Williams v. Wood
| Decision Date | 27 November 1893 |
| Docket Number | No. 8541.,8541. |
| Citation | 55 Minn. 323 |
| Parties | MAURICE F. WILLIAMS <I>vs.</I> ROBERT M. WOOD. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
John E. Greene and W. E. Purcell, for appellant.
C. A. Nye, for respondent.
Action in claim and delivery to recover possession, or the value in case possession could not be had, of an outfit for threshing grain by steam power. The plaintiff claimed to be entitled to possession because of default in the conditions of a mortgage upon the property and upon one-half of the gross earnings thereof, executed and delivered by defendant and another person to secure the purchase price of the same, as evidenced by certain promissory notes, which mortgage and notes had been duly transferred and assigned by the original mortgagee and payee to plaintiff. The latter secured possession of the property at the commencement of the action, and retained it at the time of the trial. In his answer defendant alleged payment of the notes in full, with interest, prior to the bringing of the action. Further answering, he set forth the taking of the property in question by the plaintiff in these proceedings in claim and delivery; and, further, that it had been detained by plaintiff from the time of the taking until the end of the threshing season for that year, — 1892. It was then alleged that "the value of the use" of the outfit during said period of detention was a stated sum per day, whereby defendant had been damaged in a certain amount, for which judgment was demanded. These averments were put in issue by the reply.
On the trial it appeared that three notes, each of date August 25, 1891, were secured by the mortgage. One, for $950, matured November 1, 1891, some 10 months prior to the commencement of this action; another, for the same amount, was to mature November 1, 1892, a few weeks subsequent to bringing of the action; while the third, for $475, did not fall due until November 1, 1893. It will thus be seen that no default in payment as to the notes to mature in 1892 and 1893 had accrued when plaintiff brought his action.
The mortgage was in the usual form, except that it contained a stipulation to the effect that, should the mortgagors refuse or neglect to pay over to the mortgagee, without demand therefor, as fast as collected in cash, one-half of the earnings of the property, whether the notes were due or not, or if the mortgagors should use the earnings for any purpose other than the payment of actual expenses incurred in the work or of the debt secured, then all of the notes, both principal and interest, should, and without notice, become due and payable at once, and the mortgaged property might be seized for the purpose of foreclosure.
It was admitted that in the fall of 1892 defendant threshed a large quantity of grain belonging to plaintiff, for which he was to have credit on one of his notes. There was some dispute about the amount due for this, but, on the argument here, counsel for plaintiff concedes defendant's figures, — $319. Later, in March, 1892, defendant sold to plaintiff 320 acres of land, at an agreed price of $13 per acre, — a total of $4,160. This land had been purchased from the state, and a small part only of the price had been paid. Certificates had been issued by the authorities, but these were in the hands of a third party as security for a debt due from defendant. It was agreed that plaintiff should pay the debt, and obtain the certificates; should also pay the amount due to the state as the balance of the purchase price; and should also pay certain taxes due upon the land. This was done, and thereupon the account growing out of the land transaction stood thus: Agreed price of the land, $4,160. Plaintiff had paid thereon, to obtain the certificates, $593.75; as taxes on the land, $37; as balance due to the state, principal and interest, $1,700, — an aggregate of $2,330.75, as of date March 28, 1892. The balance due from plaintiff on the land was $1,829.25. To this should be added the amount of defendant's bill for threshing plaintiff's grain, — $319; the total sum being $2,148.25. At the date before mentioned, March 28, 1892, the principal of the secured notes was $2,375; accrued interest, $140.50, — total $2,515.50. If, then, the balance due to defendant on the land trade was, as he claims, to be applied upon the notes secured by the chattel mortgage, there remained unpaid upon these notes at the date last aforesaid a balance of $367.25, no part of which was due, unless defendant had made default, or had violated some of the conditions of the mortgage, as plaintiff claims he had. Reference to this claim will be made hereafter.
We have stated defendant's position as to the balance due to him upon the land deal, — that it was to be applied on the secured notes. The plaintiff contended upon the trial, however, that this was not the fact. He held other notes and demands against the defendant, and claimed that there was no agreement to apply the balance on any particular note or demand,...
To continue reading
Request your trial