Sanders v. Farrell

83 Ind. 28
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedMay 15, 1882
DocketNo. 7217
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 83 Ind. 28 (Sanders v. Farrell) 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
Sanders v. Farrell, 83 Ind. 28 (Ind. 1882).

Opinion

Morris, C.

The appellee James D. Farrell brought this suit against the appellants and his co-appellees, to reform and foreclose a mortgage. The complaint consisted of two paragraphs. A demurrer was sustained to the first and it need not be noticed.

The second paragraph states that on the 7th day of September, 1875, Joseph Dutton and Maria, his wife, executed to the appellee Farrell a mortgage, intending to convey to him the real estate therein described as security for the payment of a debt evidenced by a note, a copy of each of which is filed with the complaint, amounting to the sum of $150; that said note and mortgage are marked exhibits “ ó ” and [30]*30D ”; that the same are due and unpaid. It is further averred, that the premises intended to be mortgaged by the mortgagors and mortgagee were erroneously described in said mortgage; that the figure 2,” in giving the number of Joseph Yount’s addition in the description in said mortgage, was inserted by mistake of the parties to said mortgage, instead of the figure “ 3 ”; that in order to make said mortgage pass and convey to the mortgagee the lots intended by him and the mortgagors to be mortgaged, and to make said mortgage conform to the actual intention of the parties to it, it is necessary that the description be so reformed as to read 3d addition ” instead of “ 2d addition.” That the description should be, and was intended to be, as follows: “ Lots four (4) and five (5) in block No. 1, of Joseph Yount’s 3d addition to the town of Middletown, Indiana;” that the mortgagors at the time owned the above described lots, and had a right to mortgage the same; .that they had no right, title or interest in or to the lots actually, but mistakenly, described in said mortgage. It is also alleged, that on the 4th day of September, 1875, Sophia Summers, as executrix of Roland F. Summers, recovered a judgment against Joseph Dutton, before a justice of the peace of Henry county, for the sum of $7.74; that on the 7th da)^ of September, 1875, and subsequent to the execution of said mortgage, she caused a transcript of said judgment to be filed in the office of the clerk of the Henry Circuit Court; that at the September term of said court, and on the 9th day of September, 1875, Francis M. Sanders and David S. Yount recovered a judgment against the said Joseph Dutton for the sum of $-, and had" the same declared a lien on said lots 4 and 5 in Yount’s 3d addition to Middletown, in an action by them against said Joseph Dutton, Maria Dutton and David Davis, and on the 24th day of March, 1876, they, Sanders and Yount, voluntarily and without any consideration, and for the purpose of defrauding the appellee Farrell, assigned said judgment, by writing on the margin thereof, to Christopher C, Sanders, who well [31]*31lcnew that the assignment was fraudulent and intended to defraud Farrell; that said Christopher C. Sanders knew at the time he took said assignment, that the appellee held said mortgage, and that there was a mistake in it as to the description of said addition in which they were situate; that on the 9th day of September, 1875, Francis M. Sanders, Simon H. Summers and Ralph Nichols obtained a judgment against Joseph Dutton for $271.53, in the Henry Circuit Court, and that on the 24th day of March, 1876, the said Sanders, Summers and Nichols assigned said judgment to the said Christopher C. Sanders without consideration and with intent to defraud Farrell; that Christopher C. Sanders then knew that Farrell had a mortgage on said lots 4 and 5, and of the mistake in the same. The prayer is that the mortgage may be reformed and foreclosed as reformed, and that he have judgment for $164.50. Copies of the mortgage and note were filed with this paragraph of the complaint.

The appellant Christopher C. Sanders demurred separately to the second paragraph of the complaint. The appellants Francis M. Sanders, Simon S. Summers, Ralph Nichols and David S. Yount also demurred. The demurrers were overruled by the court.

Christopher C. Sanders answered the complaint in three paragraphs, the first being the general denial. The second paragraph of the answer stated that the mortgage, executed by the Duttons to the appellee Farrell, was executed without any consideration. The third avers that the mortgage was executed by the Duttons with intent to cheat, hinder and defraud the creditors of Joseph Dutton; that said Farrell knew the fraudulent purpose for which it was executed and participated in said fraud, and combined and confederated with said Duttons to cheat, hinder and defraud the creditors of the said Joseph Dutton.

Francis M. Sanders, David S. Yount, Simon Summers and Sophia Summers, executrix of Roland F. Summers, and Ralph Nichols answered that they had no interest in the several [32]*32judgments and liens mentioned in the complaint; that, before the commencement of this suit, they assigned their interests in said liens for value to their co-defendant Christopher ■C. Sanders, in good faith. They also answered by a general ■denial.

The appellee Farrell demurred to the first paragraph of -the answer of Francis M. Sanders and others, and the demurrer was sustained. He replied to the second and third paragraphs of the answer of Christopher C. Sanders.

The cause was submitted to a jury, who found for the appellee Farrell, as against the Duttons, in the sum of $175, ;and against the other appellants, except Sophia Summers, in ■the sum of $107, and in favor of Sophia Summers.

The appellants moved for a new trial, on the ground that the verdict of the jury was not sustained by sufficient evidence .and was contrary to law, and because the court erred in giving and in" refusing to give certain charges to the jury, and in permitting the appellee Farrell to give in evidence the ■mortgage given by the Duttons to him, and in not allowing the appellants to put in evidence the record of a former suit, in which said mortgage had been foreclosed.

The motion -was overruled, and a judgment and decree rendered in accordance with the findings of the jury.

The errors assigned question the rulings of the court upon the several demurrers to the complaint, the demurrer to the first paragraph of the answer of James M. Sanders and others, ■and upon the motion for a new trial.

There was no error, we think, in overruling the demurrers to the complaint. The facts stated in the complaint constituted a cause of action against Christopher C. Sanders. True, the complaint alleges that he was the assignee of a judgment obtained in the Henry Circuit Court, on the 9th day of September, 1875, against the mortgagors, which had been declared to be a lien on the land in controversy. But the facts alleged .showed a right on the part of Farrell to have his mortgage ■.reformed as against the other apj>ellees at least, and as against [33]*33him, except, perhaps, as to said judgment. Christopher C. Sanders was a proper party. It is not insisted, with much earnestness, that the court erred in overruling the demurrer •of the other defendants to the complaint. They were, upon the facts stated, proper parties, interested in the relief demanded. If, as to any of them, as the demurrer must be regarded as a joint demurrer, the facts stated constituted a good, equitable •cause of action, there was no error in overruling it. Eichbredt v. Angerman, 80 Ind. 208. That it stated a good cause •of action against most, if not all, of them, is very clear. There was no error in overruling the demurrers to the complaint.

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Bluebook (online)
83 Ind. 28, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sanders-v-farrell-ind-1882.