Sweeney v. Mechanics Trust Co.

55 Pa. D. & C. 80, 1945 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 176
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Dauphin County
DecidedAugust 10, 1945
Docketno. 151
StatusPublished

This text of 55 Pa. D. & C. 80 (Sweeney v. Mechanics Trust Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Dauphin County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sweeney v. Mechanics Trust Co., 55 Pa. D. & C. 80, 1945 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 176 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1945).

Opinion

Woodside, J.,

The question here involves the priority of two liens on a certain tract of real estate in Cumberland County.

Title to the premises in question, known as 222 South Front Street, Wormleysburg, was held by William F. Martin and Lillie B. Martin, his wife, as tenants by entireties, prior to April 18, 1928. On that day the Mechanics Trust Company entered judgment on a note in Cumberland County in the amount of $40,000 against William F. Martin alone.1 This judgment has been kept alive by revivals, each made within five years of the original entry or of the prior revival.

On September 5,1928, William F. Martin and Lillie B. Martin, his wife, executed and delivered to the Mechanics Trust Company, a mortgage in the amount of $15,000 on the same premises.

Lillie B. Martin died November 24, 1938.

[82]*82Taking the records of the Prothonotary and the Recorder of Deeds of Cumberland County alone, the judgment of $40,000 became a first lien on the premises upon the death of Mrs. Martin, and a sheriff’s sale of the premises on the judgment would discharge the mortgage: Fleek v. Zillhaver, 117 Pa. 213 (1887) ; even though during the lifetime of Mrs. Martin she and her husband could have conveyed the premises free and clear of the lien of the judgment: Beihl v. Martin, 236 Pa. 519 (1912). But there are other relevant facts to be considered which throw a different light on the CciS6.

From the facts agreed upon by the parties it appears that prior to the entry of the $15,000 mortgage and the $40,000 judgment, William F. Martin and his wife had executed and delivered to the Mechanics Trust Company, a mortgage for $12,000 on the aforesaid premises. Shortly after the entry of the $15,000 mortgage in favor of the Mechanics Trust Company this $12,000 mortgage was satisfied. At the same time a number of other judgments against William F. Martin entered between the date of the two mortgages were satisfied by Victor Braddock, a member of the bar of this county. This was done so that the $15,000 mortgage would be a first lien.

It is admitted that the Mechanics Trust Company sold and delivered its Certificates of Participation evidencing beneficial interest in the $15,000 mortgage and its accompanying bond to various parties, for a total of $14,500, the balance of $500 being held by the Mechanics Trust Company in its mortgage pool.

In a letter dated September 5,1928, to Victor Braddock, Esq., it was stated by the president of the Mechanics Trust Company that “we will expect you to certify that the new mortgage is a first lien on the premises in question.” Attorney Braddock refused to certify the said mortgage as a first lien unless and until the lien of the judgment for $40,000 would be postponed [83]*83to the lien of the said mortgage. This, it is admitted, the Mechanics Trust Company intended to have its president do, but through oversight or neglect it was never done.

Furthermore, the Mechanics Trust Company guaranteed to the holders of said certificates the payment of the principal and interest of said bond and mortgage according to its terms in consideration of the sum of one percent per annum of the principal sum of said bond and mortgage which was deducted by the Mechanics Trust Company from the interest.

On October 23, 1931, the Mechanics Trust Company was taken over by William D. Gordon, Secretary of Banking, as Receiver, because of insolvency.

On December 31, 1936, John F. Sweeney, the plaintiff in this action was appointed by this court as substituted fiduciary for, inter alia, the mortgages, securities and other assets of the Mechanics Trust Company in which undivided interests had been created by the said trust company, and on March 1, 1937, the aforesaid $15,000 mortgage and its accompanying bond, were assigned to the plaintiff by the receiver of the Mechanics Trust Company. Between October 23,1931, and December 31, 1936, the Secretary of Banking as receiver was fiduciary for the assets taken over by the plaintiff as well as the other assets of the trust company.

That there was a cloud on the lien position of the mortgage was not brought to the attention of the plaintiff until May of 1941, and because of difficulty which the defendant had in finding certain of its records, the circumstances surrounding the entry of the judgment and the recording of the mortgage were not available to the plaintiff until February of 1942. After the defendant threatened to issue execution on said judgment and to sell the aforesaid premises, the bill in equity in this case was filed (May 20,1942) asking the court to [84]*84restrain the defendant from issuing execution upon the $40,000 judgment or any revival thereof. An agreed statement of facts was filed, and the case was argued June 12,1945.

It is admitted by the defendant, the receiver of the Mechanics Trust Company, that it was the intent of the Mechanics Trust Company that the lien of the $40,000 judgment should be postponed to the lien of the $15,000 mortgage, and that the said mortgage should be a first lien on the premises.

It is further admitted by the defendant that the participations in the said mortgage were sold by the Mechanics Trust Company upon its representation that the said mortgage was a first lien upon the premises covered thereby.

If the Mechanics Trust Company had not become insolvent, it is reasonable to assume that when the officials of the company discovered that the records of the prothonotary had not been marked in accordance with the original intent, the postponement would have been entered upon the record no matter how long before its discovery the oversight had occurred, and particularly is this true in consideration of the fact that interests in this mortgage were sold upon the representation of the trust company that the mortgage was a first lien. Certainly if the trust company would have had the matter called to its attention and would have refused to carry out its intent by proper action, it would have so shocked the conscience of any court of equity with jurisdiction that it would promptly require the trust company to do that which had been intended, and which had been represented by the trust company as having been done. Certainly the trust company would not be permitted to profit by virtue of its neglect at the expense of the holders of certificates which it had represented to be interests in a first mortgage. This seems to us to be so clear that it is hardly necessary to quote equitable maxims or cite cases to sustain the proposition.

[85]*85If it would be necessary we need but refer to the following maxims and cases: “Equity regards and treats that as done which in good conscience ought to be done,” and “Equity imputes an intention to fulfill an obligation” : Young Bros. & Co., to use of Jenkins, v. Coray et al., Executors of George Coray, 167 Pa. 617 (1895); City of Philadelphia v. Myers, 102 Pa. Superior Ct. 424, 432 (1931); Mallory’s Estate, 285 Pa. 186, 190 (1926).

Does the fact that the trust company has become insolvent and that its interests are now represented by the Secretary of Banking as receiver, change the rule which would be applied to a situation of this kind had the defaulting party not become insolvent? We think not. The receiver here is in the same position as the trust company.

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Mallory's Estate
131 A. 714 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1925)
Agricultural Trust & Savings Company's Mortgage Pool Case
198 A. 16 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1937)
North City Trust Company Case
194 A. 395 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1937)
City of Phila. v. Harry E. Myers
157 A. 13 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1931)
Stark Et Ux. v. Lardin, Exr.
1 A.2d 784 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1938)
Jordan v. Sharlock
84 Pa. 366 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1878)
Morris's Appeal
88 Pa. 368 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1879)
Fleek v. Zillhaver
12 A. 420 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1887)
Appeals of Fourth National Bank
16 A. 779 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1889)
Young Bros. & Co. ex rel. Jenkins v. Coray
31 A. 856 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1895)
Beihl v. Martin
84 A. 953 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1912)
Barclay v. Edlis Barber Supply Co.
39 Pa. Super. 482 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1909)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
55 Pa. D. & C. 80, 1945 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 176, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sweeney-v-mechanics-trust-co-pactcompldauphi-1945.