Groves v. Sentell

• Decision Date: 14 May 1894
• Docket Number: No. 278,278
• Citation: 14 S.Ct. 898,38 L.Ed. 785,153 U.S. 465
• Parties: GROVES et al. v. SENTELL et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

153 U.S. 465

14 S.Ct. 898

38 L.Ed. 785

GROVES et al.

v SENTELL et al.

No. 278.

May 14, 1894.

This was a bill of interpleader by George W. Sentell against Martha Groves, William J. Groves, and others. From the decree thereon, said Martha Groves and William J. Groves, and Thomas A. Pogue, administrator of Rosetta Rhea, deceased, appealed.

Fanny B. Lambeth and Dora Lambeth, as heirs of their deceased father, were the owners, in equal undivided proportions, of certain parcels of real estate situated in the parish of Avoyelles in Louisiana. Two of these parcels were known, respectively, as the 'Leinster Plantation' and the 'Lucky Hit Plantation.' Fanny B. Lambeth was married in April, 1865, to Christopher M. Randolph. The Leinster plantation was leased during 1865, 1866, and 1867 to John Rhea, who died in October, 1867, pending the lease.

On the 15th day of January, 1868, Fanny B. Lambeth, wife of Christopher M. Randolph (whom we shall hereafter refer to as Mrs. Randolph), and Miss Dora Lambeth appeared before Generes, a notary in the parish of Avoyelles, and acknowledged themselves indebted to Mrs. Rosetta Rhea, widow of John Rhea, of Madison county, Ind., in the sum of $8,970.12, which they declared was a balance due by them for the purchase price of certain movable property—mules, cane, implements, etc.—which belonged to Rhea at the time of his death, and which had been placed on the Leinster plantation by him, for use in its cultivation. The act declared that the movable property which they bought belonged to Mrs. Rhea, who was the widow of John Rhea, and as such was, under the laws of Indiana, where Rhea was domiciled, his sole heir, as he died intestate and left no ascendants or descendants. To evidence the indebtedness, Mrs. Randolph, authorized by her husband, and Miss Lambeth, drew their joint note, as follows:

'$8,970.12. Avoyelles, La.,

'Leinster Plantation, January 1st, 1868.

'Two years after date we promise to pay to the order of Mistress Rosetta Rhea, at the Citizens' Bank of Louisiana, in the city of New Orleans, eight thousand nine hundred and seventy and 12-100 dollars, for value received, with interest at the rate of eight per cent. per annum from date until paid. Not negotiable.

'Fanny B. Randolph.

'C. M. Randolph.

'Dora Lambeth.'

Mrs. Rhea bound herself to obtain a judlcial recognition from the courts of Indiana of her right of inheritance to her husband's estate before enforcing payment of the note.

To secure this note, Mrs. Randolph and Miss Lambeth, by the same act, mortgaged—First, the Leinster plantation; second, a tract of land adjoining the Leinster plantation, known as the 'Faulkland Tract.' This act of mortgage was duly inscribed.

In September, 1868, Christopher M. Randolph, the husband of Fanny B. Lambeth, died. In December, 1868, Dora Lambeth married T. O. Stark. We refer to her hereafter as Mrs. Stark.

In December, 1868, 'In the Matter of the Estate of John Rhea, deceased, in the Court of Common Pleas of Jefferson County, Indiana,' Rosetta Rhea was recognized as his sole heir, and as such was decreed to be entitled to the promissory note set forth above, and all the rights securing the same.

On the 9th of January, 1873, Mrs. Randolph and Mrs. Stark made between them, by voluntary and private agreement, a partial partition of their father's estate. Mrs. Randolph took a portion of the Leinster plantation and other lands, and Mrs. Stark took the remaining portion of that plantation, also with other lands. Thus, by the terms of the partition, a portion of the land which had been mortgaged to secure the debt due to Mrs. Rhea was allotted to Mrs. Randolph and a portion to Mrs. Stark. Nothing was said in the partition as to the then existing mortgage in favor of Mrs. Rhea.

On the 23d of April, 1873, Mrs. Randolph and Mrs. Stark constituted T. O. Stark their 'true and lawful attorney in fact, for us and in our names, to settle and establish the payments made and amounts still due by them on a mortgage note of eight thousand nine hundred and seventy 12-100 dollars ($8,907.12), dated January 1, 1868, held by Mrs. Rosetta Rhea; to indorse on said note the amount paid thereon; to interrupt prescription; to consent to any subrogation in favor of any person or persons or commercial firm who may pay a portion of their said indebtedness on said note, and thus divide their said indebtedness, and to appear and sign, in their name, any agreement, document, or notarial act carrying out said subrogation, with any clauses or conditions which said attorney may, in his discretion, deem fit; to enter into said arrangements with said Mrs. Rhea, her agents or attorneys, to obtain an extension of time for the payment of the balance due on said promissory note, said extension of time to be granted and accepted upon such terms and conditions as to our said attorney may seem fit; to sign a notarial act for that purpose, and to acknowledge therein, in their name, that they recognize said Mrs. Rosetta Rhea as the rightful owner of said note, in her quality of sole heir of her deceased husband, the late John Rhea, of Madison county, Indiana, recognized as such by the court of Jefferson county, Indiana, in the matter of the estate of John Rhea, deceased, and alone entitled to claim payment of said note, with full power of substitution; and generally to do everything necessary to carry out the premises as fully as if done by us in person,—hereby ratifying all and whatsoever our said attorney may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.'

On the 28th day of April, 1873, by act before Trist, a notary public in New Orleans, Stark, as agent of Mrs. Randolph and of his wife, and Victor Olivier, Esq., as agent of Mrs. Rhea, declared that the note which had been given Mrs. Rhea, and secured by the mortgage as aforesaid, had been reduced by partial payments, all arrears in interest having been paid, to the sum of $7,577.34; and the time for the payment of this balance was extended by Olivier, as agent for Mrs. Rhea, to the 1st day of March, 1874, interest thereon to be paid at the rate of 8 per cent. from the 28th of April, 1873. Both Stark and Olivier, on behalf of their respective principals, declared that, 'after a careful computation of interest and deduction of partial payments made at different times to Mrs. Rosetta Rhea by the drawers of said note,' the aforesaid sum was due.

In May, 1875, Mrs. Randolpy acknowledged herself indebted to Johnson & Goodrich, a commercial firm of the city of New Orleans, in the sum of $8,000, evidencing her debt by her notes, secured by a mortgage of the portion of the Leinster plantation which had been allotted to her in the partition, and also of her interest in an undivided tract of land which she had inherited from her father's estate, and which had not been included in the partition. In June, 1875, Johnson & Goodrich transferred this note to G. W. Sentell & Co., in liquidation.

In October, 1883, G. W. Senteel, and W. B. McLean, as executor of B. Conyers, a deceased partner of the former firm of G. W. Sentell & Co., both representing the interest of the firm in liquidation, sued in the district court of the parish of Avoyelles to foreclose the mortgage which the firm in liquidation had, as stated, acquired by subrogation from Johnson & Goodrich. On the 24th of December, 1883, judgment was rendered dered in favor of Sentell & Co. in liquidation, and against Mrs. Randolph, accompanied by a decree for a sale of the mortgaged property. Under this decree, on the 1st of March, 1884, the sheriff of the parish of Avoyelles sold the portion of the Leinster plantation which had been allotted to Mrs. Randolph, and the undivided interest in the tract of land, both of which had been included in her mortgage to Johnson & Goodrich. The property had been adjudicated to G. W. Senteel for $12,002. The mortgage in favor of Mrs. Rhea being on record, and ranking the Johnson & Goodrich mortgage, Sentell, the purchaser, retained in his hands from the amount of his bid, to pay the same:

For principal.................... $4,873 00

For interest up to date of sale... 1,164 12

----------

Total $6,037 12

The sum thus retained by Sentell to pay the principal of the note was the actual amount due. At the time of the sale the principal had been reduced from $7,577.34, as stated in the notarial act of 1873, to $4,873, as mentioned in a writing on the reverse of the note. The payments which brought about this reduction were numerous, and made at brief intervals. Some of them were evidenced by notarial acknowledgments between Stark and Olivier, agents; some merely by indorse- ments upon the back of the note. Some had been made by Sentell, who took subrogations; these last, however, being made subordinate in rank of mortgage to the amounts due on the original note.

All of these payments were made on the entire note, without any indication that they were imputed particularly to any portion of the debt due by either of the parties. Hence all the payments were credited at the times they were made on the entire debt. The last credit on the principal of the note is as follows:

'The principal of the within note has been reduced by payment on the same to $4,873.00, with interest thereon to March 5, 1881, to which date the payment of said sum has been postponed.

'New Orleans, April 28, 1880.

'Victor Olivier, Jr.,

'Agent for Mrs. Rosetta Rhea.

'T. O. Stark,

'Agent for Mrs. Randolph and Mrs. Stark.'

There are two additional credits of payments of interest,—the first up to March, 1882, and the second up to March 5, 1884; one of these interest credits being accompanied by a repetition of the statement that the principal of the note was, at the time, $4,873.

In April, 1886, Martha Groves, of Indiana, and William J. Groves, of Ohio, sister and brother of Mrs. Rosetta Rhea, were duly recognized by the circuit court of Jefferson county, Ind., as her sole heirs and distributees, and, as...