Rehn v. Booth, 14.
| Decision Date | 06 October 1941 |
| Docket Number | No. 14.,14. |
| Citation | 300 N.W. 100,299 Mich. 311 |
| Parties | REHN et al. v. BOOTH. |
| Court | Michigan Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Suit by Gerhart J. Rehn and another against Elizabeth Booth to have a deed adjudged a mortgage, the amount due thereon determined and, upon payment thereof, to have title to the property vested in the plaintiffs, wherein the defendant filed a cross-bill. Decree for the defendant, and the plaintiffs appeal.
Decree affirmed.
Appeal from Circuit Court, St. Joseph County, in Chancery; Theo T. Jacobs, Judge.
Argued before the Entire Bench.
Raymond H. Dresser, of Sturgis, for appellants.
J. Paul Wait, of Sturgis, for appellee.
This is a bill to have a deed adjudged a mortgage, the amount due thereon determined and, upon payment thereof, to have title to the property vested in plaintiffs. Plaintiffs owned premises in the city of Sturgis upon which there was a mortgage. The mortgage was foreclosed by advertisement in November, 1932, and the premises purchased by John Michaelson, the mortgagee. Plaintiffs made no redemption. Plaintiffs claim that after the title became vested in Mr. Michaelson he was willing to accept $1,200 for the premises, and they entered into a verbal agreement with Roy Booth, husband of Elizabeth Booth, that he should loan them $700 to pay Michaelson; they were to give their note for $500 to Michaelson; Michaelson was to deed the premises to Roy Booth, and the $700 was to be repaid by deductions from Mr. Rehn's wages, as an employee of Roy Booth.
December 20, 1933, Michaelson, by warranty deed, conveyed the premises to ‘Roy Booth and Elizabeth Booth husband and wife as tenants by the entirety’. Roy Booth paid for the abstract of title and paid the accrued taxes. Roy Booth died intestate January 28, 1935, and this bill was not filed until October 23, 1939.
Defendant answered the bill and, in the nature of a cross-bill, set up that plaintiffs occupied the premises as tenants and were in arrears for rent and asked decree for the rent. The court found the alleged verbal agreement not proven and the parties, by their acts, and plaintiffs, by paying rent, sustained the relation of landlord and tenant, and the deed was not a mortgage.
Upon review by appeal plaintiffs contend that the court erred in not finding the deed to be a mortgage and in finding the relationship between the parties that of landlord and tenant.
Michaelson was not called as a witness. At the time Booth paid Michaelson $700 and received a warranty deed to himself and Mrs. Booth by the entireties he had title in fee simple. At the time the deed was given, plaintiffs executed and delivered to Michaelson their note for $500, upon which they have never paid a cent on the principal or interest. From the time the deed and mentioned note were executed, December 20, 1933, up to the time of decree herein on September 26, 1940, plaintiffs occupied the premises and for sums of money paid received receipts specifying the sums as payment of rent.
In the answer in the nature of a cross-bill defendant asked decree for rentals unpaid. The court found the amount of the same and granted defendant a decree therefor. Such a decree was affirmed in Moore v. Muskegon Trust Co., 286 Mich. 21, 281 N.W. 423.
In Polokoff v. Vebb, 226 Mich. 541, 198 N.W. 194, we held, citing Brennan v. Finn, 217 Mich. 584, 187 N.W. 353: “The...
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Kopprasch v. Stone
...is the least satisfactory evidence for the establishment of disputed facts.' Likewise, the following comment in Rehn v. Booth, 299 Mich. 311, 314, 300 N.W. 100, 101, is 'Fragmentary remakes, claimed by third persons to have been made by the deceased, have little probative value, inasmuch as......
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Judd v. Carnegie
...by clear and satisfactory proof. Crane v. Read, 172 Mich. 642, 138 N.W. 223;Brennan v. Finn, 217 Mich. 584, 187 N.W. 353;Rehn v. Booth, 299 Mich. 311, 300 N.W. 100. Under the specific provisions of the statutes of this State, Comp.Laws 1948, § 555.1 et seq., Stat.Ann. § 26.51 et seq., defen......
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Sheets v. Huben, 74
...mortgage to establish their claim by clear and satisfactory proof. Porritt v. Stone, 340 Mich. 645, 66 N.W.2d 244. See also Rehn v. Booth, 299 Mich. 311, 300 N.W. 100. Here we have a person, allegedly one who has made an absolute conveyance, with an equity in a home of at least $2,400 (a fi......
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Porritt v. Stone, 39
...rests on the parties asserting rights on the theory of a mortgage to establish their claim by clear and satisfactory proof. Rehn v. Booth, 299 Mich. 311, 300 N.W. 100. In the instant case the trial judge had the advantage of observing the witnesses before him as they gave their testimony. U......