Court Opinion

ID: 9826352
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 15:48:03.10019+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:42:01.290626
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Woods.
I concur in the conclusion that there was no resulting trust in favor of the plaintiffs, but *535I dissent from the last proposition laid down in the opinion of the Chief Justice that the plaintiffs have an equitable mortgage on the interest of the defendant, Weintraub, in the land. An equitable mortgage is not created by the mere advance of money accompanied by a parol agreement of the debtor that the creditor shall ’have a mortgage. There was no part performance nor was there any promise to make a mortgage in the future from Weintraub to the Suraskys. Upon the purchase of the land by Weintraub and the Suraskys together and the making of the title to all of them, Weintraub took possession for all the parties including himself, under the right which he had in common with the Suraskys to enter and hold the land as a tenant in common. A mere promise by Weintraub to the Suraskys to pay his portion of the purchase money advanced by them, and his agreement that they should have a lien therefor cannot create an equitable mortgage as long as the statute of frauds remains the law of the land. None of the cases cited by the Chief Justice sustain the position that a lien on land can be created in favor of a creditor advancing money, by a mere parol agreement from the debtor that the debt shall be a lien, and I do not think any authority for such a proposition can be found.« The subject has been discussed at length in the opinion of the case of Folk v. Brooks, soon to be filed, and I refer to that opinion for a fuller statement of the reasons for my conclusions on this point. It follows that the plaintiffs are entitled to recover an ordinary money judgment against Weintraub for the sum of one hundred dollars loaned to him to purchase his share of the land with interest thereon from the date of the loan. They will also be entitled to subrogation to the rights of the Cowards as mortgagees to the extent of any sum they may pay on the portion of the mortgage debt owing by Weintraub. ■
*536The judgment of this Court is that the judgment of the Circuit Court be modified to conform to the conclusions herein expressed.
Messrs. Justices Hydrick, Watts and Fraser concur.