Agne v. Skewis-Moen Co.
| Decision Date | 04 May 1906 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 14,698-(72).,s. 14,698-(72). |
| Citation | 98 Minn. 32 |
| Parties | HENRY AGNE v. SKEWIS-MOEN COMPANY.<SMALL><SUP>1</SUP></SMALL> |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Town & Jones and C. M. Crandall, for appellant.
Geo. W. Wilson & Son, for respondent.
Action in conversion for certain grain, in which plaintiff had a verdict, and defendant appealed from an order denying its alternative motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, or for a new trial.
The facts are as follows: Plaintiff was the owner of a farm situated in Nobles county, and on August 30, 1901, entered into a contract by which he leased and let the same for the farming season of 1902 to one Pierce. The contract was the usual farm contract, construed several times in this court. McNeal v. Rider, 79 Minn. 153, 81 N. W. 830, 79 Am. St. 437, and cases cited. It contained numerous covenants and agreements on the part of Pierce, the tenant, respecting the cultivation and operation of the farm; and provided, among other things, that plaintiff, the landlord, should have one-third of all crops raised, Pierce two-thirds, and that the title to all thereof should remain in plaintiff until a division was had in accordance with its terms. It also provided that in the event Pierce should fail fully to perform the conditions of the contract, plaintiff might enter upon and take full and absolute possession of the premises for the purpose of doing and performing all things left undone by Pierce, and
Retain and sell sufficient of the crops raised on said premises that would otherwise belong to said first party [Pierce] * * * to pay and satisfy all costs and expenses of every kind incurred in performing said contract; * * * the residue remaining, if any, of said crops shall belong to the said party of the first part.
Pierce thereafter took possession of the farm and sowed and planted thereon crops in accordance with the terms of the contract. He mortgaged his interest in the crops to Albinson & Boberg to secure an indebtedness due them, which mortgage was duly executed and filed in the office of the town clerk. After the crops had been harvested in the fall of 1902, and before any division thereof had been made between plaintiff and Pierce, proceedings were had to foreclose this mortgage; and the grain in controversy in this action, being a part of that raised under the farm contract, was sold and delivered to defendant at its elevator by the sheriff of the county, who conducted the foreclosure proceedings. Other portions were sold and disposed of to other elevator proprietors at other places. Plaintiff demanded the return of the grain or payment therefor, and upon defendant's refusal, brought this action in conversion. Plaintiff bases his right of recovery upon the farm contract, attached to and made a part of the complaint, which vests in him ownership of all the crops raised thereunder until division and the right to hold the tenant's share as security for the performance of the contract. The answer was a general denial.
But one issue of fact was litigated on the trial below. The farm contract under which plaintiff claims, in so far as it authorized him to take and dispose of enough of the tenant's share of the crops to pay and satisfy all costs and expenses occasioned by the latter's failure to perform the contract, vested in plaintiff the rights of a mortgagee. Wright v. Larson, 51 Minn. 321, 322, 53 N. W. 712, 38 Am. St. 504; McNeal v. Rider, supra; Rector v. Anderson, 96 Minn. 123, 104 N. W. 884. It was not filed in the office of the town clerk, and the question of fact litigated on the trial was whether Albinson & Boberg, the mortgagees, had notice thereof at the time they took their chattel...
To continue reading
Request your trial