Sewell v. Morgan & Co.

49 Tenn. 672
Tennessee Supreme Court·Decided January 28, 1871·Published

Opinion

EbeemaN, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court.

The complainant alleges that one John L. Dearmon, on the 30th of May, 1865, made a deed of trust, by which he conveyed to one A. M. Savage, a dwelling house and lot in the town of Smithville, together with some negro slaves, various other articles of personal property, and a tract of land, known as the “Round Bottom tract,” a tract of 227 acres in the same county, a tract containing 84 acres, together with several other town lots in said town. This deed of trust was made to secure a number of debts specified therein, amounting, in all, to between five and six thousand dollars, perhaps. Among these debts, are several owing to defendants, Morgan & Co., and Eakin & Co.

The deed of trust gives Dearmon, the maker of it, and debtor, twelve months to pay the debts in, from its date, and provides that if they are paid, then “the above obligation to be null and void, and the legal title to the property to be and revert to me,” that is, Dearmon. It [674] goes on then to provide, that in case of failure to pay the debts within the time, the trustee shall sell the property for cash, after advertising the same for a specified time. It then prescribes the order of appropriation of the money arising from the sale, from which it will be seen that the debt of Morgan & Co., of $639, and of Eakin & Co., of $1,067, together with a few other debts, are to be paid first, after the expenses of the trust; also, such balance ""of a debt due Morgan & Co., of $1,098, for the security of which certain collaterals had been given, as might remain due on account of the insolvency of some of the collaterals, which seems to be assumed as probable. In the conclusion of the deed, he says: “I reserve to myself the right to sell said property at any time, with the consent of the trustee, before said trust is .closed, by applying the proceeds as I direct my trustee to apply them.” He also reserves “the right to direct the trustee which species of property, real or personal, shall first be sold, until the' deed is closed.” He also reserves the right to retain possession of the property till the closing of the deed.

The' bill of Sewell, the complainant, claims that in, perhaps, August, 1860, he purchased of said Dearmon the dwelling house and lot mentioned in said deed of trust, the said Dearmon acting under the power reserved to him by the provisions of said deed, and that Dearmon informed him that there was no further incumbrance on said land, and that he took a deed, in pursuance of the title bond given him, on paying the purchase money, 12th of January, 1863, and that he had been in possession ever since. He also claims that the money paid for tins [675] house and lot was applied by Dearmon, properly, to the payment of debts under the trust; , said Dearmon, by consent of the creditors, having full control and disposition of the property conveyed. The trustee, Savage, it seems, had died early in the year 1857.

It seems from the answer of Morgan & Co. and Eakin' & Co., that in 1856 or 1857, the said Dearmon, in the language of the answer, “pressing his reserved rights, selected this town lot, and the 227 acre tract of land, to be sold to pay respondent’s debts, which sale was made by Savage, the trustee, under the direction of Dearmon; and that they, by their agent, bid their debts on the land and town lot, which they had to agree to before said Dearmon and the trustee would agree to sell.” The answer then states, that before the trustee made title under this sale he died, and Morgan & Co. and Eakin & Co. filed their bill to obtain a title under said purchase, and to have possession of the same decreed to them. The precise time when this bill was filed does not appear, but we infer from the answer that it was.in 1858.

"When the bill was filed, Dearmon' filed his cross bill, alleging, as the answer states, that the debts were paid, and the sale only intended as a mortgage, to secure these particular debts.

How this litigation progressed, or on what issues, does not precisely appear, as the bills and answer are not in the record. We see, however, that at the September Term, 1860, of the Court, a decree was made in the cause, in which it is declared, after reciting the fact of the conveyance of the property by the deed of trust, and the death of Savage, the trustee, that it appeared “that there is a [676] bouse and lot in the town of Smithville, and a tract of land near Smithville, and a negro woman and two children, which are conveyed in the trust deed, that are un-disposed of.” It was therefore ordered and decreed by the court, that the Clerk and Master should sell “said town lot, slaves and land, or enough to pay the debts.” In a previous part of the decree, it appears that the Clerk and Master had reported the entire indebtedness of Dear-mon to complainants in that bill as being $962.48, which report was confirmed. It was further ordered, that Dear-mon deliver over said slaves immediately to the Clerk and Master, and in case of refusal, that an attachment writ issue for the same.

At the March Term, 1861, there appears a decree, reciting the fact that there had been an appeal from the above decree to the Supreme Court; also stating the facts of the said decree as to recovery of the debts referred to, and that the Supreme Court had affirmed said decree, and the Clerk and Master of the Chancery Court had been ordered to execute it, by attaching and selling the land and negroes, together with the town lots mentioned in the deed of trust; not setting out or describing said land or town lots by any more specific description.

It appears from the decree that the Clerk had, in pursuance of the order of the Supreme Court, attached and taken into his possession the three negroes mentioned, “belonging to said Dearmon,” and had advertised, and was about to sell these negroes. By consent of the parties, through their counsel, it was ordered that the sale be stayed fo.r six months, upon Learmon giving securities in open court for the stay of the decree for six months, [677] and for the forthcoming of the negroes, and their delivery at the end of that time, to be sold by the Clerk and Master, in satisfaction of the decree, and, by agreement, the negroes were to remain in possession of Dearmon. It was further agreed by the sureties, Ilallum and Baker, that if the slaves are not delivered, execution shall issue against them jointly with Dearmon for the debt and costs, and if the property mentioned in the trust deed fails to pay off the decree, that execution may issue against them jointly with Dearmon for the remainder.

On the 16th day of October, the six months having expired on the third Monday in September, an execution was issued, the negroes not having been delivered, and was levied on the three negroes mentioned in said decree, by the Coroner, as appears by • his return, and attempted to be levied on one tract of laffld, said to contain 100 acres, and a town lot, known as Lot No. 9. This levy, so far as the land, and perhaps the town lot, is concerned, is clearly void, for want of identification of the property levied on.

On the facts above recited, however, the questions are raised which are to be decided.

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Sewell v. Morgan & Co., 49 Tenn. 672 (Tenn. 1871).

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