Sutton v. Consolidated Apex Min. Co.

84 N.W. 211, 14 S.D. 33, 1900 S.D. LEXIS 5
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 21, 1900
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 84 N.W. 211 (Sutton v. Consolidated Apex Min. Co.) 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
Sutton v. Consolidated Apex Min. Co., 84 N.W. 211, 14 S.D. 33, 1900 S.D. LEXIS 5 (S.D. 1900).

Opinion

Corson, J.

This is an action to foreclose a mortgage upon the property of the Consolidated Apex Mining Company. The plaintiffs were the owners of the first mortgage and bonds for $25,000, and the [36]*36defendant, Henry E. Evans, was the owner of the second mortgage and bonds for $25,000. The G. S. Congdon Hardware Company and John J. Farrer claimed miners’ and mechanics’ liens upon the property. These liens were adjudged by the court to have priority over the two mortgages. Hence the parties holding these mortgages have appealed to this court. The case was before this court recently on a motion to dismiss the appeal, and the facts are quite fully stated in the opinion denying the motion. The opinion in that case is reported in 12 S. D. 576, 82 N. W. 188. The findings of fact in the case are quite voluminous, and we only deem it necessary to incorporate in this opinion such portions as bear more directly upon the questions to be considered. It was found by the court that the first mortgage was executed on the 2nd day of January, 1896, and contained full covenants of warranty, and that the second mortgage was executed on the 12th day of January, 1897; that from the time of the organization of the Apex Mining Company, in 1894, until the 6th day of February, 1896, the said company was in the possession of all the real estate mortgaged, under the claim of ownership, and thereafter acquired the fee-simple title thereto; that from the organization of said company in October, 1894, to the 22d day of May, 1897, the said defendant Farrer was manager and superintendent thereof, superintending and managing all of its operations, and, in the discharge of his duties as such superintendent, necessarily performed a large amount of manual labor, and the moneys received from the sale of said mortgage bonds hereinbefore mentioned were expended by him and under his direction in the development and improvement of the mortgaged premises, in the payment of its debts, and upon the purchase price of said property; that the fair and reasonable value of the services rendered by said defendant Farrar to the defendant mining company is $1,447, upon which indebtedness the mining company [37]*37has paid to said Farrar the sum of $591, leaving a balance due upon said account in the sum of $856, with interest from May 27, 1897, at the rate of 7 per cent, per annum amounting to the sum of $71.14, making a total of $927.14; that the business and affairs of the defendant mining company were from the time of its organization in 1894 continuously managed by a board of seven directors, and that the defandant John J. Farrar was during all of said period of time a stockholder and one of the directors of said company, and until May 22, 1897, was its manager, superintendent, and foreman; that the moneys received from the sale of the mortgage bonds described in the findings of fact, and owned by the plaintiffs and appellant Henry F- Evans, were expended by and under the direction of said John J. Farrar in the development and improvement of said mortgaged premises, and in the payment of the purchase price thereof; that at a meting of the board of directors of said mining company held on the 12th day of January, 1897, at which was present, among others, John J. Farrar, a resolution was unanimously passed by said board of directors authorizing the borrowing of the sum of $25,000, and under and by virtue of which resolution the sum of $25,000 was loaned to said defendant company, and a trust deed made to secure the same, which constitutes what is known as the second mortgage, held by Flenry F. Evans; that said Farrar within 60 days from the time of ceasing work for the defendant mining company, to-wit, on the 16th day of June, 1897, filed for record in the proper office a notice of his claim, duly verified, as provided by law, and on the 16th day of September, 1897, he assigned the same to the Pennington County Bank as collateral security for the payment of $1,000. The court further finds that between the 1st day of June, 1893, and January 6, 1897, the G. S. Congdon Hardware Company sold and delivered to the defendant the Consolidated Apex Mining Company [38]*38and its predecessors in interest goods, wares, and merchandise of the value of $2,390.53; that between April 20, 1896, and November 1, 1896, said mining company paid to said hardware company on account of said merchandise the sum of $1,185.64; that all of said merchandise so sold and delivered by the hardware company to the Consolidated Apex Mining Company and its predecessors in interest were mining supplies, consisting principally of powder, fuse, steel, and tools, excepting $124.97, and said merchandise was during said respective years used on said mortgaged premises, and in the development and repair of the same, in its mining operations; that on or about June 22, 1897, said hardware company, for the purpose of securing and perfecting a lien for the money due it from said mining company, under the provisions of chapter 31 of the Code of Civil Procedure of this state (sections 5468-5495, Comp. Laws), filed in the proper office its account aforesaid, and a notice, duly verified, by 'which it claimed a mechanic’s lien upon all the aforesaid premises for the sum of $1,202.97, with interest from June 22, 1897. The court concludes as a matter of law, that the defendant Pennington county has a first lien against the property for all taxes due and unpaid thereon; that the defendant Pennington County Bank has a second lien for the sum of $927.14, on account of the amount due said Farrar and assigned to said bank; that the defendant G. S. Congdon Hardware Company has a third lien upon the property for the sum of $1,164, on account of the mechanic’s lien of said company; that the plaintiffs George A. Sutton et al. have a valid subsisting lien, subject to the foregoing liens, for the sum of $29,121.47, on account of the amount found due them on the first mortgage, gold, coupon bonds, and the interest notes attached thereto; and that the defendant Henry L,. Evans has a valid and subsisting lien, subject to the liens above specified, for the sum of $28,371.25, upon all of the said mort[39]*39gaged premises on account of the amount found due on his second, mortgage, gold coupon bonds, and interest notes attached thereto.

It is contended on the part of the appellants that John J. Farrar is estopped from claiming any lien upon the mortgaged premises, as against the first and second mortgages, for the reason that as a stockholder, director, and manager of said company, he took a direct part in procuring said loans, and expended the money received from the same without in any manner informing the parties making the loans that he had or claimed a miner’s lien upon the premises; that, in effect, by failing to make known to the parties making the loans that he had or claimed any such lien, he represented to them, and induced them to believe, and act upon the belief, that he neither had nor claimed any such lien. Assuming that, as superintendent of the mining company, he might have a lien upon the mining property of the Consolidated Apex Mining Company, under the findings in this case, still we are of the opinion that, in view of the relations he sustained to said company at the time the loans were made, he cannot, in equity and good conscience, set up such lien as against the mortgages in this case. Being a stockholder, director, managing agent, and superintendent of said company, if he intended to claim a lien upon the property it was his duty to have so notified the parties at the time the loans were made, in order that they might have protected themselves against such lien.

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Related

Kelly v. Gram
38 N.W.2d 460 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1949)
Jones v. Subera
126 N.W. 253 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1910)
Sutton v. Consolidated Apex Min. Co.
89 N.W. 1020 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1902)

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Bluebook (online)
84 N.W. 211, 14 S.D. 33, 1900 S.D. LEXIS 5, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sutton-v-consolidated-apex-min-co-sd-1900.