102 Ind. 217 | Ind. | 1885
In January, 1877, one Charles T. Pauley was the owner, and in the possession of two tracts of land which he sold to appellee. After the sale and execution of the deed to her, one Bills recovered a judgment against Pauley, which, for value, he assigned to appellant Simmons.. About the same time, Simmons and the other appellants, except the sheriff, recovered another judgment against Pauley. Executions were issued upon these judgments and placed in the hands of the sheriff, who levied them upon the lands, and, when this action was commenced, was threatening to sell. The facts are stated in the complaint, with the additional averment that the judgment purchased by Simmons had been paid. In the complaint, also, there is what is alleged to be a correct description of the lands by metes and bounds. The averments in relation to these lands, thus described in the complaint, and the description in the deed, are as follows: “And plaintiff avers that, on the said 30th day of January, 1877, she and the said Charles T. Pauley made and entered into a contract and agreement, whereby the said Pauley sold, covenanted and agreed to convey to the plaintiff the several tracts of real estate hereinbefore described; that then and there and thereupon the said Pauley made, executed, and delivered to the plaintiff his certain deed of conveyance, with good and sufficient covenants of general warranty, therein and thereby purposing and intending to convey to the plaintiff the real estate aforesaid, pursuant to the terms and con
Appellee brought this action against Pauley, the execution plaintiffs, and the sheriff, to have the deed reformed by a cor
Appellants filed two answers; one a general denial, and the other that the conveyance to appellee was made and accepted with the fraudulent intent to cheat and defraud appellants, who were creditors of Pauley. In finding for appellee the jury found that the conveyance to her was bona fide. The court below refused to disturb that finding, and as the evidence clearly tends to sustain it, we can not overthrow it, and must regard it as an established fact.
Appellants contend further that the evidence is not such as to justify the verdict and judgment for a reformation of the deed as against them. Preliminary to a decision upon this question, it must first be determined what relation they sustain to the case. It is the settled law in this State, that judgment creditors are in no sense purchasers; that their judgments are simply general liens upon whatever interest the judgment defendants may have in the land, and that, hence, their rights do not stand in the way of the reformation of prior deeds and mortgages, nor in the way of the enforcement of equities as between the grantor and grantee. White v. Wilson, 6 Blackf. 448; Sample v. Rowe, 24 Ind. 208; Flanders v. O’Brien, 46 Ind. 284; Busenbarke v. Ramey, 53 Ind. 499;
It is settled, also, by the holdings in some of these cases, that a deed or mortgage will not be reformed as against a bona fide assignee of judgments.
In the case before us Simmons appears to be such assignee of the Bills judgment, but he has not so saved the question in the record as to put himself in a better position than the ■other appellants. The motion for a new trial and the assignment of errors are joint, he joining with the other appellants. Hence, if the motion should not be granted as to all, or if the assignment is not well made as to all, there was no error in overruling the motion, and the assignment can not be sustained. Carver v. Carver, 77 Ind. 498; Feeney v. Mazelin, 87 Ind. 226; Robertson v. Garshwiler, 81 Ind. 463.
As we have seen, Pauley made default; upon this default appellee was entitled to a judgment and decree against him for a reformation of the deed, and such decree was rendered. This decree settled the question that, unless there was fraud, Pauley had no interest in the land upon which appellant’s judgments could rest as liens, and as thoroughly settled it as if there had been a trial of the question as between appellee and Pauley, or as if Pauley had come personally into court, admitted the mistake, and consented to the reformation.”
There is no doubt that appellee purchased the land in controversy, and as the jury found, and we must now assume, purchased then for value and bona fide. Under her contract and deed, she was in possession of the land. Common honesty required that Pauley should not, upon technical and captious grounds, object to a reformation of the deed, so that appellee might have the lands which she had in good faith purchased from him. He has not made such objections, but by his default admitted the mistake in the description, and impliedly consented that it might be corrected. As to appel
To allow these judgment creditors to resist the reformation of the deed upon the ground that the mistake in the description may have been one of law, and not of fact, would be to allow them to consummate and perpetuate a wrong upon appellee, to which Pauley, the grantor, declines to be a party..
Having reached this conclusion, it is not necessary for us to decide whether the mistake was one of law or one of fact. This conclusion also makes it unnecessary to consider other questions discussed by counsel.
The judgment is affirmed with costs.