Berg v. Shade
| Decision Date | 01 July 1927 |
| Docket Number | 38091 |
| Citation | 214 N.W. 513,203 Iowa 1352 |
| Parties | LEONARD BERG, Appellee, v. CHARLES SHADE, Appellant, et al., Appellees |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Appeal from Lyon District Court.--WILLIAM HUTCHINSON, Judge.
Action to quiet title to land, as against the apparent lien of a judgment. There was a decree for the plaintiff, and Charles Shade, the holder of the judgment, appeals.
Affirmed.
Thomas & Myers, for appellant.
Warren H. White and E. C. Roach, for appellee.
The facts are not in dispute. It was stipulated on the trial that the appellee was the owner in fee simple of the land involved. The land had belonged to one Foster C. Weatherly deceased. Frank E. Weatherly was the son and heir of decedent. Appellee acquired his title by conveyance from the widow and heirs of the decedent, except Frank E. Weatherly.
It was also stipulated that Frank E. Weatherly, on February 21 1921, assigned and transferred to Charles M. Brown all his interest in the estate. The assignment is entitled in the estate, and is as follows:
"The undersigned Frank E. Weatherly in consideration of the sum of twenty-six thousand three hundred fifty-two dollars ($ 26,352.00) in hand paid by Charles M. Brown of Sac County Iowa, does hereby assign, set over and transfer unto the said Charles M. Brown, all interest of every kind and nature in said estate and the said Frank E. Weatherly does hereby authorize Merle E. Weatherly or his successor as administrator of the estate to pay over to the said Charles M. Brown all money or property of every kind and description that may be due the said Frank E. Weatherly as one of the heirs at law of the said Foster C. Weatherly, deceased."
This instrument was signed and acknowledged by Frank E. Weatherly, and filed and recorded in the probate records in the clerk's office.
The appellant, Shade, on November 17, 1921, obtained a judgment against Frank E. Weatherly (under the name of Frank Weatherly), a portion of which remains unsatisfied. The lower court quieted appellee's title, as against the apparent lien of the judgment.
It is the contention of the appellant that the assignment to Brown did not transfer the interest of Frank E. Weatherly in the land in question, and that such interest is subject to the lien of the judgment. No question of the rights of Brown is involved. The case does not turn upon any defect or infirmity in appellee's title as against Brown. There is no claim that the appellant is precluded by the terms of the stipulation of fact from questioning the sufficiency of the assignment to transfer the interest of Frank E. Weatherly in the lands left by the deceased. No attack is made on the validity of the instrument. The question in the case is whether Frank E. Weatherly, the judgment debtor, had, at the time the judgment was rendered, any interest in the land left by the deceased to which the lien of the judgment attached; and this turns upon whether the instrument above set out transferred and conveyed to Brown his interest in the real estate left by the deceased.
It is settled doctrine that a judgment is a lien upon such interest only as the debtor has in real estate. Witmer v. Shreves, 141 Iowa 496, 120 N.W. 86; Hunter v. Citizens Sav. & Tr. Co., 157 Iowa 168, 138 N.W. 475; Chicago G. W. R. Co. v. McCafferty, 178 Iowa 1147, 160 N.W. 818; Vigars v. Hewins, 184 Iowa 683, 169 N.W. 119.
By the instrument of assignment, Frank E. Weatherly assigned, set over, and...
To continue reading
Request your trial