Lee v. Fletcher
| Decision Date | 08 April 1891 |
| Citation | 46 Minn. 49 |
| Parties | MARY B. LEE and another <I>vs.</I> HENRY E. FLETCHER and others. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Gilfillan, Belden & Willard, for appellants.
M. B. Koon and Little & Nunn, for respondents.
This was an action to determine adverse claims made by the defendants to lots 4 and 5, block 34, in one of the additions to St. Anthony in the actual possession of plaintiffs. The defendant Gilfillan disclaimed any interest in lot 4, but set up a counterclaim of title to an undivided half of lot 5. The referee, by whom the case was tried, found him to be the owner of such undivided half, and this seems to be conceded by all parties. The defendant Libby was not served with the summons, nor did she appear on the trial. The issues raised by the answer of defendant Fletcher were passed upon by the referee, who ordered judgment on his findings of fact against the plaintiffs, and from an order of the district court granting a new trial the answering defendants Gilfillan and Fletcher appeal.
There was but little dispute over the facts. Plaintiffs have the legal title to that portion of the property not owned by the defendant Gilfillan, having derived their title from a purchaser at a sale made by the administrator of the estate of James A. Lennon, deceased. Lennon was the owner in fee on July 10, 1877. He was then indebted to the defendant Sarah Libby, in the sum of $700, at least. Miss Libby was not then in the state of Minnesota, her residence being in Massachusetts. On the day last mentioned Lennon executed and acknowledged a mortgage in due form upon this and other real property to defendant Libby, to secure the payment to her, as was therein stated, of the sum of $5,000, according to the conditions of his promissory note of even date. On the morning of July 12th, Lennon left this mortgage with the register of deeds at his office, with instructions to place the same upon record, which was done. He gave no instructions as to a disposition of the instrument when recorded. In the afternoon of the same day Lennon took his own life. There had never been any agreement between him and Miss Libby that she should be secured by a mortgage, nor did the mortgagee know of the existence of the mortgage until some days after Lennon had suicided; nor was there a note for any amount executed by him to Miss Libby. In the year 1878 the attorney for the mortgagee obtained possession of the recorded mortgage for her, it having previously been in the hands of the administrator before mentioned. The defendant Fletcher is the owner and holder of the mortgage, having purchased the same from defendant Libby, and it was this mortgage interest which he asserted against the plaintiff's claim of title in fee to the real property described in the complaint. For several years prior to his decease Lennon and Miss Libby had been engaged to be married. During this engagement, at various times, she had sent him money to invest for her. He had accounted for this money in part; the indebtedness referred to was for the balance. The referee found that when Lennon executed the mortgage, he intended to give to Miss Libby the difference between the amount of such indebtedness (the exact amount not being found) and the sum of $5,000; and, further, that he intended to thus secure to her, by means of the mortgage, the amount of his debt and the amount of his gift. As a consequence, the referee held and declared the mortgage to be a valid lien on plaintiffs' lots in the sum of $5,000, with interest from date. It is this finding and conclusion which we shall consider principally, as was the case in the district court when passing upon the motion for a new trial.
It was contended by the plaintiffs that the mortgage did not constitute a lien for any sum whatsoever upon their property, for two reasons: First, it was never delivered to the mortgagee; and, second, that, as the note therein described was not made by the mortgagor, and the indebtedness therein mentioned never existed, the instrument itself must necessarily be invalid and of no effect. To render the mortgage effectual there must have been an actual or constructive delivery of the same to the mortgagee, prior to the death of the mortgagor. There was no actual delivery in this case; but the mortgagor, Lennon, owed Miss Libby, the woman to whom he was engaged, on account of money which she had sent him to invest, and which he may have used in the purchase of the property in question. She was some distance from him, residing in the state of Massachusetts. With much care he prepared with his own hands a mortgage, in which she was named as mortgagee, upon this and other real property, to secure the payment of a note, never executed, for a much larger sum than...
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