First Nat. Bank v. Federal Land Bank of New Orleans

• Decision Date: 06 October 1932
• Docket Number: 4 Div. 657.
• Parties: FIRST NAT. BANK OF DOTHAN v. FEDERAL LAND BANK OF NEW ORLEANS.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

143 So. 567

225 Ala. 387

FIRST NAT. BANK OF DOTHAN v. FEDERAL LAND BANK OF NEW ORLEANS.

4 Div. 657.

Supreme Court of Alabama

October 6, 1932

Appeal from Circuit Court, Geneva County.

Attachment suit by the Federal Land Bank of New Orleans against W. D Lassiter, and claim by the First National Bank of Dothan From a judgment for plaintiff, claimant appeals.

Transferred from Court of Appeals.

Affirmed.

H. G Tiller, of Geneva, and Farmer, Merrill & Farmer, of Dothan for appellant.

B. W. Smith, of Samson, for appellee.

KNIGHT J.

For a full understanding of this case, we deem it proper to state some of the salient facts as agreed upon by the parties.

W. D. Lassiter, the defendant in the court below, executed to the plaintiff a mortgage to secure an indebtedness of $10,500, payable in installments over a period of years. The lands are situated in Geneva county, Ala. This mortgage was recorded in the probate office of that county on the 26th day of February, 1926. The installment falling due on November 15, 1930, was not paid when due, and remained unpaid until June 26, 1931, and on that date the mortgagee foreclosed the mortgage, and at the foreclosure sale, the mortgagee became the purchaser, and the deed on foreclosure was executed and duly recorded in the probate office of Geneva county on June 30, 1931.

On July 27, 1931, the mortgagor, being in possession of the land, attorned to the purchaser, and executed to it a rent note for $700 due and payable on October 1, 1931. This note recited that it was given for "rent for the use and occupation of the 580 acres of land situated in Geneva County, known as the W. D. Lassiter place," and which was the identical place conveyed by the above-mentioned mortgage. The said Lassiter continued in possession of said land and completed the crop then growing upon the same.

It further appears, from the agreed statement of facts, that, prior to the foreclosure of the mortgage, but during a period when the mortgagor was in default and the mortgage subject to foreclosure, the said W. D. Lassiter executed to the First National Bank of Dothan, upon sundry dates, mortgages upon the crops grown and to be grown by him during certain years, including the year 1931, on the lands covered by the mortgage to the Federal Land Bank. All of which facts were known to plaintiff at the time the rent note sued on in this action was executed. That at the time of the execution of the mortgages to the First National Bank (claimant in this suit), the said W. D. Lassiter was in possession of the lands upon which the crops were grown, and that part of the money advanced Lassiter on the crop mortgages was used in the cultivation of the crop, which is the basis of this suit. It was further admitted that the indebtedness due by said Lassiter to the First National Bank of Dothan on said mortgages was in excess of $13,000.

On the 24th day of September, 1931, the Federal Land Bank procured an attachment to be issued out of the circuit court of Geneva county against W. D. Lassiter to enforce collection of the rent alleged to be due it by said Lassiter. The ground of attachment, as stated in the affidavit filed in the cause, was that the defendant (W. D. Lassiter) "has disposed of a part of the crop raised on said lands and is about to dispose of the balance."

Upon proper bond being given, a writ of attachment was issued by the clerk, and levied upon 3 bales of cotton and some 300 bushels of corn, and other crops, all of which, it was agreed, were raised during the year 1931...