Court Opinion

ID: 9864414
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-25 13:02:51.688959+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:11:58.850890
License: Public Domain

Humphreys, J., (dissenting). B. J. Hildreth and his wife joined in the execution of a mortgage on the 23rd day of December, 1925, conveying a tract of land in Columbia county containing 95 acres, particularly describing same, to secure an indebtedness of $625.20 to L. M. Dendy. The note and mortgage were made due and payable on November 1, 1926. B. J. Hildreth died intestate, seized and possessed of said land, in the year 1932, without having paid said mortgage and note, leaving surviving him about 36 heirs. On the 8th day of January, 1934, a suit was filed by L. M. Dendy to foreclose said mortgage against a number of the heirs of B. J. Hildreth, deceased, but a number of them were not made parties defendant, perhaps as many as 11 of them, and some of them while named were not served with a summons. One.of those named as an infant defendant in the amendment to the foreclosure complaint was not served with a summons nor otherwise notified of the pendency of the foreclosure suit and was not represented in said suit by a guardian ad litem. Notwithstanding the failure to make all the heirs of B. J. Hildreth, deceased, parties defendant and notwithstanding- the fact that service was not obtained upon all of them, the court on the 23rd day of July, 1934, rendered ■ a decree foreclosing the mortgage and directed the sale of the lands therein described to be sold by a commissioner to satisfy the indebtedness. The commissioner, D. Ü. Perry, advertised and.sold the land on August 30, J934, to the mortgagee, L. M. Dendy. The sale was reported to the court, confirmed and a deed to said land was made by the commissioner to L. M. Dendy in October, 1934. Said L. M. Dendy went into the possession of said land immediately and has been in possession thereof since that time enjoying the rents and benefits therefrom. Appellants (36 in number) being the lawful and sole heirs of B. J. Hildreth, deceased, brought this suit in the chancery court of Columbia county on the 18th day of October, 1938, alleging that they were tenants in common of the equity of redemption in the 95 acres of land and that the foreclosure sale was void for failure to serve a large number of heirs of the pendency of the suit and particularly to serve Thomas Hildreth, one of the heirs, though named in the amendment to the complaint as an infant defendant, with summons in said foreclosure suit or otherwise notify him of the pendency of the suit and did not have a guardian ad litem appointed to represent him in the suit. Appellants offered to pay appellee’s debt and interest less rents and profits he had received from the-land and prayed that they be permitted to redeem same. Appellee filed an answer denying every material allegation in the complaint and pleaded the statute of limitations as a complete defense to the alleged cause of action, and after the cause had been pending and litigated in the court for about 2 years appellee filed an amended answer admitting that Thomas Hildreth was a minor at the time B. J. Hildreth died and that he is still a minor and that at the time B. J. Hildreth died Thomas Hildreth was an heir of B. J. Hildreth, deceased, and that when appellee brought his suit in 1934 to foreclose the mortgage Thomas Hildreth was not made a party to the foreclosure suit and was not served with summons in the manner required by law; and further admitted that Thomas Hildreth at the time owned an undivided l/64th interest in the entire land as tenant in common with the other heirs of B. J. Hildreth, deceased, and offered to apportion the debt to him at the time of the foreclosure in the sum of $724.52 and permit him to redeem a 1 /64th interest in the lands by the payment of l/64th of the indebtedness and interest and to that end prayed that the court make partition of the lands by commissioners appointed for that purpose and that a. lien be declared on •the said undivided l/64th of the land and upon failure to pa3r 1 /64th of the indebtedness, interest and costs that a time be fixed by the court for him to do so, and that in case that he should then fail to do so said l/64th interest in the land be ordered sold for the satisfaction of l/64th of the debt, interest and costs. Appellant Thomas Hildreth, a minor, by his next friend, Ben Hildreth, filed a motion, which was joined in by all the other appellants, requesting the court to render a decree permitting him to redeem all the land for-himself and his co-appellants by the payment of the entire debt and interest thereon secured by the mortgage. And appellee then filed a response to the motion and reiterated his willingness that Thomas Hildreth be permitted to redeem his l/64th interest in said lands by paying* l/64th of the whole debt and interest and praying* that Thomas Hildreth be denied the right of redemption of the whole lands. There being no dispute as to the facts, the issue presented by the pleadings becomes one of law which question, concretely stated, is whether a tenant in common has a right to redeem property described in a mortgage after a voidable foreclosure sale for the benefit of himself and his co-tenants even though his co-tenants were barred by the statute of limitations from redeeming same. This court decided in the case of Norris v. Scroggins, 175 Ark. 50, 297 S. W. 1022, that (quoting syllabi 6 and 7) : 6. "One or more tenants in common have a right to redeem property after a void foreclosure sale for the benefit of themselves and their co-tenants, even if the latter are estopped to make such redemption.” 7. “So long as the relation of mortgagee in possession under a void foreclosure sale exists, the property is subject to redemption by owners and persons having a right to redeem.” In deciding that’the minors had the right of redemption in the case of Norris v. Scroggins, supra, this court quoted from 3 Pomeroy’s Equity Jurisprudence, § 1220, as follows:. “Any person who holds a legal estate in the mortgaged premises, or in any part thereof, derived through, under, or in privity with the mortgagor, and any person holding either a legal or equitable lien on the premises, or any part thereof, under or in privity with the mortgagor ’s estate, may also in like manner redeem from the prior mortgage. No such redemption, however, is possible unless the mortgage debt is due and payable, nor unless the mortgage is wholty redeemed by payment of the entire amount of the mortgage debt. The debt being a unit, no party interested in the whole premises, or in any portion of them, can compel the mortgagee to accept a part of the debt, and to relieve the property pro tanto from the lien. Furthermore, if the person redeeming has only a partial interest in the premises, and there are other partial owners also interested in having the lien of the mortgage removed from their estates'—such as co-owners, life tenants, reversioners, remaindennen, and the like—he cannot compePthem, in the first instance, to advance their proportionate shares for the purpose of paying off the debt; he must himself redeem the whole mortgage, and his only equity against them consists in his right to enforce the mortgage upon their estates as a security for obtaining a subsequent contribution. ’ ’ This court followed and applied the rule announced in the case of Norris v. Scroggins, supra, to the facts in the case of Baker v. Boyd, 196 Ark. 563, 119 S. W. 2d 524. In its opinion in the case of Baker v. Boyd, supra, this court decided (quoting syllabus 4) as follows: “Where a mortgage on several pieces of land, some of which were improperly described, was foreclosed, minor heirs not properly served with process or represented by guardian were entitled to redeem the whole where it was sold as a unit, and not just that portion of the land that was improperly described.” Appellee relies upon Rowland v. Griffin, 179 Ark. 421, 16 S. W. 2d 457. That case was bottomed upon the case of Railway Company v. James, 54 Ark. 81, 15 S. W. 15, which is not applicable to cases like the instant case. In the instant case Thomas Hildreth had a right before the foreclosure decree to pay off the entire debt and redeem the entire estate and he has not been deprived of the right to do so by void foreclosure proceedings. The Railway Company in the’ case of Railway Company v. James, supra, did not have the-right to redeem the entire premises by paying the entire lien debt. The ruling of the chancellor in the instant case to the effect that Thomas Hildreth has the right to redeem only his l/64th interest in the land as tenant in common is in our opinion in conflict with the cases of Norris v. Scroggins and Baker v. Boyd, supra, which rule the instant case. The rule followed by the learned chancellor in the case of Missouri and North Ohio Railroad Co. v. James, supra, as stated above is not applicable to the facts in the instant case. Smith and Mehaffy, JJ., concur in this opinion.