Case Name: Pawtucket Mutual Fire Insurance Company v. George E. Landers et al.
Court: Kansas Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: Kansas
Decision Date: 1897-01-05
Citations: 5 Kan. App. 623
Docket Number: No. 107
Parties: Pawtucket Mutual Fire Insurance Company v. George E. Landers et al.
Judges: 
Reporter: Reports of cases decided in the Courts of Appeals of the state of Kansas
Volume: 5
Pages: 623–625

Head Matter:
Pawtucket Mutual Fire Insurance Company v. George E. Landers et al.
No. 107.
1. Promissory Note — increased interest provided for oh default enforced. Where a promissory note is executed, July 1, 1885, due five years from the date thereof, secured by mortgage on real estate, with interest at seven per cent, per annum payable semiannually with semi-annual coupons attached, and containing a provision that the note is to draw interest from date at the rate of twelve per cent, per annum if either principal or interest remains unpaid ten days after due; and where the makers thereof, on the first day of June, 1891, paid one-half of the principal and all interest due to that date, and failed to pay the residue thereof ; held, that, when default is made in the payment of the principal and interest for more than ten days after the maturity of the note and for more than ten days after the time to which the interest is paid, the holder is entitled to recover the amount due as principal and twelve per cent, interest thereon from the first day of June, 1891.
2. Chapter 109, Laws or 1893 — denied retroactive operation. Ghapter 109, Laws of 1893, concerning the sale and redemption of real estate, has no retroactive operation, and therefore does not apply to mortgage contracts existing at and before its passage. If the Legislature intended the act to apply to such contracts, it violates section 10 of article 1 of the Constitution of the United States. Watkins v. Glenn, 55 Kan. 117.
Error from Harper District Court. Pión. G. W. McKay, Judge.
Opinion filed January 5, 1897.
Modified.
This was an action to foreclose a real estate mortgage, begun by the plaintiff in error against the defendants in error in the District Court of Harper County. The note secured was for four thousand dollars, and it provided for interest payable semiannually at seven per cent., and also that “ this note is to draw interest from date at twelve per cent, per annum if either principal or interest remain unpaid ten days after due.” It fell due on July 1, 1890. On June 1, 1891, the makers paid two thousand dollars, on the principal and all of the interest. The plaintiff asked twelve per cent, interest on the balance from June 1, 1891. The court gave judgment for two thousand dollars and seven per cent, interest, and gave the defendants eighteen months in which to redeem the land from sheriff's sale. Upon the questions of rate of interest and time for redemption the plaintiff in error brings the case here.
Beardsley, Gregory & Flannelly, for plaintiff in error.
Houston & McCulloch, for defendants in error.

Opinion:
Johnson, P. J.
The court erred in computing interest on the amount due upon the note at seven per cent, from Junel, 1891. The interest should have been allowed at twelve per cent, from June 1, as n0f;e provided for interest at twelve per cent, from date if not paid within ten days after maturity. All interest due on the note having been paid up to June 1, 1891, interest at twelve per cent, per annum should have been allowed from the date to which the interest had been paid.
The question as to whether chapter 109 of the Laws of 1893, relating to the sale and redemption of real estate, was intended by the Legislature to operate retroactively so as to apply to mortgage contracts existing at and before its passage, was decided in the negative by the Supreme Court of this State in Watkins v. Glenn ( 55 Kan. 417 ). The note and mortgage were executed on the first day of July, 1885, and the redemption law of 1893 was not applicable to this case.
It is therefore ordered that this case be remanded to the District Court of Harper County, with direction that the judgment be so modified as to compute interest on two thousand dollars at the rate of twelve per cent, per annum from the first day of June, 1891, to the rendition of the judgment, and that said judgment draw twelve per cent, per annum from the date of its rendition, and that the clause in the decree of foreclosure of the mortgage giving the defendants eighteen months to redeem the mortgaged premises after sale, be stricken out, and that the defendants pay the costs in this court.