Security Mortgage Co. v. Bell

• Decision Date: 24 October 1927
• Docket Number: 259
• Citation: 298 S.W. 865,175 Ark. 128
• Parties: SECURITY MORTGAGE COMPANY v. BELL
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

298 S.W. 865

175 Ark. 128

SECURITY MORTGAGE COMPANY v. BELL

No. 259

Supreme Court of Arkansas

October 24, 1927

Appeal from Clark Chancery Court; C. E. Johnson, Chancellor; appeal dismissed.

Appeal dismissed and cause remanded.

Gustavus G. Pope, for appellant.

Joseph Calloway, for appellee.

OPINION

HUMPHREYS, J.

Appellant instituted this suit against appellees in the chancery court of Clark County to redeem certain lands described in the complaint from a sale by the Ross Drainage District of said land on October 3, 1922, in a foreclosure proceeding, to satisfy its lien for delinquent benefit taxes due for the year 1921.Omitting the caption and other formal parts the complaint is as follows.On October 2, 1925appellants filed the following complaint:

"Comes the Security Mortgage Company, a corporation domiciled at Texarkana, Arkansas, and for their cause of action against James Bell, Lula Bell, Alfred Terrell, __ Terrell, his wife; the Citizens' National Bank, the Saunders Mercantile Company, a corporation, John F. Bevill,__Bevill, his wife, and O. O. Meek, and__, his wife, defendants, allege:

"That on February 20, 1919, James Bell and Lula Bell executed and delivered to the Security Mortgage Company their promissory note in the sum of $ 2,000, due March 1, 1926, with semi-annual coupons covering the interest on said note, and said note provides that failure to pay either installment of interest when due shall, at the option of the holder, mature the entire indebtedness, principal and interest, a copy of which note is hereby attached, marked Exhibit A, and made a part hereof; that on said February 20, 1919, said James Bell and Lula Bell executed and delivered as security for the payment of said note a mortgage conveying the following described lands, located in Clark County, Arkansas, to-wit: The south half of the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter; the south half of the northwest quarter, and the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 34, township 8 south, range 20 west.Said mortgage provides that failure to pay any installment of interest, or the taxes and assessments for local investments, shall, at the option of the Security Mortgage Company, mature all of said indebtedness, principal and interest earned.A copy of said mortgage is hereto attached, marked Exhibit B and made a part hereof; that said James Bell and Lula Bell have failed and refused to pay the various installments of interest due to this date, as shown by the interest coupons attached to said note, and have failed and refused to pay the taxes and the assessments due Ross Drainage District when due and payable, and therefore the entire indebtedness, principal and interest, is declared due and payable.

"Section 1.Plaintiffs further allege that, on or about November 19, 1919, said James Bell and Lula Bell executed and delivered a warranty deed to Alfred Terrell, in consideration of the assumption of the above indebtedness, conveying the following lands in Clark County, Arkansas, to-wit: The northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 34, township 8 south, range 20 west; said deed is duly recorded in the office of the recorder in and for Clark County, Arkansas, in record book 89, at page 437.

"Section 2.Plaintiffs further allege that, on June 8, 1922, in the case of B. F. Dooley, as trustee, the Saunders Mercantile Company and the Citizens' National Bank, plaintiffs against James Bell, Lula Bell, the Security Mortgage Company, the McIver Abstract Company, N. R. Franklin, and W. B. East, as trustee, defendants, a decree was rendered by the chancery court of Clark County foreclosing certain indebtedness due the plaintiffs in said suit, and declared same subject to the indebtedness due the Security Mortgage Company, as hereinbefore set out, and, said indebtedness not being due, and said defendant, Security Mortgage Company, electing not to foreclose their first lien, said lands were ordered sold subject to said mortgage; and that, under the decree, the following lands were sold to the Citizens' National Bank and the Saunders Mercantile Company, located in Clark County, to-wit: the south half of the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter and the south half of the northwest quarter of section 34, township 8 south, range 20 west.A commissioner's deed was duly executed December 7, 1922, conveying said lands to the Citizens' National Bank and the Saunders Mercantile Company, and is now on record in the office of the recorder in and for Clark County, Arkansas, in record book 110, at page 259.

"Plaintiffs further allege that, on October 3, 1922, upon constructive service only, a decree was rendered by the chancery court of Clark County, Arkansas, in the case of the board of directors of Ross Drainage District, plaintiff, against James Bell as the supposed owner of the following described lands located in Clark County, Arkansas, for the drainage assessments, to-wit: The south half of the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter and the...