Taylor v. Baldwin

10 Barb. 582
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedApril 15, 1850
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 10 Barb. 582 (Taylor v. Baldwin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Taylor v. Baldwin, 10 Barb. 582 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1850).

Opinion

Allen, J.

The moneys which are the subject of this litigation, are the proceeds of the sale of that one-fourth of the premises which formerly belonged to John Thomas, the history of which is somewhat material to a decision of the questions before me. The premises were on the 14th of November 1885 owned by Baldwin, Oadwell, Jackson, Dodge and Comstock, who, on that day, executed to the plaintiff in this action the mortgage upon the foreclosure of which they were sold. After this, Baldwin by a deed with full covenants, (that is, covenants of seisin, against encumbrances and for quiet enjoyment,) conveyed three-twentieths of the premises to Thomas, taking back mortgages for parts of the purchase money, and Jackson conveyed to Thomas another one-tenth of the premises, thus vesting in him one-fourth of the whole. May 5th, 1845, Thomas mortgaged one-half of his interest (six-eighths of the premises) to the Albany City Bank, to secure the payment of $6,500 of a debt then due the bank, which debt still remains unpaid. A short time thereafter, by deed dated May 6th, 1845, Thomas conveyed to Tomlinson one-eighth of the premises, for the consideration, as expressed, of $4,500 and with covenants against his own acts. In 1847 Thomas executed to Tomlinson a quit-claim deed of the entire premises.

[584]*584In 1844 Voorhees owned one-half of the premises, and Oadwell and Thomas one-fourth each, and they took down the buildings then on the premises, and during the years 1844 and 1845 erected the Empire block, at a cost of over $60,000. Thomas paid nothing towards the erection, but Oadwell and Tomlinson (the latter being the agent of Voorhees) advanced and made payments as they were required, to an amount exceeding the proportions which would have been paid by Voorhees and Oadwell respectively, and in fact paid Thomas’s share, but in unequal proportions; Tomlinson paying much the greatest amount.

Baldwin claimed a part of the surplus moneys arising from the sale of the Thomas quarter, in virtue of his mortgages. The Albany City Bank claimed in virtue of its mortgage. The widow of Tomlinson claimed in- right of her dower in the one-fourth, under the grant from Thomas to Tomlinson. The heirs of Tomlinson claimed as owners of the fee at the time of the sale, under the grants to their ancestor, and Oadwell claimed in virtue of an equitable lien for advances made in payment for the erections; insisting, and attempting to prove, that the .first deed from Thomas to Tomlinson was intended as and was in fact a mortgage.

The referee held that such deed was a mortgage, and reported that Oadwell was first entitled to be paid the amount of his claim out of the surplus moneys, and that the Albany Oity Bank was next entitled. These two claims exhaust the fund.

I. I am of the opinion that the referee erred in holding the deed from Thomas to Tomlinson to be a mortgage. First. The evidence, if admissible, is in my judgment entirely too slight to warrant the conclusions of the referee in that respect. It was a remark of Tomlinson, made casually and without any design that the evidence discloses, to influence the action of-any one, and when accuracy of expression was very probably not cared for, and which may not have been remembered with that accuracy and precision that is desirable when important rights are to be affected by verbal declarations and admissions. It may well be that the precise words stated by the witness -were spoken by Tomlinson, without an intent on his part to con[585]*585vey the idea which is now sought to be engrafted upon them, that he had but a mortgage interest in the property. It may have been that he designed merely to say that he had made large advances for Thomas, who had just then failed, and that he had as the best thing he could do, taken this one-eighth of the premises in payment to its value and for the amount expressed in the consideration clause, and he may have used the word security ” instead of payment ” inadvertently; or the witness may have misunderstood or forgotten the precise expression employed on that occasion. If the deed was intended as a mortgage why was it not put in the form of a mortgage ? Why were not the accounts settled and security given for the full amount of Tomlinson’s advances ? And why was not some personal obligation taken from Thomas for the payment of the amount intended to be secured, and some time fixed for its payment ? And why was Thomas not called as a witness, to establish a fact so important? It is unsafe to change the character of an instrument by evidence so slight and unsatisfactory. (Steen v. Steen, 5 John. Ch. 1. Gillespie v. Moon, 2 Id. 585. Lyman v. Utica Ins. Co. Id. 630.) The quit-claim deed of 1847 from Thomas to Tomlinson is no evidence that either the grantor or grantee supposed that Thomas had any interest, equitable or legal, in the one-eighth specifically conveyed in 1845. It embraces the whole premises, and is just as strong evidence that he intended to convey some interest in the three-fourths confessedly owned by Yoorhees and Cadwell as in the one-eighth before conveyed to Tomlinson.

But secondly, I am of the opinion that it was not competent to contradict the terms of the deed of May, 1845, and show by parol that it was intended as a mortgage to secure advances made in the course of the erection of the buildings, and that Thomas-had before the conveyance in 1847 an equity of redemption in that one-eighth. Cadwell alone seeks to establish this fact. The Albany City Bank claim that their mortgage is upon the other one-eighth owned by Thomas. Baldwin claims that his lien is superior to the claim of Tomlinson and his representatives, whether the instrument was a deed or mortgage.

[586]*586It was conceded upon the argument that upon a trial at law neither the parties to a deed or their privies could vary its terms and show that it was, although absolute upon its face, in fact a mortgage, and intended as such. This is. now too well established to be controverted, whatever doubts may have for a time rested upon the doctrine, in this state. (Webb v. Rice, 1 Hill, 606; S. C. 6 Id. 219.) But it was claimed by the counsel for Cadwell, and urged (1) that the rule established at law did not extend to equity, and that a different rule prevailed in the latter court, and (2) that it was confined to parties and privies to the deed, and that strangers were not affected by it.

I. On most points the rules of evidence are the same in courts of law and equity, and the doctrine of both courts is the same as to the exclusion of parol evidence to contradict or substantially vary the legal import of a written agreement. (Stevens v. Cooper, 1 John. Ch. Rep. 425. Russell v. Kinney, 1 Sandf. Ch. Rep. 34, and cases cited by Asst. V. C. Story’s Eq. Jur. § 1531. Dwight v. Pomeroy, 17 Mass. Rep. 303.) It is true that equity exercises a jurisdiction to qualify, correct and reform deeds and other written instruments in cases of accident, mistake or fraud. These are well known heads of equity jurisdiction, and in its exercise the court necessarily receives parol evidence to establish the accident, mistake or fraud which render its interposition necessary. And in a clear case the court will reform a contract and make it express the clearly established intent of the parties. (Story’s Eq. Jur. § 1531. Meads v. Lansing, Hopk. 124. Webb v. Rice, Dwight v. Pomeroy, supra.

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Bluebook (online)
10 Barb. 582, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/taylor-v-baldwin-nysupct-1850.