Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Co. v. Fisher

39 P. 758, 106 Cal. 224, 1895 Cal. LEXIS 598
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 8, 1895
DocketNo. 19361
StatusPublished
Cited by51 cases

This text of 39 P. 758 (Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Co. v. Fisher) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Co. v. Fisher, 39 P. 758, 106 Cal. 224, 1895 Cal. LEXIS 598 (Cal. 1895).

Opinion

Harrison, J.

In April, 1891, the San Diego Opera House Company, a corporation, commenced the construction of an opera-house upon certain lands in the city of San Diego, employing the laborers and procuring the materials therefor without the intervention of an original contractor for the entire work. The land upon which the building was constructed was at that-time owned by the defendant Fisher, who was the president of the opera-house company, and directed the construction of the building as its president and in its. behalf. Fisher continued to be the owner of the land until November 20, 1891, when he conveyed it to the corporation. The building was completed February 22,. 1892, and within thirty days thereafter various claims of liens for materials and labor were filed in the recorder’s office. June 12, 1891, Fisher and his wife executed to the plaintiff a mortgage upon the lands on which the building was being constructed, to secure his promissory note for thirty thousand dollars, then loaned to [229]*229him by the plaintiff, and, on November 5, 1891, the plaintiff made him a further loan of twelve thousand five hundred dollars, which was consolidated with the former loan, and a new mortgage made to the plaintiff by Fisher and his wife to secure the payment of forty-two thousand five hundred dollars, the amount of the two loans. In July, 1892, the plaintiff brought this action to foreclose the said mortgages to it, making the several lien claimants defendants. Upon the trial of the cause the court rendered judgment in favor of the plaintiff and against Fisher for the sum of seventy-four thousand nine hundred and five dollars, together with its costs, and in favor of the several lien claimants and against the San Diego Opera House Company for the amount of their respective liens, aggregating upwards of twenty thousand dollars, and directing a sale of the land, and the appropriation of the proceeds thereof. 1. To the payment of the liens of the respondents; and 2. To the claim of the plaintiff.

1. The plaintiff has appealed from that portion of the judgment which determines that the respondents have any lien upon the premises, and also from that portion of the judgment which gives to their lien a priority over the lien of the plaintiff. The respondents contend that the appeal of the plaintiff cannot be considered, for the reason that its notice of appeal has not been served upon the “ adverse party,” that is, upon all the parties to the action who would be injuriously affected by a reversal or modification of the judgment; and they have moved for a dismissal of the appeal upon that ground. They are not precluded from making this motion by reason of the fact that the cause had been previously submitted to the court for decision. (In re Castle Dome Mining Co., 79 Cal. 246.) The notice of appeal states that the appeal is taken “ from that part and so much of said judgment and decree as adjudges and determines that out of the proceeds of sale of said mortgaged premises, or any part thereof, there be paid to the said defendants, or to either or any of them, any sum of money [230]*230whatever prior to the payment of the full amount due to said plaintiff under said decree; also from that part and so much of said judgment and decree as makes the payment of the amount due to plaintiff under said decree second in order to the payment of the claim of said defendants, or of either or any of them.” The judgment appealed from, after determining the amounts due from Fisher to th^ plaintiff, and from the San Diego Opera House Company to the several lien claimants, orders and directs a sale of the premises, and that “ out of the proceeds of such sale there he paid to the holders of said liens, other than the mortgage lien of plaintiff, any balance that may remain due to them for principal, interest, and costs under this decree, after first paying the costs and expenses of such sale; second, to the payment of the amount due the plaintiff under this decree for its principal, interest, counsel fees, and costs of suit”; and then further orders and decrees that “ if, after applying the proceeds of such sale in manner and form aforesaid, there be any deficiency due to either of the said lien claimants or the plaintiff herein, the amount of such deficiency be reported to the court, and that judgment be thereupon docketed in favor of such lien claimants respectively for the amounts of such deficiency in favor of the lien claimants respectively, against the said San Diego Opera House Company and in favor of the plaintiff herein, for any amount of deficiency that may remain in its favor against the said defendant, John C. Fisher; and that the party or parties in whose favor judgment is so docketed may have execution therefor.” The notice of appeal was not served upon either Fisher or the opera-house company, and we are of the opinion that the failure to serve these defendants is fatal to the plaintiff's right to have this portion of the judgment considered upon this appeal. The modification in the judgment which the plaintiff seeks would have the effect to change the personal liability of these defendants in case the proceeds of the sale should be insufficient to satisfy the liens in favor of the appellant, as well as those of the [231]*231respondents, and would injuriously affect the interest of the opera-house company. It is only upon the theory that the proceeds of such sale will leave such a deficiency that the plaintiff is interested in having the judgment modified, and it is readily seen that the modification sought by the plaintiff might operate to the detriment of the opera-house company. As the judgment now stands, if the premises should sell for the amount of the plaintiff’s judgment, the respondents would be fully paid and the opera-house company discharged of all personal liability; whereas, if the order of priority contained in the judgment should be reversed, and the property should sell for the same amount, Fisher would be discharged of all personal liability, and the opera-house company would be personally liable for the entire amount of the liens of the respondents. To this extent would the reversal of the judgment in this particular make the opera-house company pay the debts of Fisher. This court can have no jurisdiction to render such a judgment, unless the parties to be affected thereby are before it.

2. The appeal from that portion of the judgment which determines that the respondents, or either of them, have a lien upon the mortgaged premises is not necessarily open to the same objection. The plaintiff is at liberty to falsify any of these liens for the purpose of reducing the amount to be appropriated out of the proceeds of the sale before making any application therefrom to its own claim, even in the absence of the opera-house company, if such reduction can be made without injuriously affecting that defendant. It was competent for the plaintiff in the trial court to defeat any claim of lien, even though it had been assented to by the opera-house company, and it has the same right upon this appeal, except as the exercise of such right may have the effect to transfer an obligation from the property to a personal obligation of that defendant. To the extent that the record shows that the obligation of the opera-house company may be extinguished, the [232]*232plaintiff is entitled to have the judgment modified in the absence of that defendant, since such modification would not be adverse to its interests. (See Green v. Berge, 105 Cal. 52.)

(a) George A.

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Bluebook (online)
39 P. 758, 106 Cal. 224, 1895 Cal. LEXIS 598, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pacific-mutual-life-insurance-co-v-fisher-cal-1895.