Williams v. Hedrick

101 F. 876, 42 C.C.A. 75, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4484
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedMay 16, 1900
DocketNo. 483
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 101 F. 876 (Williams v. Hedrick) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Williams v. Hedrick, 101 F. 876, 42 C.C.A. 75, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4484 (7th Cir. 1900).

Opinion

WOODS, Circuit Judge.

A rehearing is sought chiefly on the ground that it was error to hold that the foreclosure of the tax lien and the deed made in consummation of the sale under the decree were sufficient to pass to the purchaser the life estate of Joseph Hedrick. The argument is that a tax lien is statutory only; that the laws of Indiana make the lien one against the land,' — against the rem; that the owner of the remainder in fee, Lawrence H. Hedrick, was not: a party to the foreclosure; that there is no law authorizing the assessment or valuation of a life estate for taxes, nor giving a lien on a life estate for taxes, nor authorizing the sale of a life estate under a foreclosure of a tax lien, nor the sale of a life estate at a tax sale; that the proceedings to foreclose were not against a life estate, no offer to sell a life estate was made, no advertisement of such sale was made, no one had an opportunity to hid at a tax sale or foreclosure sale of such an estate, and the deed executed did not purport; to convey such an estate.

It is not questioned that a tax lien “attaches to the res, without regard to individual ownership.” It was so said in Osterberg v. Trust Co., 93 U. S. 424, 23 L. Ed. 964. But it does not follow that there may not he a foreclosure, either expressly or hv legal intendment, against a part of the land covered by the lien, or against an interest therein less than the fee simple or entire estate. The statute under which the foreclosure was had (3 Eev. St. Ind. 1894; Burns’ Rev. St. Ind. § 8640) authorizes the holder of a tax deed to bring suit in the circuit court of the county where the lands or lots lie to quiet his title thereto, without taking possession; “and all parties who' have or claim to have, or appear of record in any public office of the county where such land or lot is situated to have, any interest in, or lien upon, such lands or lots,” it is required, “shall he made defendants to such suit, and no outstanding unrecorded deed, mortgage or claim shall he of any effect as against the title or right of the complainant as fixed and declared by the decree made in such case”; and if at the hearing it appears that the complainant’s title is invalid, for any cause, “such suit shall not he dismissed,” but: the court: shall “ascertain the amount due the complainant for principal and interest to he computed at twenty per cent, per annum,” shall decree (he payment thereof within a reasonable time, and in default thereof “shall direct that such land or lot he sold therefor, and that the equity of redemption of all the defendants in such suit, and all persons claiming under them shall he forever foreclosed: provided, that proceedings in such cases shall be conducted in the same manner, as near as may he, in conformity [878]*878with the practice in the case of foreclosure of mortgages.” The requirement in respect to parties doubtless was intended to conform to the-general rule of practice declared by the Civil Code of Indiana (section 268), that “any person may be made defendant who * * * is a necessary party to a complete determination or settlement of the questions involved.” It certainly means, and was intended to mean, that a foreclosure of a tax lien shall not affect any one known or shown by the record to be interested in the land, who is not made á party to the suit; but it does not mean that a valid decree may not be rendered against parties served with process because others interested have not been joined as defendants, or have not appeared or been served with process. We have no doubt that in such a suit the court, in the exercise of its equity powers, as in suits for the foreclosure of mortgages or other liens, may so frame its decree as to require that the title or interest of one defendant in the land shall be offered for sale before the title or interest of another, if it be made to appear that in good conscience it ought to be so ordered. All we need say, however, and all that is decided or implied in the opinion handed down, is that a foreclosure of a tax lien may be taken against one of two or more who have, or claim or appear of record to have, an interest in or lien upon the land covered by the tax lien; and if, by virtue of the decree, the land is sold for the full amount of the decree, the purchaser acquires, and acquires only, the title or interest of the one against whom the decree was taken; however described in the proceedings and deed, and all other interests are thereby discharged of the tax lien. The purchaser under such a decree, as under any other foreclosure, is bound to know who was made defendant, and what title or interest he had which could be affected by the decree. . •

It is urged, and, on reflection, we think justly, that the opinion handed down leads necessarily to a consideration of the respective, rights of the. appellant and the cross complainants English and Kent, and particularly of the question of the effect of Williams’ attempt to redeem from the sale on mortgage foreclosure to English, trustee, and of English’s attempt, as trustee, to redeem from the sale to Voris, under which Williams asserts title.

The contention of Williams is that he had acquired the title of Joseph Hedrick, and, as owner of the land, was entitled to redeem from, or to pay off and discharge, any lien or incumbrance on the title, On the other hand, it is insisted that for various reasons the sale and conveyance to Voris were void, and that, having acquired no title thereby, Williams, under his tax deed, conceded to be invalid as a conveyance, had only a lien, derived front the state, for the taxes which .he had paid, with penalties, and interest, and that his lien* being paramount, gave him no right to redeem from junior liens. Whether the sale to Voris was irregular for any of the reasons urged, it is not necessary to inquire. If irregular, it was not void, but, at most, subject to be set aside at the instance of Joseph Hedrick, or any other in a position to raise the question; but if, as contended, the sale was subject to, a right of redemption within a year, like ordinary sales “on execution or decretal order,!’ then the sheriff’s [879]*879deed to Yoris was premature, and, if not absolutely void, probably was effective only as a certificate of purchase, showing the holder’s right to a deed a,t the end of the year if meanwhile there should have been no redemption from the sale. If the sale under Williams’ decree was subject to redemption, then on November 30, 1894, when he deposited with the clerk of the Warren circuit court the money necessary to redeem from the sale made on December 9,1893, under the decree foreclosing the mortgage to English, trustee, he had no right to redeem therefrom, because he was himself only a lienholder, and his lien superior to that from which he sought to redeem. On the contrary, English had the right to redeem from him, as the grantee or assignee of Yoris, as the record shows he made a proper and timely offer to do, but was denied the privilege. The sale to English antedated that to Yoris by fourteen days, and, no redemption therefrom having been effected, his right to a conveyance wras the first to ripen. It does not appear, however, that he ever received a deed from the sheriff in consummation of his purchase. On the same theory it follows that the title of Joseph Hedrick was not devested until January 10, 1895, when he conveyed to Kent, who later conveyed to English, trustee. English not having been a party to the proceedings, his right to redeem from the lien acquired by Williams by virtue of the invalid tax sale was not affected by the foreclosure of that lien, or by the sale made under the decree.

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Bluebook (online)
101 F. 876, 42 C.C.A. 75, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4484, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-hedrick-ca7-1900.