Parker v. Teas

79 Ind. 235
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 15, 1881
DocketNo. 7794
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 79 Ind. 235 (Parker v. Teas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Parker v. Teas, 79 Ind. 235 (Ind. 1881).

Opinion

Howk, J.

— This case is now before this court for the second time. When it was first here the opinion and judgment of the court are reported under the title of Barnaby v. Parker, 53 Ind. 271,

[236]*236When the cause was remanded to the circuit court, the appellant, Parker, the plaintiff below, filed the third, fourth, fifth and sixth paragraph of his complaint, in addition to the first two paragraphs which were considei’ed by this court on the former appeal. To each of these additional paragraphs of complaint, the demurrers of all the appellees jointly, and of each of them separately, for the alleged insufficiency of the facts therein to constitute a cause of action, were sustained by the court, and to each of these rulings appellant excepted. Declining to amend or plead further, judgment was rendered against him for the appellees’ costs.

In this court errors have been adjudged by the appellant, which call in question the several decisions of the circuit court, in sustaining the demurrers, joint and several, of the appellees, to each of the additional paragraphs of complaint.

In the third paragraph of his complaint the appellant alleged in substance, that, on the 6th day of September, 1866, he and the appellees John C. and Belle Teas executed to one Ezra Scoville, their note for five hundred dollars, payable twelve months after date, with interest at ten per cent. from, date; that appellant signed said note as the surety of said John C. and Belle Teas, at their instance and request, and received no part of the consideration therefor; that afterwards, on February 1st, 1867, the said John C. and Belle Teas executed to the appellant and one Philip D. Parker, their mortgage on the following real estate in Henry county, Indiana, to wit: “that certain tract of land lying in the north-eastern part of the village of Raysville, sold by Isaac Scott to John P. White, and by him to John C. Teas, containing five and one-half acres, more or less, bounded on the north by the land of Charles Barnaby or Kate Staff, on the east divided from the land of Samuel Pritchard by the public road leading north from Raysville, on the south by an alley running east and Avest between this tract and the lots of Newton and Lavina Brown, John Barnaby and Henry Staff, and on the west by the lots of Lawrence Durick and Charles Barnaby f that [237]*237the said mortgage was executed to appellant and Philip D. Parker, in consideration of their becoming security for said John C. and Belle Teas, on- certain notes, and the express -condition of the mortgage was, that if the said John C. and Belle Teas should pay or cause to be paid their certain notes on which the appellant or Philip D. Parker was, or might thereafter become, security for the benefit of said John C. and Belle Teas, then the mortgage should become void; that said mortgage was duly recorded in the recorder’s office of said county, on February 22d, 1867, and a copy of said mortgage was filed with and made a part of said paragraph of complaint ; that, at the time of the execution of said mortgage, the appellant was the surety of said John C. and Belle Teas, upon their above described note to said Ezra Scoville; that after-wards, in 1870, the said John C. and Belle Teas removed to the State of Missouri, leaving no property to pay said note, and had since become and were insolvent; and that the appellant had been compelled to pay, and had paid, the said note to the amount of six hundred and fifty dollars.

And the appellant further said, that, after the execution and record of said mortgage, to wit, on the — day of-, 18 — , the said John C. and Belle Teas sold and conveyed by deed to said William Barnaby, all the real estate described in said mortgage; that afterwards, on the — day of-, 18 — , the said Barnaby conveyed the same real estate by deed to the appellee John Bird; and that the said Bird was then the owner and in the possession of the same real estate. Wherefore, etc.

We gather from the briefs of counsel, as well of the appellees as of the appellant, that the demurrers to this paragraph and also to the fourth, fifth and sixth paragraphs of the complaint, were sustained by the circuit court, upon the ground that the description of the real estate, in the mortgage in suit, was so uncertain and insufficient as to avoid such mortgage. The description of the real estate, as contained in the mortgage, differs in some particulars from the description in the third paragraph of the complaint. But it is well settled by the deci[238]*238sions of this court, that, in such cases, the description in the-instrument sued upon will control, and will be presumed to be correct until the contrary is shown. Crandall v. The First National Bank, etc., 61 Ind. 349; Cotton v. The State, 64 Ind. 573; The Watson Coal, etc., Co. v. Casteel, 73 Ind. 296. It follows, therefore, that, in determining the question of the invalidity of the mortgage in suit, reference must be' had to the copy of the mortgage filed with and made part of' each paragraph of the complaint, instead of to the allegations of each paragraph.

When this case was before this court on the former appeal, the only question for decision was, whether or not the' allegations of the second paragraph of the complaint werqsufficient to entitle the appellant, Parker, to a reformation of the-mortgage. The court then said :“We, therefore, decide nothing-as to the sufficiency of the description; and there being no cause-shown for a reformation of the mortgage, we decidd nothing; as to the right of the appellee” (now appellant) “ to reform-the mortgage as against the subsequent purchasers.”

In the third paragraph of the complaint the question of the sufficiency of the description in the mortgage in suit is presented for decision without regard to any reformation of the instrument. We set out, in this connection, so much of the-mortgage as has any bearing upon the question of the sufficiency of the description, as follows:

This indenture, made the first day of the 2d month, commonly called February, 1867, witnesseth, That John C. Teas,, of Eaysville, Henry county, Indiana, and Belle Teas, his wife,, in consideration of Isaac and Philip D. Parker becoming their security on certain promissory notes, have granted and sold, and by these presents do grant, sell and convey to the said' Isaac Parker and Philip D. Parker, that certain tract of land lying in the northeastern part of the village of Eaysville, sold. by Isaac Scott to John T. White, and by him to John C. Teas, containing five and one-half acres, more or less, bounded on the north by the land of Charles Barnaby or Kate Staff, and [239]*239on the east divided from the land of Samuel Pritchard by the public road leading north from. Raysville, on the south by an alley running east and west between this tract and the lots of' Newton and Lavina Brown, John Barnaby and Henry Staff,, and on the west by the lots of Lawrence Durick and Charles-Barnaby; to have and to hold,” etc.

The mortgage appears to have been acknowledged by the mortgagors on February 16th, 1867, before a notary public-of Henry county, and to have been recorded on February 22d,, 1867, in the recorder’s office of said county.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Taylor v. Purdy
151 S.W. 45 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1912)
Arcana Gas Co. v. Moore
36 N.E. 46 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1894)
Roehl v. Haumesser
15 N.E. 345 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1888)
Hines v. Driver
100 Ind. 315 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1885)
Leslie v. Merrick
99 Ind. 180 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1884)
Pence v. Armstrong
95 Ind. 191 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1883)
Dunn v. Tousey
80 Ind. 288 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1881)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
79 Ind. 235, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/parker-v-teas-ind-1881.