State v. Mellette

113 N.W. 83, 21 S.D. 404, 1907 S.D. LEXIS 62
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 29, 1907
StatusPublished

This text of 113 N.W. 83 (State v. Mellette) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Mellette, 113 N.W. 83, 21 S.D. 404, 1907 S.D. LEXIS 62 (S.D. 1907).

Opinion

CORSON, J.

This action was originally commenced as an action to determine adverse claims to certain lands in Codington county, to which the state claimed to be the owner, under and by virtue of a certain deed executed by A. C. Mellette and Margeret W. Mellette, his wife, to one W. W. Taylor, and by him conveyed to the state upon the theory that the absolute title was thereby conveyed to the state. The state recovering in the action, an appeal was taken to this court by the defendant, Margaret W. Mellette, and the judgment of the lower court was reversed, upon the ground that said deed from A. C. Mellette and wife to said Taylor was executed for and intended as a mortgage, and not as an absolute ■convej'ance. The opinion is reported in 16 S. D. 297, 92 N. W. 395, and the facts are so fully stated therein that we do not deem it necessary, to restate them in this opinion. Upon the going down of the remittitur, an amended complaint was filed setting out a promissory note for $15,200, executed by Said A. C. Mellette and wife to the said Taylor, and by him transferred to the state, and the execution of a deed of the premises in controvrs}', embracing the private property of said Margeret W. Mellette, to secure the payment of said note and demanding a foreclosure of the deed as a mortgage. This amendment was> made to' the complainant more than six years after the note became due, and it is contended on the part of the defendant that the note was barred by the statute of limitations, and that being so the deed could not be foreclosed as a mortgage; that being barred also. It is further claimed by the respondent that property of greater value than the amount of the note was turned over to- the state by A. C. Mellette and applied upon a judgment recovered by the state against said W. W. Taylor, as principal, and A. C. Mellette, and others’, who were sureties on his official bond as state treasurer, and therefore the note was in law paid and satisfied. The court in its findings and conclusions of law sustained the contentions of the respondent, and entered judgment in her favor, and the case is now before us on appeal by the state from this judgment and order denying a new trial.

The court after making full findings of fact, stated its conclu[407]*407sions as follows: “(i) The transactions shown in the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and ninth of said finding's was one whereby the separate property of this defendant, as a surety was hypothecated with the separate property of her husband, he being the principal, to secure the payment of the note mentioned in said findings, and she, as such surety, was and is entitled to have such separate property of her husband, he being the principal, first applied to the payment of said note, and she is entitled in this action to have the credits given for said separate property of her husband on said judgment, as hereinbefore shown, applied on said note as far as such application is necessary to discharge said note, as well as on said judgment, said credits discharging said note entirely, and said judgment in part, and to- have such credits, considered as so applied, and said note fully paid thereby. (2) So far as the note itself is concerned, this action is barred by the statute of limitations, and no personal judgment for a deficiency could be rendered herein, even if the plaintiff was entitled to maintain this action as against the land. (3) That the plaintiff is not entitled to any relief in this action. (4) The defendant is entitled to judgment in her favor quieting the title in her against the said Taylor, this plaintiff, and against all persons claiming or to claim by, through, or under said Taylor or this plaintiff, and canceling the deeds of the Mellettes to said Taylor, and the deeds of said Taylor to this plaintiff hereinbefore, in the foregoing findings, mentioned so far as they relate to this defendant’s separate property, to wit, the property involved in this action, and for her costs herein.”

The state seeks a reversal of the decision of the circuit court upon the following grounds: (1) That the application of the property turned over to the state by said A. C. Mellette in payment of the judgment entered by the state against W. W. Taylor, Mellette, and others, was a proper application of said property; and that the court therefore erred in holding that the $15,200 note was in law paid by the application of said A. C. Mellette’s property on the said judgment by the state. The state also- contends that the note was not barred by the statute of limitations, for he reason-that the amendment to the complaint was a proper amendment, did not change its cause of action, and related to- the commencement of [408]*408the original action. (2) If the note itself was barred the deed given which constituted a mortgage, was not barred by the statute, and a foreclosure for the amount due upon the note would be proper, as the deed was a sealed instrument, and not barred until the expiration of 20 years from the date of its execution. In' the view we take of the case, it will not be necessary to discuss -or determine the question presented by the learned counsel on the part of the defense as to the statute of limitations' and as to the effect of the amendment made to the complaint in this action, as we are clearly of the opinion that the court was right in holding that in the application of all the property of A. C. Mellette in payment of the judgment in favor of the state and against Taylor, as principal, and himself and others, as sureties, constituted a payment of said note, and that the state cannot now proceed to enforce the collection of the note.

The court’s findings as to the transfer of the note from Taylor to the state, and the payment of the same in effect by the transfer of the property of A. C. Mellette, are as follows: “ (11) That after the commencement of the action mentioned in the seventh of these findings, but before the state became the holder of said note, said Arthur C. Mellette, acting for himself and wife, explained to the Attorney General of this state, acting for the state of South Dakota in said action, and representing the state therein as its attorney, the transactions hereinbefore mentioned, and expressed to said Attorney General his willingness tO' surrender and transfer, or cause to be transferred, all his own separate property to the state in satisfaction, or partial satisfaction, of his liability on said bond, and in said action, if he could thereby save and preserve to his wife her separate property transferred by said deeds of the said Arthur C. Mellette and wife to> said Taylor hereinbefore in these findings mentioned, and the said Attorney General thereby had notice of the fact that^ said note had been given, and that said deeds were given for the purpose of securing the same, and that said Margeret W. Mellette had received no consideration for the making of the said note, but was a'mere surety thereon, and that certain of said lands embraced in and covered by said deeds, being the same upon which the plaintiff seeks to foreclose its al[409]*409leged lien in this action, was her separate property, and of all the facts stated in the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and ninth of these findings, and it was thereupon stipulated and agreed by and between said Attorney General, representing and acting for the state, as aforesaid, and the said Arthur C. Mellette, acting for and representing himself and his said wife, as aforesaid, that the said separate property of the said wife should be saved and preserved to her, and that all of the said Arthur C.

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Related

Hawley v. Bradford
37 Am. Dec. 390 (New York Court of Chancery, 1841)
State v. Mellette
92 N.W. 395 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1902)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
113 N.W. 83, 21 S.D. 404, 1907 S.D. LEXIS 62, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mellette-sd-1907.