McNeal v. Rider

• Decision Date: 09 February 1900
• Docket Number: 11,871 - (193)
• Citation: 81 N.W. 830,79 Minn. 153
• Parties: HARRIET McNEAL v. H. A. RIDER and Others
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

81 N.W. 830

79 Minn. 153

HARRIET McNEAL v. H. A. RIDER and Others

Nos. 11,871 - (193)

Supreme Court of Minnesota

February 9, 1900

Action in the district court for Morrison county against H. A Rider, as sheriff of said county, and others, to recover possession of personal property, or the sum of $1,000, the value thereof, in case delivery could not be had, and $100 damages for the detention. The case was tried before Searle J., who found that plaintiff was entitled to judgment for a return, or for the value of the property, determined to be $133.15. From an order denying a motion for a new trial defendants appealed. Reversed.

SYLLABUS

Farming on Shares -- Title to Crop in Owner -- Chattel Mortgage.

A contract for the cultivation of a farm on shares, in and by the terms of which the landowner reserves the title to the cropper's share of the crops raised, as security for advances made to him, is in legal effect a chattel mortgage, in so far as it operates as security for the payment of such advances, and, to be valid as against subsequent bona fide purchasers, must be filed in accordance with G.S. 1894, § 4129.

Tenants in Common.

Under such a contract, the parties thereto are, until division, tenants in common of the crops.

Calhoun & Bennett and John H. Rhodes, for appellants.

G. W. Stewart, for respondent.

OPINION

BROWN, J.

This is an action in claim and delivery for the possession of certain wheat, of the value of $133.15. It was tried by the court without a jury. Plaintiff had judgment, and defendants appeal from an order denying a new trial.

On March 27, 1897, one Milbury was the owner of the tract of land on which the wheat in controversy was raised, and entered into a contract with one Lutes, under which Lutes undertook and agreed to cultivate and farm the land for a share of the crops. This contract is in the form of, and substantially similar to, those considered and construed in Wright v. Larson, 51 Minn. 321, 53 N.W. 712; Strangeway v. Eisenman, 68 Minn. 395, 71 N.W. 617; Anderson v. Liston, 69 Minn. 82, 72 N.W. 52; and Avery v. Stewart, 75 Minn. 106, 77 N.W. 560. Under and by its terms, Lutes agreed to till and farm the land in a good and farmerlike manner during the season of 1897, to furnish at his proper cost and expense all proper and convenient tools and machinery necessary to carry on and cultivate the farm, to furnish and provide all proper assistance and hired help, to protect the fences and shade trees, and to cultivate the land in the best possible manner, and, as soon as the crops were removed, to replow the land and put it in suitable condition for the succeeding year's crop, and further,

"Not to sell or remove, or suffer to be sold or removed, any of the produce of said farm or premises, of any kind, character, or description, until the division thereof, without the written consent of party of second part; and, until such division, the title and possession of all hay, grain, crops, and produce raised, grown, or produced on said premises shall be and remain in party of second part, and said party of second part has the right to take and hold enough of the crops that would on the division of said crops belong to party of the first part to repay any and all advances made to him by party of the second part, and interest thereon at ten per cent. per annum, and also to pay all indebtedness due said party of second part by said party of first part, if any there be. It is also agreed that, in case said party of the first part neglects or fails to perform any of the conditions and terms of this contract on his part to be done and performed, then said party of the second part is hereby authorized and empowered to enter upon said premises and take full and absolute possession of the same; and he may do and perform all things agreed to be done by party of the first part remaining undone, and to retain or sell sufficient of the crops raised on said premises, that would otherwise belong to said first party if he had performed the conditions thereof, to pay and satisfy all costs and expenses of every kind incurred in performing said contract, with interest at ten per cent. per annum, and the residue remaining, if any, of said crops, shall belong to said party of first part after all conditions hereof are fulfilled."

This contract was duly assigned by Milbury to the plaintiff on September 14, 1897, but was never filed in the office of the town clerk of the town in which the farm is located, or elsewhere. The plaintiff claims that certain advances were made to Lutes, under the terms of the contract, to the amount of $133.15, which have never been paid; and she bases her claim to the wheat under and by virtue of the provisions of the contract giving her the right to take and hold enough of Lutes' share of the crops to secure and pay all advances made to him. On September 7, 1897, for a valuable consideration, and in the ordinary and usual course of business, said Lutes made and executed a chattel mortgage upon his share of the crop of wheat so raised under such contract, to one Wilson, to secure the payment of a promissory note for the sum of $183.29. This mortgage was duly filed, and was sold and transferred to defendant Bouck on October 13, 1897. This defendant claims title to the wheat under this mortgage, and another not necessary to mention; and defendants Rider and Morrill justify as sheriff and deputy sheriff, and under a writ of attachment issued against Lutes in favor of defendant Bouck.

There is no controversy as to the facts. Plaintiff asserts title to the wheat under her farm contract, and defendants assert title and right to the possession thereof under the Wilson mortgage and the writ of attachment. There is no question as to the validity and good faith of the Wilson mortgage, and, as there can be no serious doubt but that the appeal from the order vacating the writ of attachment revived and continued the writ in force until such appeal was dismissed, the case narrows down to the question whether the contract under which plaintiff claims the wheat is in effect a chattel mortgage, at least in so far as it gives her the right to hold Lutes' share of the crops raised thereunder as security for advances made to him, and whether to be valid as against subsequent mortgagees and attaching creditors, it should have been filed in the proper town clerk's office. If it was necessary to file such contract, to give it validity and priority over subsequent creditors and mortgagees, the rights of the defendants are superior to plaintiff's, and they should have judgment, because the contract was not filed. The answer does not allege a transfer of the Wilson mortgage to defendant Bouck, but the mortgage and the assignment thereof were received in evidence, and are before the court, and must be considered, even though they were duly objected to by plaintiff.

A proper disposition of the case renders necessary a consideration of the questions (1) as to the respective rights and interests of the parties to a contract like that under consideration in and to the crops raised thereunder; and (2) the legal effect of that portion of the contract giving the landowner the right to take and hold enough of the cropper's share of the crops to secure the repayment of advances made to him. Whatever may be the law in other states on this subject, we regard both questions as definitely settled in this state by the decisions of this court in the Strangeway, Anderson, Avery, and Wright cases, supra.

1. If it can be said that the contract construed and considered in the case of Porter v. Chandler, 27 Minn. 301, 7 N.W. 142, is similar in substance and effect to that involved in those cases, the Porter case has been very quietly overruled. In the Porter case it was held that the contract there involved was just what it purported to be, -- a contract of hiring, -- that the absolute ownership of the crops raised thereunder belonged to the landowner, and that the cropper or hired man had no interest therein which was subject to levy on execution. The controversy in that case was between the cropper and one of his creditors.

In the Strangeway and Anderson cases a doctrine quite contrary to this is expressly laid down. It is distinctly held in those cases that, until a division of the crops, the parties are tenants in common, with the right of the landowner to hold enough of the crops which would on a division belong to the cropper, as surety for advances made, and as further security, as held in the Avery case, that the cropper will not wrongfully dispose of the landowner's share. Those cases do not hold that the landowner is the absolute owner of the crops, as is held in the Porter case, but, on the contrary, expressly lay down the rule that until a division the parties are tenants in common of all crops raised. This is a distinct departure from the Porter case, and in effect, though not expressly, overrules it. But an examination of the contract considered in the Porter case will show that there are substantial differences between it and the contracts involved in the later cases. The contract in the Porter case starts out as follows:

"That the said A. L. Porter, party of the first part, upon the terms and conditions hereinafter specified, hereby hires and employs the aforesaid Henry Linnemann to work, till, and carry on the following described farm."

Neither this language nor its equivalent is found in the contracts considered in the later cases. It also provides for tilling and farming the land by the cropper in a good, farmerlike manner, and, when the grain raised thereon is threshed, that the cropper will deliver the same, and the whole thereof, to the landowner's granary. And

"It is further agreed and...