Prudential Insurance Co. of America v. Redmond

279 N.W. 392, 225 Iowa 166
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedMay 3, 1938
DocketNo. 44257.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 279 N.W. 392 (Prudential Insurance Co. of America v. Redmond) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Prudential Insurance Co. of America v. Redmond, 279 N.W. 392, 225 Iowa 166 (iowa 1938).

Opinion

Miller, J.

— On August 6, 1926, appellants, as security for a loan of $14,000, executed ,and delivered to appellee their real estate mortgage covering approximately 154 acres of land situated in Monona County. Following appellants’ default in the sum of $490 upon the interest due September 1, 1931, appellee, on August 22, 1932, filed its petition asking for the foreclosure of said mortgage. Two continuances of said cause were granted in accordance with the provisions of the Moratorium Acts of the 45th and 46th General assemblies, chapters 182, 115, On March 22, 1937, appellee filed a resistance to- a further continuance of said cause to March 1, 1939, therein alleging, (1) that appellants have not done equity, (2) that they were delinquent in rent due, (3) that they were without finances to pay off the indebtedness, and (4) that the commitment made by the Federal Land Bank was for a smaller amount than was due appellee; and that therefore the granting of a further continuance would be unjust and inequitable. Following trial upon the application for further continuance, the trial court on June 7, 1937, ordered that the application for continuance be overruled and the continuance denied. Thereafter, on June 28, 3937, the trial court rendered a personal judgment against appellants in the sum of $19,697.59, and granted the foreclosure of appellee’s mortgage. Appellants have appealed to this court from the order of June 7, 1937, denying the continuance, and likewise from the decree of foreclosure of June 28, 1937.

The evidence established without dispute that the land in controversy is situated about a mile and a half southeast of the town of Sloan, in Monona County; is intersected by paved highway U. S. 75, and railroad tracts immediately adjacent to- each other, leaving about forirteen acres to the west of the railroad and highway; and’ is also intersected by two drainage ditches. The land is perfectly smooth, the soil being “Lamoure clay” or gumbo, and is all capable of cultivation, with the possible exception of 8 to 10 acres along a drainage ditch, which is inclined *168 to be wet during wet seasons. The improvements thereon consist of a large house, constructed at a cost of $25,000, a garage, a shed used as a barn, and a small corn crib. The improvements were all in good state of repair, except that the house needed some minor repairs, the cost of which would not exceed $20. Appellants are two elderly sisters who live on the premises in question, which premises, ever since the institution of the action, have been farmed by Clyde Redmond, a son of one of appellants. During the first two years involved herein large crops of corn and wheat were raised upon the land, which wheat sold for 30 cents ¡and the corn for from 7 cents to 10 cents per bushel. The land was situated in the 1936 drought area, and that year produced only 50 bushels of corn. However, in that particular year there was practically no com crop anywhere in the locality of this land. Since the granting of the first continuance all the proceeds from the land have been applied upon the indebtedness due appellee, which have been insufficient to pay the accumulating interest, and the taxes upon the real estate. On September 1, 1931, the total amount owing was $14,490; whereas at the time of tiie rendition of the decree on June 28, 1937, after crediting all receipts, the actual amount owing was $19,697.59. An effort was made to refinance by procuring a loan from the Federal Land Bank, but the commitment was insufficient to pay the indebtedness owing appellee.

Appellee in the first and second grounds of its resistance claims that appellants have not done equity, and that they were delinquent as to rent due. The evidence in support of the claim as to rental delinquency establishes that there are 23 acres of pasture land that were rented for the farming year of 1936 at $2 per acre, and that no actual cash payment of that rent had been made. However, in that connection, the evidence establishes that Clyde Redmond, the tenant, during the year 1936, expended for threshing oats and wheat, and for sweet clover, timothy, and alfalfa seed, the approximate amount of $38, and likewise establishes that said expenditures were made by him in pursuance of an agreement with the clerk of courts as conservitor, to the effect that said payments were to be credited upon the leash rent. As a result thereof the only deficiency as to the cash rental amounts to $8.00. In view of that situation we are not impressed by the claim of appellee that there is such delinquency in the payment of cash rent as to warrant a finding that .appellants *169 have not done equity. With the exception of that one matter, there is no showing whatever in the evidence other than that appellants and their tenant have accounted fully for all of the proceeds received from the land in question. As regards the contention of appellee that appellants have not done equity, we are unable to find anything in the record from which such contention could even be inferred, other than the claimed rent delinquency, and it is our opinion that the same is so insignificant that it does not warrant serious consideration.

As to the third contention of appellee, that appellants are without finances sufficient to pay off the indebtedness, the record is practically void as to the financial condition of appellants, and the only evidence that we are lable to find that in any way touches upon the same is the fact that Amanda Redmond, one of the appellants, owns some land in Montana, that is free from debt, and from which she receives sufficient income to pay the taxes. The record fails to reveal the (amount of value thereof, but regardless thereof, this sole item of evidence tends to negative rather than establish the contention of appellee. As a result the record is absolutely void of any evidence tending to establish this contention of appellee unless we are to infer from the fact that the value of the security is less than the amount of the indebtedness, that therefore appellants are without finances to pay their indebtedness. The value of the land involved, as established by appellee’s testimony, was $16,000, resulting in the indebtedness exceeding the value of the security by the sum of $3,697.59. .The result thereof is that we are confronted with a situation wherein no showing is made as to why a continuance should not be granted, other than a showing that the value of the security is inadequate as compared to the indebtedness owing appellee. It has been uniformly held by this court that the granting of a continuance should be the rule, and that a continuance should be granted unless good cause is shown to the contrary. In so holding this court has only followed the express mandate of the statute, and we have uniformly held that there is no burden upon the applicant to show good cause exists for the granting of the continuance, but that the burden of showing good cause why the continuance should not be granted is upon the party resisting. Appellee herein, in endeavoring to meet this burden, does so simply by showing >the inadequacy of the security.

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Bluebook (online)
279 N.W. 392, 225 Iowa 166, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/prudential-insurance-co-of-america-v-redmond-iowa-1938.