Veranth v. Moravitz

284 N.W. 849, 205 Minn. 24, 1939 Minn. LEXIS 718
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedMarch 24, 1939
DocketNo. 31,940.
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 284 N.W. 849 (Veranth v. Moravitz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Veranth v. Moravitz, 284 N.W. 849, 205 Minn. 24, 1939 Minn. LEXIS 718 (Mich. 1939).

Opinion

Peterson, Justice.

Appellant applied for leave to intervene as a “vendee-defendant” in a proceeding under 3 Mason Minn. St. 1938 Supp. § 9576-2, brought by plaintiff to terminate a contract for deed between herself as vendor and appellant’s wife as vendee. He owned a building in Ely worth between $10,000 and $18,000 which was his homestead and in which he and his wife operated a hotel. They gave a mortgage on the property to a bank in the sum of $6,000. Plaintiff became the owner of the mortgage by assignment, foreclosed it, and purchased the property at the mortgage foreclosure sale. Meanwhile appellant’s wife obtained against him a decree of separation from bed and board for a period of three years, during which she was given possession of the property and continued to operate the hotel. Shortly before the expiration of the time of redemption she paid plaintiff $1,000, and a few days after the expiration of such time plaintiff and the wife entered into a contract for deed whereby plaintiff agreed to sell and convey the property to the Avife for $6,586.25, the amount due her as purchaser at the mortgage foreclosure sale, including the costs and interest, Avhich was to be paid by a down payment of $1,000 and the balance in instalments. The doAvn payment was the $1,000 already paid by the wife before the expiration of the period of redemption. After the contract for deed was executed, appellant brought an action against his wife Avhich was tried before Judge Kenny, who made a finding that the money with which the wife made the $1,000 down payment was derived by her from the operation of the hotel and that the arrangement be *26 tween this plaintiff and the wife “was not a bona fide sale of said premises to defendant but Avas intended to serve the purpose of extension of the time to pay said mortgage indebtedness and agreement that said mortgage indebtedness could be paid in the manner specified in said contract for deed,” and ordered judgment that the AAdfe as the vendee named in the contract for deed Avith plaintiff held her interest under the contract in trust for appellant, subject to a lien of $1,500 paid by her under the contract and that she transfer to him her interest as such vendee upon satisfaction of her lien as therein provided. Counsel stated upon the argument that after this appeal was taken judgment was entered in favor of appellant and against his Avife pursuant to the decision. Plaintiff was not a party to that action. The wife moved in the alternative for amended findings and conclusions of law or a new trial. Plaintiff, unbeknown to appellant, had commenced this proceeding to cancel the contract for deed for the default of the wife to make the stipulated payments and noticed the proceeding for hearing on June 15, 1938, while the wife’s alternative motion in the action which the husband brought against her was pending. She defaulted in the proceeding to cancel the contract for deed, plaintiff proved the default, and submitted the matter for decision. After the submission but before decision, appellant discovered the pendency of the cancellation proceeding and immediately made this application for leave to intervene as a “vendee-defendant” upon the grounds that the wife held her interest as vendee under the contract for deed in trust for him, that he was the real owner of the property, and that the contract for deed was in fact a mortgage. The showing in support of the application for leave to intervene was by affidavit and exhibits. While such a showing is permissible, the better practice, which we commend, is, in addition to the petition for leave to intervene and supporting affidavits, to show the intervener’s claim by exhibiting his proposed complaint or other pleading in intervention. Chandler & Price Co. v. Brandtjen & Kluge, Inc. 296 U. S. 53, 56 S. Ct. 6, 80 L. ed. 39. Although the motion for leave to intervene Avas noticed for hearing on July 28, 1938, the order denying leave to intervene *27 a vas made on August 17, 1938. The wife moves to dismiss the appeal upon the grounds that she was not a party below to the intervention proceeding. Plaintiff contends that termination of a contract for deed being a special proceeding, intervention does not lie, and that, if intervention were permissible in such a proceeding, appellant has failed to sIioav that he is entitled to intervene.

Since the wife was not a party to the intervention proceeding below, she is entitled to a dismissal of the appeal as to her.

Termination of a contract for deed under 3 Mason Minn. St. 1938 Supp. § 9576-2, is a judicial proceeding of an equitable character. Union Central L. Ins. Co. v. Schultz, 199 Minn. 131, 271 N. W. 249. Formerly such proceedings were m pais under 2 Mason Minn. St. 1927, § 9576; 6 Dunnell, Minn. Dig. § 10091. Intervention is permissible in a special proceeding, State, by Peterson, v. Werder, 200 Minn. 148, 273 N. W. 714; Smith v. City of St. Paul, 65 Minn. 295, 68 N. W. 32, and may be allowed in a judicial proceeding to terminate a contract for deed.

Although appellant did not attempt to intervene under 2 Mason Minn. St. 1927, § 9263, as of right by merely serving the complaint in intervention before the trial began, and Avas not ordered to intervene upon the application of a party under 2 Mason Minn. St. 1927, § 9181, the court had the power, unaffected by statute, to bring him before it, or permit him to come in voluntarily, at any stage of the proceedings, as a party necessary for the complete administration of justice. Webster v. Beckman, 162 Minn. 132, 202 N. W. 482 ; 5 Dunnell, Minn. Dig. (2 ed. & Supps.) § 7329. The court may permit intervention though the defendant is in default. 20 R. C. L. 688, § 27, note 18. Where intervention is made under leave of court, the applicant must show an interest in the litigation and that he Avill either gain or lose by the judgment between the original parties. It is generally held that a beneficial interest in the subject matter in suit is a sufficient right to intervene, even though the intervener may have another remedy. Walker v. Sanders, 103 Minn. 124, 114 N. W. 649, 123 A. S. R. 276; First State Bank v. West, 185 Minn. 225, 240 N. W. 892; Coffey v. Greenfield, 55 Cal. 382; note, 123 A. S. R. 288. In Walker v. Sanders, *28 supra, the intervener was the grantee under a warranty deed of the plaintiff to the land which was the subject of the suit. The action was brought by the plaintiff to set aside a deed to the land on the ground of fraud. We held that the intervener by reason of his having succeeded to plaintiff’s title to the property in controversy had an interest which entitled him to intervene. We said [108 Minn. 126, 114 N. W. 650]: “The right [of intervention] is quite generally accorded to any person having a beneficial interest in the matter in suit, and is sustained, even though the intervener may have another remedy.” The courts look with favor upon intervention in proper cases.

Intervention is sought solely to assert the wife’s rights under the contract for deed with plaintiff, to which the intervener is entitled by reason of the fact that the wife holds her rights as such vendee in trust for him. His claims have at least such merit that he recovered judgment thereon against the wife. Intervener does not claim any right to intervene upon other grounds.

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284 N.W. 849, 205 Minn. 24, 1939 Minn. LEXIS 718, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/veranth-v-moravitz-minn-1939.