Shaeffer v. Baeringer

44 Pa. D. & C. 493, 1942 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 483
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County
DecidedJanuary 21, 1942
Docketno. 464
StatusPublished

This text of 44 Pa. D. & C. 493 (Shaeffer v. Baeringer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shaeffer v. Baeringer, 44 Pa. D. & C. 493, 1942 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 483 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1942).

Opinion

Oliver, P. J.,

Plaintiff, as owner of premises 2824-26 West Dauphin Street, in the City of Philadelphia, instituted proceedings under the Act of May 4, 1927, P. L. 710, 21 PS §§ 733, 734, to compel assignment of two mortgages held by defendant on these premises. The bill of complaint sets forth the [494]*494following facts: Title to the premises is held by plaintiff under a sheriff’s deed, and they are now occupied by his tenant. The two mortgages held by defendant, as assignee of the original mortgagees, aggregate $2,354.29. On May 19, 1941, plaintiff tendered to defendant the full amount of the mortgages together with interest and other charges to which defendant was entitled. He requested, at that time, that defendant assign the mortgages to plaintiff’s nominee, but the tender and request were refused, whereupon plaintiff proceeded, under the Act of 1927, to file his complaint asking the court to compel the assignment. To this bill defendant filed preliminary objections principally on the ground that the tenant had an “interest in the lands” within the terms of the statute, and that plaintiff’s failure to join the tenant in his application for relief was fatal to the proceedings, since the act provides:

“No . . . decree [compelling an assignment] shall be entered unless it shall appear to the court that all parties holding any interest in the lands so encumbered have joined in the application for the assignment of such mortgage. . . Act of May 4, 1927, P. L. 710, sec. 2, 21 PS §734.

The preliminary objections were dismissed on grounds set forth in an opinion by this court. However, at the hearing on the merits of the case, Lloyd E. Sat-tler, the tenant, was permitted to intervene in the proceedings.

Pursuant to leave granted by the court upon dismissal of the preliminary objections, defendant filed an answer to the merits of the complaint. Defendant admits therein all the averments of the bill, except in the following particulars: It is averred that one Benjamin A. Freedman is the real owner of the premises involved, despite the fact that plaintiff is the registered owner thereof; it is denied that the principal of the second mortgage has been reduced to the amount averred by plaintiff; and it is also denied that the second mort[495]*495gage is now due and payable, as an agreement was allegedly executed on March 26, 1940, extending it for a period of five years. For these reasons, and for the additional reason that the entire proceedings are claimed to have been instituted with the ultimate intention of harassing and annoying the tenant ifi possession of the premises, defendant contends that plaintiff is not entitled to relief under the statute. Defendant states further that, despite his refusal to assign the first mortgage, he has been and is willing to satisfy it upon payment of the principal, interest, and satisfaction fee.

On the basis of defendant’s admissions in his answer, plaintiff obtained a rule to show cause why the bill should not be taken pro confesso as to the first mortgage alone, with leave to proceed as to the second mortgage. For reasons set forth more fully in the discussion which follows, this rule is discharged; and we now proceed to determination of plaintiff’s right to simultaneous assignment of both mortgages as requested by him in his original bill.

Findings of fact

The chancellor makes the following findings of fact:

1. Plaintiff, Martin L. Shaeffer, is the registered owner of premises 2824-26 West Dauphin Street, in the City of Philadelphia, by virtue of a sheriff’s deed, dated October 7, 1940, and recorded in the Office for the Recording of Deeds in and for the City and County of Philadelphia in Deed Book D. W. H. no. 873, p. 120, etc.

2. Benjamin A. Freedman is admittedly the real owner thereof.

3. The premises were acquired subject to two mortgages, the first given by Oscar Gimelson to Peoples Trust 'Company of Philadelphia in the principal amount of $3,000, bearing date December 14, 1916, and recorded in Mortgage Book J. M. H. no. 249, p. 394, etc.; the second given by George E. Sattler to the James B. [496]*496Sheehan Building & Loan Association in the principal amount of $2,000, bearing date September 17, 1930, and recorded in Mortgage Book J. M. H. no. 6928, p. 329, etc.; and subject also to the leasehold of Lloyd E. Sattler, the tenant presently occupying the premises.

4. Defendant, Ira Baeringer, is presently the nominal holder of both mortgages, and the respective bonds and warrants accompanying them.

5. Defendant, Ira Baeringer, holds the mortgages on the behalf of Dick Crean.

6. Defendant, as holder of the second mortgage, did not join in or assent to the application for an assignment of the first mortgage, alone or together with the second mortgage.

7. As of May 19, 1941, the principal of'the first mortgage had been reduced to $2,100, and was past due, according to the terms of the mortgage.

8. On May 19, 1941, plaintiff, through his attorney, Myron Jacoby, tendered to defendant a certified check for $2,198.50, representing the full amount due on the first mortgage, to wit, $2,100, together with interest thereon, at the rate of five percent per year from June 14, 1940, to May 20, 1941, in the amount of $98, and the sum of 50 cents for the cost of the acknowledgment to an assignment, and requested defendant to assign to plaintiff’s nominee the first mortgage with its bond and warrant. The tender was rejected and the assignment refused.

9. As of February 2, 1940, the principal of the second mortgage held by the James B. Sheehan Building & Loan Association had been reduced to the sum of $1,154.99.

10. The payments made by Lloyd E. Sattler to the James B. Sheehan Building & Loan Association, from January 1, 1937, to October 16, 1939, totaling $820, represented payments toward the reduction of the principal of the second mortgage, and not instal-ments on the purchase thereof.

[497]*49711. On March 15, 1940, the second mortgage was assigned by the James B. Sheehan Building & Loan Association to Hilda E. Sattler, wife of Lloyd E. Sattler, for a total consideration of $800.

12. The sum of $800 paid for the purchase of the second mortgage was advanced by Dick Crean in the form of a check payable to the order of J. Harry Wagner, attorney for Hilda E. Sattler; and subsequent to her acquisition of the mortgage Hilda E. Sattler assigned the mortgage, bond, and warrant to defendant Ira Baeringer, as nominee of Dick Crean, to secure repayment of the advance of $800.

13. Defendant, Ira Baeringer, still holds title to the second mortgage as security for the repayment of this $800 advance.

14. As of May 19, 1941, the second mortgage had matured according to its terms, and was past due on its face.

15. There was no valid agreement between George E. Sattler and Ira Baeringer extending the term of the second mortgage beyond the original date of its expiration.

16. The alleged extension agreement was never recorded.

17. George E. Sattler, who allegedly agreed with Ira Baeringer to an extension of the second mortgage, died July 13, 1941.

18.

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Bluebook (online)
44 Pa. D. & C. 493, 1942 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 483, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shaeffer-v-baeringer-pactcomplphilad-1942.