Insurance Company v. Nelson

• Decision Date: 01 October 1880
• Citation: 103 U.S. 544,26 L.Ed. 436
• Parties: INSURANCE COMPANY v. NELSON
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

103 U.S. 544

103 U.S. 544

26 L.Ed. 436

INSURANCE COMPANY v. NELSON.

October Term, 1880

APPEAL from the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Kansas.

The facts are stated in the opinion of the court.

Mr. D. G. Hooker for the appellant.

Mr. John J. Ingalls for the appellee.

MR. JUSTICE WOODS delivered the opinion of the court.

The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, appellant, filed its bill in the court below for the foreclosure of a mortgage on certain lots in the city of Wyandotte, and a tract of land containing sixty acres situate outside that city, all in the county of Wyandotte, in the State of Kansas, alleged to have been executed by William Cook and Jane Cook, his wife, dated Dec. 10, 1874, to secure his bond for $5,000.

The city lots were his property, but the tract of sixty acres was the separate property of his wife.

She filed her answer, in which she admitted the execution of the bond, but denied the execution of the mortgage as set forth in the bill of complaint. Her account of the execution of the mortgage, as given in her answer, was as follows:——

'This defendant alleges that, on or about the time mentioned in the plaintiff's bill as the time when said bond and mortgage therein set out were executed, the said William Cook, her husband, requested her (this defendant) to sign a mortgage to the plaintiff as mortgagee, to secure a loan of money to be loaned by the plaintiff to him, said William Cook, her husband, and informed her that such mortgage was upon certain lots of his, in Wyandotte City, and upon this defendant asking him, her said husband, to let her read the said mortgage, he, her said husband, refused to permit this defendant to read the same. This defendant then asked whether said mortgage covered her land outside the city, and was told by her said husband that it did not; but this defendant refused to sign the same, whereupon her said husband took hold of this defendant, and by physical force seated this defendant in a chair at the table and put a pen in her hand, and placing his hands on this defendant's shoulder and arm, commanded and compelled her to write her name, which she did and not otherwise, and not of her own free will and accord, but that she was compelled to sign said mortgage by force and threats of her said husband, and that the same was signed under duress, by actual force, physical coercion, and the use of violence and compulsion of her said husband, and through and by such duress, force, physical coercion, and not otherwise, she was made to sign such mortgage, and this defendant avers and alleges that such mortgage is not her deed.

'And this defendant further answering, says that afterwards, when Alison Crockett, the officer certifying to the acknowledgment of said mortgage, came into the room where this defendant was, to take such acknowledgment, said Crockett informed defendant that said mortgage was upon some city lots belonging to her husband and did not cover her land. That defendant believed said declaration to be true; that Crockett did not read said mortgage to defendant, or otherwise explain the contents thereof, except as herein stated; that defendant did not read said mortgage, because she believed the declaration of said Crockett to be true, and feared to offend her husband by refusing to acknowledge the signature to said mortgage as hers.'

Her answer further alleged as follows:——

'The said Alison Crockett was the agent of the plaintiff herein, in loaning money to her said husband, William Cook, and taking said mortgage in security therefor; and when he took said acknowledgment and made the representations aforesaid, that this defendant's land was not included in said mortgage, he was acting as the agent of the plaintiff herein, and that he then had full knowledge and well knew that the land above described (the sixty-acre tract) was the property of this defendant and was included in said mortgage.'

To this answer the general replication was filed.

William Cook having died before the commencement of the suit, George P. Nelson, administrator of his estate, and other defendants, answered; but their answers are immaterial, as no questions are involved in this appeal except such as arise upon the answer of Jane Cook.

Upon the issue, made by the pleadings, proofs were taken, and upon final hearing the court made a decree foreclosing the mortgage upon the city lots, but as to the sixty-acre tract the court found for defendant, Jane Cook, and declared that the mortgage was not a lien thereon, and omitted said tract from the decree of sale.

The insurance company, being dissatisfied with the decree of the court below, has brought the case here on appeal.

The defence relied on is, that the signature of Janue Cook to the mortgage was obtained by means of the false representations of her husband and by compulsion through the application of physical force, and that her acknowledgment was obtained by means of the false representations of her husband and the officer before whom she made it, in respect to the contents of the mortgage.

The defence rests mainly upon the answer, and upon the deposition of Mrs. Cook.

The only person present besides Mrs. Cook, when the mortgage was signed by her was her husband. There were only two persons present besides her when the acknowledgment of the mortgage was taken. These were her husband, and Alison Crockett, register of...