for redeeming from the execution sale, the plaintiff, pursuant to the statute in such case made and provided, deposited the money necessary to redeem from the sale and the proper bond with the sheriff making the sale; that in August, 1897, a judgment was docketed in the district court of the county of Ramsey in favor of defendant Cady against Samuel E. Dawson for $429.51, which judgment has-never been paid or satisfied; that in August, 1897, a judgment was entered and docketed in the same court in favor of defendant Iowa Rand 'Company against Mr. Dawson, William Dawson, Jr., and Samuel E. Dawson. Part of this judgment was paid in the assignment proceedings in the matter of the assignment of Mr. Dawson, and another part in assignment proceedings in the matter of the assignment of William Dawson, Jr., by dividends paid to the Iowa Rand Company, which duly executed and filed in such proceedings releases of its claim as against Mr. Dawson and William Dawson, Jr. A large part of the judgment still remains unpaid, and is still a valid, subsisting judgment as against Samuel E. Dawson.

As a conclusion of law the trial court found that the plaintiff was not entitled to a reformation of its mortgage and foreclosure sale as against the answering defendants; that the execution sale to the defendant Murphy was valid, and that he was entitled to receive the redemptiofi money paid to the sheriff; that the judgments of the de[107]*107fendants Cady and Iowa Land Company were liens on an undivided one-sixth interest in lot 5; and, further, except as stated, the plaintiff is the owner of the lot.

The plaintiff’s assignments of error present two general questions for our consideration — one of fact, and the other of law. They are:

First. Is the finding, to the effect that lot 5 was not omitted from •the description of the mortgaged premises by the mutual mistake of the parties at the time the mortgage was given, sustained by the evidence ?

Second. Did the respective judgments of Murphy and his codefendants ever become a lien on the lot or any interest therein ?

1. Is the finding of fact sustained by the evidence? Counsel for the plaintiff claims, with earnestness and undoubted candor, that it is not. A careful consideration, however, of the record, including the original application of the mortgagor for the loan and annotations thereon, has led us to the conclusion that the finding is sustained by the evidence.

2. The second contention of plaintiff is that the judgments of the defendant Murphy and his codefendants, respectively, never became a lien on lot 5. This involves the consideration of the nature of the title of an assignee in insolvency to the real estate of his assignor. The legal title to the assignor’s unexempt real estate vests in the assignee by virtue of the assignment. The assignee, however, takes the title only in .trust for the benefit of the assignor’s creditors, no beneficial interest vests in him, and when the trust has been executed or the insolvency proceedings finally terminated, if there remains any real estate not disposed of by the assignee, it reverts to the assignor by operation of law. It follows that a substantial interest of some kind in his real estate remains in the assignor after he has made an assignment for the benefit of his creditors.

It was held in the case of King v. Remington, 36 Minn. 15, 29 N. W. 352, that the interest in his real estate remaining in the bankrupt was in the nature of a reversion; that the estate of the assignee in bankruptcy was similar in all respects, except its inception, to that of an assignee in a voluntary assignment for the payment of debts; and, further, that the assignment might be absolute and uncondition[108]*108al in its terms, yet any residuum after the purposes of the assignment were accomplished would revert by operation of law to the assignor. Counsel for plaintiff suggests that this decision is not in point,, because the ruling was not necessary to the decision of the case; that, all the court decided was that Remington sustained a confidential relation to King, which required him to save the property for King, if he dealt with it at all, and that King’s relation to the property was-such that the confidential relation continued notwithstanding the assignment in bankruptcy.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
114 N.W. 360, 103 Minn. 104, 1908 Minn. LEXIS 791, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/northwestern-mutual-life-insurance-v-murphy-minn-1908.