Beach v. Youngblood
| Citation | 247 N.W. 545,215 Iowa 979 |
| Decision Date | 14 March 1933 |
| Docket Number | No. 41636.,41636. |
| Parties | BEACH v. YOUNGBLOOD ET AL. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Iowa |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from District Court, Cerro Gordo County; Joseph J. Clark, Judge.
An action brought in the district court of Cerro Gordo county, for judgment upon notes, and for the foreclosure of a mortgage upon real estate situated wholly within the state of Minnesota. The opinion states the facts.
Modified and affirmed and remanded.Breese & Cornwell and Marty & Butler, all of Mason City, for appellants.
Jay W. Lorenz, of Mason City, for appellee.
Plaintiff brought this action in equity in the district court in Cerro Gordo county, asking for judgment upon a promissory note executed by the defendants, Youngbloods, on November 15, 1921, at Mason City, Iowa, and made payable there, and secured by a mortgage upon real estate situated wholly within the state of Minnesota. The plaintiff sought judgment upon said note against the makers and also against the defendant John F. Holden, who had assumed and agreed to pay the said promissory note by the execution of an extension agreement under date of June 10, 1927. The plaintiff's petition was in the main in the usual form of a petition to foreclose a real estate mortgage in the state of Iowa. However, in the prayer the plaintiff asked: “That the said first mortgage deed and rights and claims of the plaintiff be established and decreed by this court to be senior and superior to the interests, rights or equities of the said defendants in the said premises; that the defendant, John F. Holden, shall be declared and decreed by this court to own, hold and convey the said real estate in trust and as trustee for the use and benefit of this plaintiff;”
“That a special execution shall be issued by decree of this court to the sheriff of Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, commanding him to advertise and offer said lands for sale in the manner provided for foreclosure of real estate mortgages in Iowa, the said decree further ordering and requiring the said trustee to convey the said real estate above described to the highest bidder at said sale, subject to such redemption rights as the court may decree and determine;”
“Provided, however, that plaintiff may by decree of this court be permitted to satisfy or attempt to satisfy the judgment herein on general execution against the defendants before resorting to the sale and conveyance of said foreign real estate, and that his mortgage lien thereon may be decreed to be subsisting and not extinguished unless or until the said judgment with interest and costs is wholly satisfied.”
And plaintiff prays for other and further equitable relief.
In an amendment to his petition, and as reply to answers of defendants, “plaintiff admits that he seeks personal judgment against this and other defendants and seeks to hold real estate (situated in said other state) as security for his said judgment and to, at the same time, enforce said judgment by general execution against this and other defendants unless and until said judgment is satisfied.”
The second paragraph of the prayer above quoted in which plaintiff asks that a special execution issue, etc., was stricken out by the court on motion of the defendants. Motions were filed by the defendants attacking said petition and moving to strike therefrom all reference to the mortgage upon the land situated in the state of Minnesota, which motions were overruled except as to the part of the prayer of the petition which we have just mentioned as having been stricken.
The defendants filed motion to dismiss plaintiff's petition based upon the grounds that the action was an attempt to foreclose a mortgage upon Minnesota land, and that the court had no jurisdiction of the subject-matter of the action, and that plaintiff is asking for relief which equity cannot grant. This motion was also overruled by the court.
Later and on August 29, 1931, the defendant Holden filed his separate answer to the petition of the plaintiff admitting that the real estate had been conveyed to him, and that he held the title thereto, admitting the execution and delivery of the note in suit as well as the execution and delivery and recording of the mortgage upon the real estate situated in Minnesota. He also admits the execution of the extension agreement under which he became liable for the payment of the principal note, and states that the court is without jurisdiction to grant the relief prayed for by plaintiff, because the land, which is the subject of the action, is situated wholly within the state of Minnesota, and asks that plaintiff's petition may be dismissed.
Later, and on the 4th day of September, 1931, the defendant J. B. Youngblood filed answer to the plaintiff's petition admitting the execution and delivery of the note and mortgage, and the recording of the said mortgage, and alleging that the court has no jurisdiction to foreclose the mortgage on real estate located wholly without the jurisdiction, and asks that plaintiff's petition be dismissed. The answer of this defendant also contains a cross-petition stating a cause of action against his codefendant John F. Holden by reason of the assumption of the mortgage and its indebtedness by the said John F. Holden, and alleging that he is primarily liable for the payment of the amount of the mortgage, and that, if judgment shall be rendered against this answering defendant, this defendant shall be entitled to relief over against the defendant John F. Holden, and asks that he may have judgment against his codefendant Holden for any amount that he may be required to pay in the satisfaction of the judgment rendered against him in this action.
Separate answer was also filed by the defendant Madeline Youngblood.
The defendant John F. Holden later filed an amendment to his answer designated as division 3, in which he alleges that by an oral agreement between himself and Mabel A. Beach Nielson, a former owner and holder of the note and mortgage in controversy, the said Mrs. Nielson agreed to accept a conveyance of the Minnesota real estate in full satisfaction of the amount due upon the mortgage indebtedness, and that the defendant Holden prepared and tendered to the said Mrs. Nielson a quitclaim deed to the Minnesota premises in performance on his part of the said oral agreement of settlement; that the said Mrs. Nielson refused to accept the said deed and repudiated her agreement of settlement. And the defendant asks that plaintiff's petition be dismissed, and that plaintiff be ordered by the court to deliver to the defendant all evidences of indebtedness sued on in this action.
A reply was filed to this new addition to the pleadings of the defendant Holden, and motion to strike this and other amendments filed later were submitted to the court and ruled upon in the final finding and decree of the court. Exceptions were taken to some of these rulings, but, as we do not deem them material to the questions here to be determined, we will not extend this opinion in reciting in detail the various motions and rulings thereon.
The material facts involved are not in serious dispute, except as to the issue of settlement raised by one of defendant Holden's amendments to his answer. There is no controversy over the fact as to the execution and delivery of the note and mortgage involved and the amount due thereon.
The court, by its finding and decree, entered judgment against the defendants for the amount due upon the promissory note in suit, and decreed that “the mortgage deed as set forth in the plaintiff's petition be and is declared a lien in his favor for and as security for the payment of this judgment from the 15th day of November, 1921, upon the real premises described therein, viz.: (description of property in Wilkins County, Minn.), senior and superior to all rights, interest or equity of said defendants or either of them in and to said premises; * * * that defendant John F. Holden is declared to own, hold, and convey said real estate in trust, subject to the rights and lien of plaintiff under said mortgage, and that he or said defendant, Youngblood, are required to pay and satisfy said judgment within ten days from the filing of this decree, upon failure to do which a special execution or order of this court shall issue upon this judgment, commanding the sheriff of this county to advertise and sell said real estate at public auction; in the same manner and according to the provisions of the Iowa statute in cases of foreclosure of mortgages upon real estate located in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, and at which sale the plaintiff may be a bidder; that a certificate of sale may issue herein for the sale of said land to the highest bidder at said sale, and the said John F. Holden as trustee is ordered to transfer and convey to said bidder all his right, title and interest in said real estate, subject only to the right of redemption as provided by the statutes of Iowa, which right of redemption is hereby preserved to him for the time as provided by said statutes of Iowa; that all his right, title and interest and that of all the defendants in and to said real estate except said Standring, are hereby forever barred and foreclosed subject only to said right of redemption, and in case said real premises are not so redeemed, the purchaser at said sale shall be entitled to the same, and to the possession of said premises as a fee simple owner thereof, and the said defendants and each of them and all persons claiming by, through or under them, are ordered and commanded, at the end of said period of redemption and failure to comply with the terms thereof, to deliver the possession of said premises to the plaintiff, his heirs, or assigns, and the said John F. Holden is commanded at such time to execute and deliver a deed conveying all right, title and interest in said premises to the purchaser at said sheriff's sale, and if this decree shall not be sufficient under the...
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