Griffin v. Gingell

• Decision Date: 16 March 1904
• Citation: 79 S.W. 284
• Parties: GRIFFIN et al. v. GINGELL et al.
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

79 S.W. 284

GRIFFIN et al. v. GINGELL et al.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

March 16, 1904

Appeal from Circuit Court, Henderson County.

"Not to be officially reported."

Proceedings between the Illinois Life Insurance Company and P. H. Griffin and I. W. Gingell and others. From the judgment said Gingell and others appeal. Reversed in part, and affirmed in part.

Brown &amp Vance, for appellant Griffin. Givens & Givens, for appellant Millie Reed. R. H. Cunningham, for appellee Gingell.

NUNN J.

In the year 1898 George L. Reed purchased from the Mutual Life Insurance Company of Kentucky 150 acres of land for the price of $2,100, and executed therefor his five notes for the purchase price; four of them for $400 each, and the last one for $500. The insurance company reserved a lien on this land for the payment of these notes, and on that day took a mortgage from Reed and wife, as additional security, on two other tracts of land then owned by Reed --one known and will hereafter be called the "65-acre tract," and the other the "104-acre tract." Reed had paid on these notes, up to the time that the judgment complained of herein was rendered, all the interest, and reduced the principal of them to about $2,000. Soon after the sale of this land to Reed he sold and conveyed to one T. C. Larue 120 acres of this 150-acre tract at the price of $1,900. He paid $300 in cash. The balance was to be paid in three equal annual payments. These notes were sold and assigned by Reed to appellant P. H. Griffin. Afterward Reed sold the 65-acre tract to I. W. Gingell at the price of $2,000, of which $1,100 was paid cash and land, and the balance on time. At the time of the judgment complained of, Gingell had paid all of the purchase price except $347.65, and one McKain held these notes. It appears that shortly before Reed sold the 65 acres to Gingell he sold the 104-acre tract and the balance of 30 acres, the remainder of the 150-acre tract purchased from the insurance company, to one John R. Haynes at the price of $2,400, of which $300 was cash, and the balance in five notes. These notes were sold and transferred by Reed to Mann Bros. It appears from the record that all these purchasers, Larue, Gingell, and Haynes, had no actual notice or knowledge of the mortgage of the insurance company upon these lands at the time they purchased, and when the insurance company enforced its mortgage lien the lower court adjudged that each of these purchasers should pay the insurance company its debt in proportion to the value of each of the tracts so purchased by them, and the parties all agreed that the court might fix the value at the prices each of them agreed to pay for the land, to wit, Larue's $1,900, Gingell's, $2,000, and Haynes' land, $2,400 and fixed the amount Larue should pay to the insurance company at $603.44, and adjudged that he was entitled to a credit on the notes he had executed, and which were in the hands of P. H. Griffin, for that amount, and gave P. H Griffin a personal judgment against Reed for this sum, and adjudged that the Illinois Life Insurance Company, assignee of the Mutual Life Insurance Company, had a superior lien on the Haynes tract of land for the sum of $762.24, but, as John R. Haynes had been discharged in bankruptcy, no judgment was given against him. It appearing that Reed had transferred the purchase-money notes of Haynes to Mann Bros., it is adjudged that they have a lien inferior to the lien of the company, and directed that, if Mann Bros. paid this sum of $762.24, the company should assign its lien to Mann Bros., and they should thereafter control the sale of the Haynes land. The court also adjudged that the insurance company had a lien on the Gingell 65-acre tract for the sum of $635.20, and that Gingell then owed $347.65 as the balance of the purchase price, and that McKain held these notes. The court ordered that these notes be applied as a credit on the $635.20, leaving $287.55 due to Gingell from Reed and wife. The court gave Gingell a personal judgment against Reed for this sum, and canceled the notes held by McKain. It also appears from the record that Geo. L. Reed became indebted to a building and loan association in a sum in excess of $1,500, and prior to the sale to Gingell and Haynes he and his wife executed a mortgage to the building and loan association on the 65 and 104 acre tracts of land. This association brought an action against Reed and wife to enforce the mortgage lien. It appears from an order of court in that action that the association's claim was settled by Geo. L. Reed paying all of the debt except $1,350, and his wife, Millie Reed, paid this sum to the association, and took an assignment of its lien to that extent for her benefit. Millie Reed in this action filed her pleading alleging these facts, and asked the court to adjudge her a lien on these two tracts of land for the payment of the sum paid by her. Gingell and other parties to this action controverted her claim, and alleged that in fact the whole of this building and loan...