West End Park Co. v. Mitchell

165 S.E. 628, 175 Ga. 613, 1932 Ga. LEXIS 297
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedAugust 17, 1932
DocketNo. 8559
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 165 S.E. 628 (West End Park Co. v. Mitchell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
West End Park Co. v. Mitchell, 165 S.E. 628, 175 Ga. 613, 1932 Ga. LEXIS 297 (Ga. 1932).

Opinion

Russell, C. J.

This case has heretofore been considered by this court. Mitchell v. West End Park Co., 171 Ga. 878 (156 S. E. 888). Many of the facts are there so fully set forth as to make a repetition of them unnecessary. On the former trial the judge directed a verdict establishing a first lien in favor of the West End Park Company under its loan deeds, upon the proceeds of the sale of the two lots which were in the hands of a receiver. “To this direction and judgment Mrs. Mitchell excepted, for the reason that her loan deeds constituted a first lien upon said funds, and that her loan deeds were entitled to priority over those of said company. Creel made a motion for direction of a verdict in his favor, establishing the amount of his claim as a first lien on the proceeds in the hands of the receiver; and to the refusal of the court to direct such verdict Mrs. Mitchell excepted upon the ground that the lien of Creel was superior in dignity to the loan deeds of said company, and that she had been subrogated to Creel’s lien under the agreement between him and her above set out.” We held that “Where the owner of lots in a subdivision conveyed two of them by deed to a purchaser, and simultaneously took from the latter a deed to each lot to secure a balance of the purchase-money, the title of the vendor to the lots embraced in these security deeds would generally be superior to any liens existing against the buyer at the time, or subsequently obtained against him.” We held, however, that an exception to the general rule existed in this case, and where the security deeds contained an agreement between the owner and the purchaser whereby the latter was to erect a residence on each lot within six months from date, and the owner agreed to subordinate the outstanding notes for the purchase-money to a lien to secure a first loan upon the residence and lot, not to exceed 60 per cent, of the appraised value (provided, that if the residence was not completed prior to six months time from the date of the agreement^ then the [615]*615owner was to be automatically released from its agreement to so subordinate); and where the purchaser, with the knowledge and consent of the owner procured from a lender a temporary loan of $2500 on each lot to enable the purchaser to erect dwelling-houses, from which $2500 the initial purchase-money payment of $250 of each lot was paid the owner, and the balance of the loan was used in paying for labor and material in building such houses, the lien of the lender under her security deeds was superior to the lien of the owner under its security deeds to secure the purchase-money, although the purchaser failed to complete the dwelling on each lot. We also held that a senior grantee in a security deed has an unquestionable right to waive his priority of lien in favor of a person who advances money to the vendor therein and has taken a junior security deed to enable a purchaser of the lot to improve the property conveyed to him, “the enhanced value of the property being sufficient consideration to sustain such waiver.” We also held: “A grantee in a senior security deed may be estopped to assert the priority of his lien as against a grantee in a subsequent security deed, when it would be unconscionable to enforce the security of the former to the prejudice of the subsequent encumbrancer. . . Without any agreement, there may be facts and circumstances which indicate an intention to make one of two security deeds recorded at the same time prior to the other.” This court on the former appearance of this case not only stated the foregoing well-settled general principles of law, but it made certain specific rulings which fixed the law of this case, unless the pleadings and evidence were essentially and substantially changed upon a subsequent investigation and trial. Especially applicable to the case before us, the court held that “The right of the lender to enforce the liens of her loan deeds in preference to the liens of the company under its security deeds does not depend upon the contract between the purchaser and the company, which is set out in each of its security deeds; but the lender is undertaking to enforce her liens under her contract with the purchaser, which was authorized by the company, and from which the company derived substantial payments on the purchase-money of each of these lots.”

On the day this case was tried the second time, Mrs. Mitchell tendered and filed, over objections, an amendment to her intervention, alleging that her loan deeds had been transferred to the Credit [616]*616Investment Co., with the legal title to remain in intervenor with the beneficial interest to be in the Credit Investment Co., praying that the case proceed in the name of intervenor for the use of the Credit Investment Co. Upon the trial, Mrs. Mitchell introduced in evidence, over objections, a statement of the evidence adduced upon the previorxs trial of the case. This statement was agreed to by attorneys for the parties and used in lieu of a transcript of the evidence in bringing the case to the Supreme Court after the first trial. The objections offered were: that said paper was not an agreed statement of facts; that it was never contemplated to be used in a jury trial; that, properly construed, it had nothing to do with this case at this time, as it was merely for temporary use to go up to the Supreme Court after the former trial of this case; that the paper in question was prepared by the attorneys for Mrs. Mitchell, and, if there is any doubt of its meaning, should be construed against them; that it was not intended as a statement of ultimate facts but merely as a statement of the evidence that had been introduced in the former trial. In support of its objections the defendant offered the following evidence as to the execution of said agreed statement: 1st. The entry on the back of said paper designating it “agreed statement of the evidence.” 2d. The bill of exceptions prepared by Mrs. Mitchell’s counsel when the case went to the Supreme Court formerly, in which, in designating the portions of the record necessary to be sent to the Supreme Court, this paper was designated as “an agreed statement of the evidence.” Also, letter from George Finch, counsel for Mrs. Mitchell, to W. D. Thomson, counsel for West End Park Co., enclosing statement proposed to be used in lieu of brief of evidence, for approval of Finch; two letters from Thomson to Finch, making changes in the statement, the last of which contained his approval thereof; the following letter from Thomson to Finch, written on May 7, 1931, after the decision in 171 Ga. 878 : “This is to advise you that any agreements or stipulations as to the evidence in the above-stated case, which were entered into by me at the last trial, are hereby revoked and annulled, and will not be recognized in the retrial of this case; and I am giving you this notice in order that you may be prepared to prove the case without relying upon any of these stipulations when it is reached for trial on May 25th.” The court overruled the objections and admitted the statement, holding it “admissible sub[617]*617jeet to explanation or rebuttal.” Plaintiff in error says it ivas injured and prejudiced by the action of the court in so far as it permitted the introduction of that part of the statement reading as follows: “That the cash payment of $250 on each lot, which Black made to the West End Park Co., was a part of the proceeds of Mrs.

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Related

Jett v. Securities Investment Co.
23 S.E.2d 265 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1942)
Southern Loan & Investment Co. v. State
22 S.E.2d 108 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1942)
Mitchell v. West End Park Co.
170 S.E. 376 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1933)

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Bluebook (online)
165 S.E. 628, 175 Ga. 613, 1932 Ga. LEXIS 297, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/west-end-park-co-v-mitchell-ga-1932.