Roberts v. Meighen
| Decision Date | 22 November 1898 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 11,262 - (97).,s. 11,262 - (97). |
| Parties | MARIE A. ROBERTS v. THOMAS J. MEIGHEN and Another. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
H. S. Bassett and M. W. Chunn, for appellant.
E. H. Canfield, for respondent.
The complaint herein alleged these facts:
On October 28, 1893, the plaintiff and her husband, C. H. Roberts, executed a mortgage, which was recorded, upon a lot then occupied by them as their homestead, the title thereto being in the husband, to W. H. Randall and S. H. Holbert, to secure the payment of certain promissory notes therein described and executed by the husband alone. The mortgage and debt thereby secured were duly assigned to the defendant Martin Webber, who, upon default in the conditions of the mortgage, foreclosed it by action, and became the purchaser of the premises at the foreclosure sale, on January 25, 1896, for the sum of $432, the amount then due on the mortgage, with costs and attorney's fees, which sale was duly confined January 31, 1896. No redemption from this sale was ever made by the husband or any other party, except as hereinafter stated. After such sale, and on January 28, 1896, the defendant Webber and wife and the plaintiff duly entered into a contract, by the terms whereof it was agreed that Webber and wife should, in case there was no redemption from the foreclosure sale, convey the premises to the plaintiff upon her paying to Webber the sum of $382.05, with interest at 10 per cent. per annum, with the option of paying one-half of the amount in cash on the expiration of the time allowed for redemption, and the balance in two years, with interest to be secured by a first mortgage on the premises. The plaintiff, as a part of such agreement, paid to Webber the amount of all costs, expenses and attorney's fees on the foreclosure sale, leaving only the sum of $382.05 unpaid by her. The defendant Thomas J. Meighen duly recovered and docketed on January 16, 1897, in the county wherein the premises are situated, a judgment for $27.25 against the husband, C. H. Roberts, and on the same day duly filed a notice of his intention to redeem the premises from the foreclosure sale. Thereupon, and on January 25, 1897, the plaintiff duly tendered to the defendant Meighen the full amount then due on his judgment, which was refused; but the plaintiff ever since has been, and still is, ready to pay to him the amount so tendered. Thereafter, and on February 6, 1897, he attempted to redeem the premises from the foreclosure sale by virtue of his judgment, and paid to the sheriff of the proper county for such purpose the sum of $481.25, who executed to him the usual certificate of redemption which has been recorded. The plaintiff is, and has been at all times since January 31, 1897, ready to pay the sum of $382.05, with interest, in accordance with the terms of her contract, to the defendants, or either of them, as the court may direct. The complaint prayed for both specific and general relief.
The defendant Meighen interposed a general demurrer to the complaint, and he appealed from the order of the court overruling it.
The defendant's contention in support of his demurrer is that the plaintiff, in making tender of payment of his judgment, was a mere volunteer, — an officious intermeddler, with no interest to protect by discharging the lien of the judgment. If such be the case, the complaint does not state a cause of action. But it is otherwise if she had any interest to protect by payment of the judgment, no matter how small the interest, or whether she had some other remedy for its protection. Thus, in the case of Kincaid v. School District, 11 Me. 188, it was held that a tender by an inhabitant of a school district to one having a claim against it was valid, though not authorized by the district. It may be conceded for the...
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