Rosenbaum Bros. v. Ryan Bros. Cattle

84 P. 1120, 33 Mont. 424, 1906 Mont. LEXIS 19
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 10, 1906
DocketNo. 2,207
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 84 P. 1120 (Rosenbaum Bros. v. Ryan Bros. Cattle) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rosenbaum Bros. v. Ryan Bros. Cattle, 84 P. 1120, 33 Mont. 424, 1906 Mont. LEXIS 19 (Mo. 1906).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE HOLLOWAY

delivered the opinion of the court.

On March 19, 1902, Ryan Bros. Cattle Company, a corporation, executed and delivered to the First National Bank of Leavenworth, Kansas, its four promissory notes aggregating in amount $115,000, due 120 days after date, with interest at eight per cent per annum, and, to secure the payment of the same, executed a certain chattel mortgage upon personal prop- . erty in Montana. The mortgage or a copy of the same was filed in the respective offices of the county clerks of Fergus, Yellowstone, and Rosebud counties. On July 11, 1902, the [426]*426president of the First National Bank, mortgagee, executed, and filed in the office of each of said county clerks, what was evidently intended as an affidavit of renewal -of the chattel mortgage. That affidavit* which is hereafter referred to as exhibit B, gives the date of the mortgage, the names of mortgagor and mortgagee, the date of the filing of the mortgage, the amount of the debt secured thereby, and contains the necessary declaration of good faith. It also states that the whole amount of principal and interest is unpaid, and that the payment of said indebtedness is extended four months from July 19, 1902.

On January 15, 1903, the mortgagee commenced an action in the district court of Fergus county to foreclose the chattel mortgage, and immediately thereafter filed in the office of the respective county clerks of Fergus, Yellowstone, and Rosebud counties a' notice of lis pendens. On January 23, 1903, a like action was commenced and a like notice filed in Yellowstone county; and on January 29th like proceedings were had in Rosebud county. On April 24, 1903, Rosenbaum Bros. & Co., a corporation, having commenced an action in the district court of Yellowstone county against Ryan Bros. Cattle Company, the mortgagor above named, caused writs of attachment to be issued in said action and to be levied upon the property described in the mortgage, the levy being made in each of the counties above mentioned, pursuant to the provisions of section 940 of the Code of Civil Procedure. On July 23, 1903, by permission of the district court of Yellowstone county, and by stipulation filed in the case of Rosenbaum Bros. & Co. v. Ryan Bros. Cattle Company, the First National Bank of Leavenworth filed a complaint in intervention, the purpose of which was to have it decreed that the lien of the bank by virtue of its chattel mortgage was prior and superior to the attachment lien of plaintiff, Rosenbaum Bros. & Co.

The complaint in intervention recites the history of the execution of the notes, chattel mortgage, and the so-called affidavit of renewal, and the commencement of the actions and the proceedings Had therein, as above detailed. .Respecting the so-[427]*427called affidavit of renewal and the extension of the time of the maturity of the debt, the complaint in intervention alleges that: “A. Caldwell, then the president of the said First National Bank of Leavenworth, Kan., this intervener, and for and on behalf of this intervener as mortgagee in the aforesaid chattel mortgage mentioned, for the purpose of'carrying out an agreement between the said defendant, the Ryan Bros. Cattle Company, and the said intervener, made an affidavit in writing, pursuant to section 3866 of the Civil Code of the state of Montana, wherein and whereby the said intervener extended the time for the payment of the aforesaid promissory notes, and each of them, four months from the date of the maturity thereof, to-wit, four months from the 19th day of July, 1902, and also renewed the said chattel mortgage securing said promissory notes for said time, * ® s a copy of which said affidavit as aforesaid is hereunto annexed marked exhibit B and made a part of this complaint. ’ ’ To this complaint in intervention the plaintiff, Rosenbaum Bros. & Co., filed a general demurrer, which was overruled, and then an answer putting in issue practically all the material allegations of the complaint in intervention, and setting forth some affirmative matters which were denied in a reply.

In support of its complaint in intervention the intervener offered its evidence, a portion of which was excluded by the trial court, the court thereby practically reversing its former ruling on the general demurrer, and in effect holding that the complaint in intervention does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action; then found the issues for the plaintiff Rosenbaum Bros. & Co., and entered a decree that the intervener take nothing by the action. From this decree and an order overruling its motion for a new trial, the intervener appealed.

It is not contended that the intervener has a lien prior and superior to plaintiff’s, unless its action to foreclose was commenced during the period of time in which its mortgage was a valid lien upon the property as against attaching creditors. [428]*428The debt secured by the chattel mortgage matured on July 17, 1902, and the chattel mortgage continued in full force and effect for sixty days thereafter, or until September 16th. The intervener’s action to foreclose was not commenced until January 15, 1903; but appellant contends that by agreement between the mortgagor and mortgagee the date of maturity of the debt secured was extended for four months, as provided in section 3867 of the Civil Code, that the mortgage was renewed or extended for a like period from July 17th by virtue of the affidavit (Exhibit B above), and that the action to foreclose was in fact commenced within sixty days after the expiration of the period to which the debt and mortgage were thus extended. The district court held that the so-called affidavit of renewal (Exhibit B above) was ineffectual for the purpose of extending or renewing' the chattel mortgage so as to constitute it a lien superior to the attachment lien of the plaintiff, and gave its reasons for so concluding. This holding of the court is attacked here; but we are only called upon to determine whether the court’s conclusion was correct; for, if so, it will not be disturbed even though the court may have given erroneous reasons therefor. This rule was adopted many years ago by this court and has been uniformly adhered to since.

We may, then, consider only the one question: Did the affidavit (Exhibit B above) work an extension of the chattel mortgage so as to continue the lien thereof as against the attaching creditor? It will be conceded that, as against attaching creditors, the lien of the chattel mortgage expired on September 15, 1902, unless extended by this affidavit or agreement. Section 3866 of the Civil Code provides for the renewal or extension of a chattel mortgage by means of an affidavit, executed and filed by the mortgagee; but, as the right thereby acquired is purely a statutory one, the statute must be strictly followed. That statute enumerates seven provisions to be embodied in the affidavit, every one of which is indispensable to the efficiency of the affidavit for the purpose of extending the mortgage. An examination of Exhibit B above will show that it meets the requirement [429]*429of this statute in respect to provisions 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7. With respect to provision No. 5 it alleges that the promissory notes as well as the interest thereon are wholly unpaid. Whether this is a sufficient compliance it is not necessary now to determine. With respect to provision No. 6, the affidavit does not state the time to which the mortgage is extended but only the date to which the time for payment of the debt is extended.

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Bluebook (online)
84 P. 1120, 33 Mont. 424, 1906 Mont. LEXIS 19, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rosenbaum-bros-v-ryan-bros-cattle-mont-1906.