Oglebay v. Todd

76 N.E. 238, 166 Ind. 250, 1905 Ind. LEXIS 197
Indiana Supreme Court·Decided December 15, 1905·No. No. 20,557·Published·Cited by 14 cases

Opinion

Gillett, C. J.

—This is a second appeal. See Todd v. Oglebay' (1902), 158 Ind. 595. Although there were other parties below who are also parties to the record here, the real controversy is between William R. Oglebay and Lemuel S. Todd, and for the purposes of this opinion it is not necessary to explain the relations of said other parties to the litigation.

The essential facts in the case are as follows: Joab Woodruff executed a mortgage on a lot in the city of Lebanon, Indiana, and he afterwards conveyed it by deed to Todd. The latter, in turn, deeded the lot to Mary Eshelman. In each deed it was stated that the grantee assumed and agreed to pay said encumbrance. The deed to Eshelman was duly recorded. The holder of the mortgage after-wards instituted a suit, making Todd, Woodruff and Eshelman parties defendant. It was sought by said suit to hold Woodruff and Todd personally liable on their respective promises to pay said mortgage, and to procure a foreclosure as against Eshelman. Such proceedings were after-wards had in said action that a judgment and decree was rendered as prayed. An order of sale issued on the decree, under which the sheriff, on August 12, 1898, struck off the land to the execution plaintiff for a sum but slightly in excess of the amount of the costs. On January 1, 1899, Todd paid the balance of the judgment to the attorneys of the execution plaintiff, and they entered on the margin of the record what purported to be an assignment thereof to him. May 29, 1899, Oglebay, after examining the record of said foreclosure, and observing the attempted assignment of the judgment, took a quitclaim deed from Eshelman, and on July 1, 1899, he paid into the clerk’s office the amount of the sale, with interest, and obtained a certificate of redemption. Todd subsequently caused a certified” copy of said decree to be issued to the sheriff, [253] and the latter, acting thereunder, offered the lot at sheriff’s sale, and it was struck off to Todd. Pending the advertisement that the lot would be sold by the sheriff, Oglebay instituted this suit, its purpose being to quiet title as against said decree, and to enjoin the proposed sale. Afterwards Oglebay filed a supplemental complaint, setting up the fact of the pretended sale, and asking to have it set aside. Todd filed an answer and a cross-complaint. A demurrer was sustained to the answer, and the cross-complaint was stricken out. Todd elected to abide his exceptions to these rulings and appealed. This'court held upon said appeal that the answer was sufficient, and, as the cross-complaint was germane to the original action, that the court below erred in striking out said pleading. Upon the reversal of the cause Todd filed an amended cross-complaint. The purpose of this cross-complaint, like the first, was to establish Todd’s suretyship and his title to the decree of foreclosure. After issues of fact had been joined, there was a trial, and the court, at the request of the parties, found the facts specially and stated its conclusions of law thereon. It was adjudged upon said conclusions that the sale which had been had at the instigation of Todd be set aside, and there was a decree in his favor on the cross-complaint.

1. [254]*2542. [253] There can be no question in the circumstances that, as between Todd and his grantee, Todd was a surety. As between them, the amount which he was compelled to pay to relieve himself from his personal liability on the judgment was not a payment, but a debt was thereby created in his favor, for the enforcement of which, upon the equitable principle of subrogation, he was entitled to keep alive the security of his creditor. Josselyn v. Edwards (1877), 57 Ind. 212; Todd v. Oglebay, supra. See, also, Cordova v. Hood (1872), 17 Wall. 1, 21 L. Ed. 587; Waller v. Janney (1893), 102 Ala. 442, 14 South. 876; Simily v. Adams (1901), 88 Mo. App. 621; Koch [254] v. Roth (1894), 150 Ill. 212, 37 N. E. 317; Texas Land, etc., Co. v. Watkins (1896), 12 Tex. Civ. App. 603, 34 S. W. 996. As was, in effect, held upon the prior appeal of this case, when Oglebay, as a purchaser with notice, as was alleged in said answer, redeemed the land from the sheriff’s sale, he took the estate impressed with the decree, to the extent that it was unsatisfied.

3. Although Todd was, in fact, a surety, yet, assuming that his suretyship did not appear in the judgment, he could not avail himself of his relation in such manner as to take out an order of sale upon the judgment by merely taking an assignment of it. It was his duty, in such circumstances, to procure an adjudication of his suretyship; but as against one who, with notice of the facts, was claiming under one of his codefendants, he was at liberty to obtain an adjudication of such matter subsequently, and thereby to secure the right to enforce the decree to the extent of his equitable interest in it. Zimmerman v. Gaumer (1899), 152 Ind. 552; Todd v. Oglebay, supra; Montgomery v. Vickery (1887), 110 Ind. 211; note to Nelson v. Webster (1904), 68 L. R. A. 513, 566.

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Oglebay v. Todd, 76 N.E. 238, 166 Ind. 250, 1905 Ind. LEXIS 197 (Ind. 1905).

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