Lee v. Clark
| Decision Date | 07 June 1886 |
| Citation | 89 Mo. 553 |
| Parties | LEE v. CLARK and others. |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Appeal from Jackson circuit court.
Equity foreclosure of a trust deed accompanied by negotiable notes, which notes had been transferred and delivered to appellant before maturity, appellees claiming the land under a subsequent purchase thereof from the original debtor.
Gage, Ladd & Small, for appellant, Mary A. Lee. Karnes & Ess, for respondents, W.M. Clark and others.
This is an action to foreclose a deed of trust, plaintiff claiming as the assignee of the note secured by the deed of trust, and defendants claiming the title to the premises under deeds from the grantor in the deed of trust. It was admitted that W. M. Clark was the owner of the premises when he executed the deed of trust. The case was submitted upon the following agreed statement of facts: William M. Clark, on September 19, 1872, was the owner of the real estate on which he then made deed of trust to William E. Lee to secure to Samuel Archer the payment of the three notes mentioned in the petition, and set out in the deed of trust, which matured, respectively, on April 1, 1874, April 1, 1875, and April 1, 1876. This deed of trust was duly recorded. Each of the notes was, before its maturity, indorsed and delivered by Archer to the plaintiff for value, she having paid for all the notes an aggregate sum of $2,254.80 in cash. At the time of her purchase of the first note, in October, 1872, the deed of trust was delivered to her by Archer, together with the note, and the notes and deed of trust have been in her possession ever since their delivery to her. No payment on account of the principal of any of the notes has been made; the interest on them to October 1, 1875, has been paid. On September 2, 1876, long after the plaintiff had purchased the notes, and while they were in her possession, and after their maturity, Samuel Archer, the payee, made the following entry upon the margin of the record of the deed of trust:
After this entry was made Archer informed William M. Clark that the notes had been fully paid, and the real estate released from the lien of the deed of trust. On January 13, 1879, William M. Clark, in satisfaction of a debt which he owned John R. Clark, conveyed the land to the latter. On July 21, 1879, John R. Clark conveyed to Robert L. Baker. On September 25, 1879, Robert L. Baker conveyed the east half of the property to James B. Baker, who, on October 18, 1880, conveyed the same to defendant Mary A. Baker. On October 21, 1881, Robert L. Baker conveyed the west half to defendant Hammerslough. John R. Clark, Robert L. Baker, James B. Baker, Mary A. Baker, and Louis Hammerslough purchased, relying upon Archer's record entry of satisfaction of the deed of trust, and believing the land was free from the lien of the deed of trust. None of them knew that the notes had been transferred to the plaintiff. The plaintiff has always resided in the state of Pennsylvania, and has never been in the state of Missouri. She never had any knowledge, information, or intimation whatever that Samuel Archer, or any other person, had attempted to...
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