North Carolina Joint Stock Land Bank Of Durham v. Hardy, 315.

• Decision Date: 07 April 1937
• Docket Number: No. 315.,315.
• Citation: 211 N.C. 459,190 S.E. 730
• Parties: NORTH CAROLINA JOINT STOCK LAND BANK OF DURHAM . v. HARDY et al. HARDY et ux. v. NORTH CAROLINA JOINT STOCK LAND BANK et al.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

190 S.E. 730

211 N.C. 459

NORTH CAROLINA JOINT STOCK LAND BANK OF DURHAM .

v.HARDY et al.

HARDY et ux.

v.NORTH CAROLINA JOINT STOCK LAND BANK et al.

No. 315.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

April 7, 1937.

Appeal from Superior Court, Greene County; N. A. Sinclair, Judge.

Actions by North Carolina Joint Stock Land Bank of Durham against H. V. Hardy and another, and by H. V. Hardy and wife, Eunice V. Hardy, against the North Carolina Joint Stock Land Bank of Durham and others, which were by consent consolidated for the purpose of motion. From a judgment in favor of the North Carolina Joint Stock Land Bank, H. V. Hardy and wife appeal.

Affirmed.

Walter G. Sheppard, of Snow Hill, and Robt. H. Rouse, of Kinston, for appellants.

J. B. James, of Greenville, and J. S. Patterson, of Durham, for appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Judgment was rendered on the pleadings. The undisputed material facts appearing therefrom may be concisely stated as follows:

On October 21, 1924, H. V. Hardy and wife executed a deed of trust on described lands, of which H. V. Hardy was then the owner, to the First National Trust Company, trustee, to secure an indebtedness of $20,000 due the North Carolina Joint Stock-Land Bank. Thereafter the name of the trustee was changed by charter amendment to the First National Company, and later by judgment of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, receivers were appointed for said First National Company. On February 21, 1931, default having been made in the payment of the debt secured, the lands Were sold under foreclosure, one J. C. Exum, as agent of the receivers, conducting the sale, and said land bank became the purchaser at the bid price of $12,000, and deed to said bank was executed and delivered. H. V. Hardy remained on the land under oral agreement for the payment of rent to the land bank for the remainder of the year 1931, and on February 8, 1932, executed a written lease for said lands for the year 1932 from the land bank as landlord, and continued in possession as tenant, paying rent therefor, the lease involving expenditures on part of the bank for farm machinery. In February, 1933, the said land bank declined to renew the lease and upon refusal of H. V. Hardy to vacate, instituted summary ejectment proceedings which resulted, on appeal, in judgment by Frizzelle, judge, at December term, 1933, of Greene superior court, that H. V. Hardy was estopped by reason of the lease to dispute the title of the land bank, and that he vacatethe lands. No appeal was taken from the Frizzelle judgment. In 1934, the land bank leased the lands to A. G. Phelps, who permitted Hardy to remain on the land.

February 11, 1935, H. V. Hardy still refusing to vacate, action was instituted by the land bank against Hardy and Phelps to recover possession of said lands.

February 8, 1936, H. V. Hardy and wife instituted suit against the land bank and the receivers of the First National Company to set aside the sale and deed to the land bank, alleging that the foreclosure was conducted by an agent for the land bank, and that by reason of the purchase by the land bank at such sale the relation of mortgagor and mortgagee still...