The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1898-11-11
b. & L. WINS.
Chancellor Alternately Rendered His
Decision Wednesday.
Decree FavOrs the Building and Loan
Association on Every Point-An
Appeal Taken.

Chancellor Alternately re-conven-
ed court last Wednesday morning.,
and rendered his decision in regard
to the cases of Cowley and Moore
against the Maury County Building
and Loan Association, argument in
which closed on Thursday of last
week. The decree favors the AssO.
citation in every point, and orders
that the bills filed by compliments
be dismissed.
These cases were begun in Septem-
Der, 1897, and have attracted a great
deal of interest on account Of the
Importance attached to them and
the far reaching results that would
have followed had they been sus-
tanned
Cowley and Moore were borrowers
from the Association, and, upon fail
ure to pay their dues, their mort
cages were fOrclosed and their prop
erty offered for sale to satisfy the
mortgages. Bills were then filed in
Chancery, attacking the right of the
Association to foreclose the mort
gage; claiming that the defendants,
Moore and Cowley, had already paid
back the money they bad borrowed.
with legal rate of interest; and
charging that the Association had
Overstepped the rights and privi-
leges granted it by law, and that it
had become merely a banking insti-
tuition and was charging usurous
rates of interest for the money it
loaned. The two cases are alike, eX-
cept that in the Cowley case plea
of coverture on the part of Mrs. Mary
j. COwley, wife of J. l.. COwley, was
entered.
The decree rendered by Chancel-
lor Alternately in the COwlev case
states, first, that Trustee H. o. Full
ton, Secretary and Treasurer of the
Association, was fully empowered
and authorized to execute the mort
gage in the event of default upon
the part of the mortgagers
Another clause reads as follows:
1.-The court is further of the Opin-
ion that inasmuch as j. l.. Cowley
Joined with his wife in the eXecu-
tion of the note, as we'll as in the first
mortgage executed by himself and
wife, whereby he bound himself and
agreed to become liable for the faith.
full performance of the payments to
be made as set forth in the terms of
said first mortgage, that the plea of
cOverture of Mrs. MarRsI. Cowley,
interposed by the personal repre-
sentative and heirs at law and nus
band of said Mrs. COwley, cannot
avail to defeat the execution of the
mortgage"
The decree further So % that what
are designated by defendants as
funding loans were not Illegal,
being open to all members of the
Association alike, and that J. l.
Cowley and wife were not injured
thereby, and that such action did
not enter into or become part Of
their contracts with the Association /;
that the mOnev loaned to Cowley
and wife was bid off by them in a
regular loan meeting, in open COM
petition, to the highest bidder, and
that prior to the sale of their prop
erty under said mortgages they were
in default Tor longer period in the
payments agreed to be made by
them under said mortgages than
stipulated in said mortgages, and
J have wholly failed and refused to
comply with the terms of said mort
cages as to said payments, and that
the Trustee sold the property under
the terms of said mortgages, and in
strict compliance Herewith, al
which sale the Association became
the purchaser of said property and
+ received a deed from the Trustee
therefor.
A The decree further reads: "The
= court doth therefore order, adjudge
and decree that the Maury County
Building and Loan Association
thereby became vested with a good
and Indefeasble title to said prop.
0 possession thereof, legal notice hav
r ing been duly given said Co wiley anc
wife to vacate said premises, as pro-
vided in said mortgage, and thai
complainant association is entitled
to possession of said property, to
gether with rents from the 26th day
of July, 1897, at the rate Of So pc
month, and that the Association il
entitled to recover of COwley sait
rents, together with the further sun
of $9475, with interest from July 8
1897, in all $lO2.33, balance due upOr
the obligations in said mortgages
after giving credit for the net pro
ceeds of the sale Of the property
s. making in all $l95 33, together will
= the costs of this suit, for which exc
cution may issue against said Cow
ley"
An appeal to the Supreme Cour
! was taken by Cowley and Moore.
5 Cowley and Moore were repre-
k scented by w. j. Webster and G, t
i Hughes; and the Building and LOaI
I Association by w. s. Fleming, E. H
n Hatcher and Figures q Padgett.
e