Zook v. Clemmer

44 Ind. 15
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 15, 1873
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 44 Ind. 15 (Zook v. Clemmer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Zook v. Clemmer, 44 Ind. 15 (Ind. 1873).

Opinion

Downey, C. J.

This was an action by the appellee against the appellant. It is stated, substantially, in the complaint, that on the 1 ith day of July, i860, at, etc., James H. Terhune, now deceased, owned certain real estate described in the complaint, which had on that day been conveyed to him by [16]*16John S. Kiphart, and that he then executed to said Kiphart, a mortgage thereon, his wife, now also deceased, joining therein, to secure, among other notes for purchase-money, executed by Terhune to Kiphart, one note for one hundred and thirty-five dollars, payable December 25th, i860, and which was for the first payment of said purchase-money; that on the same day, Kiphart indorsed said note to one William B. Norman, who afterward, at the February term of the Johnson Common Pleas, in 1861, without foreclosing the mortgage, obtained a judgment against Terhune on the note for the amount thereof without relief, etc.; that on the 25th of February, 1861, at the request of Terhune, the plaintiff became replevin bail for the stay of execution on the said judgment. It is further stated that on the 1st day of September, 1861, without any order from this plaintiff and without his knowledge or consent, an execution was issued on said judgment, and it was by the sheriff levied on said mortgaged premises, as the property of Terhune, and that on the 14th day of December, 1861, the sheriff sold said real estate, which was then of the value of three thousand dollars, to one Deitch for twenty-five dollars, and on the 17th day of February, 1862, executed to him a deed therefor, and that Deitch afterward conveyed the same to one Fesler. It is then stated that afterward, in 1862, said Deitch, who was the indorsee and owner of the second note secured by said mortgage, caused the said mortgage to be foreclosed, making Terhune and wife parties defendants, in the Johnson Common Pleas, and that on a sale thereof said Fesler became the purchaser and received a conveyance therefor from the sheriff, and that Fesler afterward conveyed the said real estate to the defendant, Zook, who is in possession thereof. The mortgage was duly recorded on the nth day of July, i860. Terhune had no other property than said mortgaged premises. The plaintiff further states that on the 1st day of September, 1861, he did, as such replevin bail, pay off and discharge said judgment, amounting to one hundred and forty-five dollars, which amount is [17]*17due and remains unpaid. Wherefore the plaintiff demands that he be subrogated to all the rights of said William B. Norman at the time of the taking of said judgment in and to said debt, and to his lien upon said mortgaged premises, that the mortgage be foreclosed for his benefit, and that the mortgaged premises, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be ordered to be sold, etc., and for other proper relief, etc.

A demurrer to the complaint for the reason, among others, that it did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action, was filed by the defendant and overruled by the court. The defendant excepted. Upon issues formed, there was a trial by the court, finding for the plaintiff motion by the defendant for a new trial overruled, and judgment on the finding.

The first error assigned is the overruling of the demurrer to the complaint. Where the payment of several promissory notes is secured by a mortgage, and a personal judgment is obtained by the payee or his indorsee on the note first falling due, without any foreclosure of the mortgage, and that judgment has been replevied and paid off by the replevin bail, can such replevin bail, on account of such payment, claim under the mortgage, and have the mortgage foreclosed, and the .mortgaged'premises sold for the repayment to him of the money so paid, as against one who holds title to the premises under a foreclosure and sale for the payment of another of the notes secured by the same mortgage, which fell due after the one on which the judgment was rendered that was replevied and paid by such bail ?

It is not claimed by counsel for the appellee that their client can have execution on the replevied judgment, under sec. 676, 2 G. & H. 309, and sell the mortgaged premises, but it is insisted that he can be subrogated to the rights of the mortgagee under the mortgage, according to the common law, even as against the residue of the mortgage debt, or the title of those who claim by a sale for the satisfaction of that residue. They claim that a replevin bail is a surety, and [18]*18that as such, when he has paid off the debt, or the part of the debt for which he was security, he can be subrogated to all the rights of the creditor. The appellee could not, it would seem, have execution on the judgment replevied, and have the mortgaged premises sold, in order to reimburse himself. The mortgaged premises had already been sold on an execution on the judgment replevied, and if this sale was void as being in violation of sec. 640, 2 G. & H. 297, which forbids the sale of the equity of redemption on the execution issued on such personal judgment, still this section would prevent a sale of the equity of redemption on an execution issued on the judgment at the instance of the replevin bail.

We do not doubt the correctness of the general proposition contended for by counsel for the appellee, that when a surety has paid the debt of his principal, he has a right to claim the benefit of any securities for the debt which were in the hands of the creditor. But that is not quite the rule which counsel seek to have applied in this case. They claim that when a surety has paid only a part of the debt, he can have the money thus paid by him refunded out of the securities in the hands of the creditor, whether the creditor has received the residue of his debt or not. The several notes secured by the mortgage in this case must, we think, be regarded as but one debt with reference to the rule in question. If not, the entry of replevin bail on the personal judgment against Terhune, in favor of the indorsee of the mortgage, would add nothing whatever to the security already existing for the payment of the mortgage debt; for if the position of the appellee can be sustained, so soon as the replevin bail had paid the judgment, he could at once claim under the mortgage, to the exclusion of those holding the notes subsequently falling due, or those claiming title under a sale to satisfy such subsequent notes. 'Let it be supposed that Kiphart, the mortgagee, had continued the owner and holder of the three notes secured by the mortgage; that he had obtained a personal judgment on the note first maturing; [19]*19that Clemmer, the appellee, had become replevin bail on that judgment; that he had paid the judgment; that Kiphart had foreclosed the mortgage, to make the amount of the other two notes, had sold the mortgaged premises on the judgment of foreclosure, and had himself become the purchaser; can it be successfully contended that in such case Clemmer could again foreclose the mortgage, sell the premises, and take them away from Kiphart ? This is, in substance, the case made by the complaint. In support of the position that the surety is not entitled to be subrogated to the creditor’s rights in the security held by him until the whole debt has been paid, we refer to Kyner v. Kyner, 6 Watts, 221; Armstrong's Appeal, 5 Watts & Serg. 352; Union Bank, etc., v. Edwards, 1 Gill & J. 346; Belcher v. The Hartford Bank, 15 Conn. 381; The Stamford Bank v. Benedict, 15 Conn. 437 ; Dixon Subrogation, 122, 123.

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Bluebook (online)
44 Ind. 15, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zook-v-clemmer-ind-1873.