Union Nat. Bank of Minot v. Lenton

• Decision Date: 08 June 1926
• Docket Number: No. 5038.,5038.
• Citation: 54 N.D. 262,209 N.W. 350
• Parties: UNION NAT. BANK OF MINOT v. LENTON et al.
• Court: North Dakota Supreme Court

54 N.D. 262

209 N.W. 350

UNION NAT. BANK OF MINOT

v.LENTON et al.

No. 5038.

Supreme Court of North Dakota.

June 8, 1926.

Syllabus by the Court.

Following Thompson Yards, Inc., v. Richardson (N. D.) 199 N. W. 863, it is held, under the facts stated in the opinion, that the lien of a crop mortgage survives a discharge in bankruptcy, where such mortgage is executed in the fall covering the next maturing crop.

Appeal from District Court, Ward County; Jno. C. Lowe, Judge.

Suit by the Union National Bank of Minot against F. C. Lenton and others to foreclose a chattel mortgage on crops. From a judgment foreclosing the mortgage, F. C. Lenton and E. H. Ray appeal. Affirmed.Halvor L. Halvorson, of Minot, for appellants.

Nestos, Herigstad & Stenersen, of Minot (B. H. Bradford, of Minot, of counsel), for respondent.

BIRDZELL, J.

This is an action to foreclose a chattel mortgage on crops raised upon certain lands in Ward county in the year 1924. The defendant Lenton is the mortgagor, the defendant Ray a subsequent purchaser of the grain, who claims to hold it free of the mortgage lien, and the defendant Wilson is the holder of a seed lien. In the trial court the plaintiff had judgment decreeing foreclosure and adjudicating its lien to be valid and superior to the rights of the subsequent purchaser Ray, but inferior to the seed lien. Lenton and Ray appeal from the judgment. The errors assigned and argued upon this appeal are predicated upon the holding of the trial court supporting the plaintiff's mortgage against the contention of the defendants that its lien was extinguished by the discharge in bankruptcy of the mortgagor before the maturity of the crop. The plaintiff's mortgage was executed by the defendant Lenton in the fall of 1923, and by its express terms it covered the 1924 crop. The mortgagor filed a petition in bankruptcy on April 9, 1924, was subsequently adjudicated a bankrupt and discharged on July 31, 1924.

The facts are and the trial court found that the property upon which the crop was raised was the defendant's homestead; that it had been set aside to him as such in the bankruptcy proceedings; that it appeared in the bankruptcy proceeding that there was no property belonging to the estate that was not incumbered in excess of its value; that there was no trustee elected and the property of the defendant remained in his possession; that on April 24, 1924, the defendant quitclaimed the land upon which the crop was raised to his wife, who two days later leased it to the defendant mortgagor for an agreed rental of $300. In the bankruptcy proceeding the debtor scheduled the claim of the plaintiff as a secured claim, describing it as secured by a crop mortgage and placing the value of the security at $3,000. It appears, however, that the plaintiff had chattel security in addition to the crop mortgage.

The question involved...