Alexander v. Thompson

• Decision Date: 12 April 1907
• Citation: 101 Minn. 5,111 N.W. 385
• Parties: ALEXANDER v. THOMPSON et al.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

101 Minn. 5

111 N.W. 385

ALEXANDER

v.THOMPSON et al.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

April 12, 1907.

Appeal from District Court, Nobles County; J. H. Quinn, Judge.

Action by Lucian H. Alexander against Peter Thompson and others. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant Thompson appeals. Affirmed.

Syllabus by the Court

Action to determine adverse claims to real estate, in which plaintiff claimed title by virtue of a mortgage foreclosure sale and the defendant by virtue of a judgment and execution sale thereunder. Held, that the judgment, the terms of which are referred to in the opinion, is not res judicata of the question whether the plaintiff's mortgage or the defendant's judgment was the paramount lien, and, further, that the evidence sustains the findings of the trial court to the effect that the plaintiff was the owner of the land. Town & Jones, for appellant.

Geo. W. Wilson & Son, for respondent.

START, C. J.

Action to determine adverse claims to real estate. The complaint alleged that the plaintiff was the owner in fee of the land therein described, that it was vacant and unoccupied, and that the defendants claimed an estate or interest therein adverse to the plaintiff. The answer of the defendant Peter Thompson denied that the plaintiff was the owner of the land and alleged title in himself. The trial court found that the plaintiff was the owner in fee of the land, that none of the defendants had any interest therein, and directed judgment accordingly. The defendant Thompson appealed from the judgment.

The sole question is whether the finding of the trial court that the plaintiff was the owner in fee of the land is sustained by the evidence. There is no substantial dispute as to the evidentiary facts, but the dispute arises as to the inferences of fact and law to be drawn therefrom. Such facts are substantially as follows: On February 13, 1888, the record title in fee of the land was in George J. Day, and so remained until June 15, 1888, when he conveyed it by warranty deed to Olaf Noren, who gave a mortgage thereon to secure a loan to the plaintiff. This mortgage was duly foreclosed, and the land sold to the plaintiff by virtue thereof. No redemption was ever made from the foreclosure sale. The deed and mortgage were duly recorded on July 3, 1888. Thereafter, and on July 25, 1888, the defendant brought an action in the district court of the county of Nobles, in which he was plaintiff and George J. Day, George S. Capelle, and John Alexander were defendants, to dissolve a partnership theretofore existing between himself and Day, and to secure an accounting of the business of the firm and a judgment in his favor against Day for the amount found due to him on such accounting, and to have the amount thereof declared to be a lien on certain land, which was described in the complaint and included the land here in controversy, and, further, to have caceled two mortgages on the land given by Day, one to the defendant...