37 Fla. 190 | Fla. | 1896
The appellant, a corporation, as complainant below, filed its bill in equity in the Circuit Court of Duval county on the 24th day of July, A. D. 1890, against William S. Whitlock, Robert M. Shoemaker, Michael M. Shoemaker, Mary S. Putnam, John R. Putnam, Francis M. Shoemaker, Murray M. Shoemaker, Henrietta Shoemaker and Jerre S. Smith, Jr., for foreclosure of mortgage, alleging that on the 27th day of September, A. D. 1875, the defendant William S. Whit-lock was indebted to Lawrence Waterbury and William Marshall, of the city of Brooklyn, State of Hew York, in the sum of twenty thousand dollars, and on said date, to secure the same, executed to said Waterbury and Marshall his bond in the penal sum of $40,-000. conditioned to pay said indebtedness of $20,000 and interest thereon from date at the rate of seven per cent, per annum, and a mortgage on water lots 5 and 6, fronting on Bay street, in the' city of Jacksonville, Florida, excepting from said lot 6 a parcel in the northwest corner thereof, having a frontage on Bay street of 40 feet, and a depth towards the St. Johns river of 45 feet, owned by one Joseph Santo; which mortgage was-duly acknowledged and recorded in the public records, of Duval county on the 8th day of October, A. D. 1875,.
All of the defendants appeared in person or by attorney. The defendant, William S. Whitlock, interposed no defense, and decree pro confesso was- entered against him. All of the other defendants jointly answered the bill as follows : They admit the execution of the bond and mortgage by William S. Whitlock to Waterbury and Marshall, but disclaim any knowledge as to whether said William was, on the date thereof, indebted to said Waterbury and Marshall, and demand strict proof thereof. They admit the execution of the bond and mortgage by William S. Whitlock to Daniel B. Whitlock as alleged,
The complainant introduced the two bonds and mortgages executed by William S. Whitlock to Waterbury and Marshall, and to Daniel B. Whitlock, the first dated September 27th, 1875, and payable September 27th, 1876 ; the second dated March 29th, 1877, and payable March 29th, 1878. By the oral testimony of --one E. M. Pulton, taken on commission, it was proved for the complainant that William S. Whitlock was on the 27th of September, 1875, indebted to the firm of Waterbury and Marshall in the sum of upwards of $20,000, and to secure it gave them the bonded mortgage dated September 27th, 1875. That in 1875 the Elizabethport Steam Cordage Compauy was a firm composed of Daniel B. Whitlock, the witness (E. M. Pulton) and others, and so continued until the year 1888, when Daniel B. Whitlock died, and that in 1889 the remaining members of the firm organized and became incorporated, the members of the firm upon the valuation of all their interests in the firm selling the same to the corporation, and thereafter the complainant corporation became possessed of all the rights and interests of the firm. That said firm exchanged some valuable claims it held in Alabama, that afterwards yielded $19,000 and more, together with some cash, with Waterbury and Marshall for the bond and mortgage and the indebtedness secured thereby that they held against William S. Whitlock, upon which said bond and mortgage was actually handed over to them, and that thereupon William S. Whitlock executed the new bond and mortgage in the same terms as the original to Daniel B. Whitlock on behalf of said firm, the
The complainant also introduced deeds in’ evidence, tracing title to the premises in question to William S. Whitlock their mortgagor, as follows: 1st. Quitclaim deed from John L. Requa and wife to William S. Whitlock, dated April 18, 1871, recorded in Duval county, Florida, May 29th, 1871. 2nd. Qait-claim deed from John S. Sammis and wife to John L. Requa and Martin R. Cook, dated May 15th, 1869, and recorded June 10th, 1869. 3rd. Quit-claim deed from Martin R. Cook and wife to John L. Requa, dated September 11th, 1869, and recorded December 18th, 1869. 4th. Deed from Samuel 1ST. Williams, as sheriff of Duval county, Florida, to John ‘S. Sammis, dated March 1st, 1869, and recorded March 18th, 1869. This deed recites that the premises in question had been levied upon and sold on March 1st, 1869, by the said sheriff as the property of Charles Willey under, a judgment and execution issued out of the Circuit Court for Duval county, Florida, in favor of Alexander Caldwell, against said Charles Willey. The complainant also introduced in
At the close of the complainant’s evidence the parties, by their, respective counsel, entered in' writing into the following stipulation and agreed state of facts, to-wit: 1st. That the records of the United States Circuit and District Courts for' the Northern District of Florida were totally destroyed by fire on the 18th day óf May, 1891. 2d. That John Buckell died prior to-March 1st, 1884, and that in his life-time his only claim to the property in question, was in right to his wife Mary E. Buckell. " 3d. That Robert M. Shoemaker, since March 1st, 1884, died intestate as to property in Florida, and that the defendants are his heirs. 4th. That a certified copy of the record of a power of attorney from Francis E. Yale to C. P. Cooper maybe given in evidence without further proof. 5th. That Francis E. Yale and Mary E. Buckell were the sole surviving children and heirs at law of Charles Willey,
It was further agreed upon and stipulated as part of the facts of the case: That $20,000 was paid by William S. Whitlock for the property, and that it was the full value for the indefeasible fee simple to the property set forth in the bill; and that Robert M. Shoemaker paid $25,000 for the property, which was at the time full value for the indefeasible fee simple title thereto. That before investing in the property Robert M. Shoemaker, through his agent and son-in-law John G-. Christopher, applied to the law firm of Fleming & Daniel to pass on the title to the property, but upon failure to agree with them upon their fees for such service, he employed D. U. Fletcher, an attorney ■of Jacksonville, for that purpose, and that Mr. Fletcher made an abstract of the title from the records of Du-
The deiendants, other than William S. Whitlock, introduced record evidence to prove title in themselves as follows: 1st. A warranty deed in fee, for the expressed consideration of 825,000, from Francis E. Yale and Mary E. Buckell to Robert M. Shoemaker, dated March 1st, 1884, and recorded March 13th, 1884, in Duval county. The said Robert M. Shoemaker haying died intestate as to this property, the defendants, except William S. Whitlock, inherit his rights and estate therein as his sole heirs at law.
It having been admitted that the original records of the Circuit and District Courts of the United States for the Fifth Judicial Circuit, Northern District of Florida, were totally destroyed by fire on the 18th day "of May, 1891, prior to the taking of testimony in the case, the defendants introduced in evidence a certified copy of the transcript of the record upon writ of error to the-Supreme Court of the United States, from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Northern District of Florida, in the case of Peter Jones, George L. DeCottes and William S. Whitlock, plaintiffs in error, against John Buckell and Mary E. Buckell, defendants in error, which writ of error was tested on the 15th day of
“In the Circuit Court op Florida, Fourth Circuit, Duval County.
John Buckell and Mary E. Buckell, by their attorney, complain of Peter Jones and George L. DeCottes, who have been summoned to answer them in an action of ejectment. For that whereas the defendants are in possession of a certain tract or parcel of land situate» lying and being in said county, known and described as follows, to-wit: A part or portion of water lot number five, situate, lying and being in the city of Jacksonville, county of Duval and State of Florida, said part or portion of said lot being the same on which there is a steam mill and wharf, used and occupied by said defendants; also water lot number six, situate, lying and being in said city, county and State, excepting so much of said lot in the north-western corner thereof having a frontage on Bay street (of said city) of forty feet, and running towards the St. Johns river forty-five feet, and being the property of Joseph Santo, to which said plaintiffs claim title. And the defendants have received the profits of said land since the 15th day of February, A. D. 1875, of the yearly value of two thousand dollars, and refuse to deliver the pos
On the 6th of November, 1876, the defendant mortgagor herein, William S. Whitlock, filed the following plea in said ejectment suit, to-wit:
“Fourth Judicial Circuit, Duval County, Florida. John Buckell and Mary E. Buckell vs.. Peter Jones and George A. DeCottes.
And now, November sixth, Á. D. 1876, comes into court, by summons of said court, William. S. Whit-lock, as defendant, by his attorney in fact, J. H. Norton, by Anno & Marcy, his attorneys at law, who says that he is the owner of the premises in question «(and that the defendants named are but tenants by lease), that he is not guilty of the supposed trespass and ejectment above laid to his charge in any part thereof in manner and form, as the said John and'Mary E. Buck-ell hath complained against him, and of this he the said William S. Whitlock, puts himself - upon the country.” This plea was verified in due form.
That afterwards, on June 1st, 1877, the said defendant, William S. Whitlock, filed in the said State court his petition and bond for the transfer and removal of said ejectment suit from the said State court to the Circuit Court of the United States for the Northern District of Florida, which petition alleged that said William S. Whitlock was a defendant in said ejectment suit, and prayed the removal thereof, upon the ground that said ejectment suit arose under a law of the United States, to-wit: “An act to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes,” approved August 6th, 1861; and because the petitioner, William S. Whitlock, was a citizen of the State of New York, and the plaintiffs therein citizens of the State of Flor
And now, on this 13th day of May, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight, comes the plaintiffs by their attorney, and it appearing to the court that the defendants had filed their pleas, and the issue being joined, whereupon came a jury to try the issue, to-wit: William H. Christy, John H. Anderson, William T. Rose, Enos Wasgate, T. S. Wilmuth, M. F. Swaim, Jerremiah Follansbee, R. N. Ellis, William H. Kendrick, John F. Tyler, A. D. Campbell, Geo. C. Wilson, who being duly sworn to try the issue joined, upon their oath do say: We, the jury, find for the plaintiffs John Buckell and Mary E. Buckell, and that the defendants Peter Jones and George L. DeCottes are guilty of the ejectment and trespass as alleged .in the declaration.- Now, therefore, it is considered and ordered by the court that the plaintiffs John Buckell and Mary E. Buckell do have and recover of and from the defendants Peter Jones and George L. DeCottes, according to the finding of the jury, the possession of the premises mentioned in the declaration filed in this action, with all the tenements thereunto belonging, and the sum of $932.50 for mesne profits, and the further sum of $42.87 for costs in this behalf expended. And it is further considered and ordered by the court that the writ of this court do issue directed to the Marshal of the United States for the Northern District of Florida, to cause the said John Buckell and Mary E. Buck-. ell to have possession of the said premises according to the force, form and effect of their said recovery.”
That from this judgment the defendant William S. Whitlock, in October, 1879, alone took á writ of error
“Bill of exceptions filed by defendant for writ of error to U. S. Supreme Court.
5th Judicial Circuit, Northern District of Florida. John Buckell and Mary Buckell vs., Peter Jones and George L. DeCottes, tenants, and William S. Whitlock, owner and claimant of premises.—-Ejectment.
■ Cause removed from Circuit Court of Duval County, Florida, to U. S. Circuit Court, •
Be it remembered that at a term of the Circuit Court of the United States held for the Northern District of Florida, in the Fifth Judicial Circuit, held at the city of Jacksonville on the tenth day of May (being a continuation of the December term for said Judicial Circuit), in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight, a cause therein pending, wherein John Buckell and Mary E. Buckell were plaintiffs, and Peter Jones and George L. DeCottes (tenants) and William-S. Whitlock, claimant, defendants, came on to be heard before his honor Thomas Settle,
And the said defendants, by their attorney, then and there at the term of the court aforesaid did enter in writing and submit to the said court his motion that the said verdict be set aside and that a new trial be granted for reasons following,-viz: “1st. For the reason that the-to the-was erroneous and against the law, in this, ‘that the fee simple purported to be conveyed by deed of U. S. Marshal to John S. Sammis only conveyed'a life estate,’ and that the court exceeded its jurisdiction. 2d. General errors.” And the said motion coming on to be heard on the 15th day of May, aforesaid, at the term aforesaid, the said court did consider and decide that the said motion should not be granted, to which decision the said defendants, by their attorney, did then and there except. Whereupon the court aforesaid, on the said 15th of May aforesaid, at term aforesaid, did render judgment in favor of plaintiffs, and found defendants guilty and assessed the damages at 932.50 dollars and costs of suit, as appears of record.
And inasmuch as the said several matters objected to or insisted upon and considered by the court do not appear by the record of the verdict and . judgment-aforesaid, the said defendants, by their counsel aforesaid, did then and there, at the term aforesaid, propose this their bill of exceptions to the said opinion, charge, and decisions of the said judge, and request him to sign the. same according to the rules and statutes and acts of Congress in such case made and provided, which is done this 27th day of May, A. D. 1878,
(Seal) Thomas Settle, Judge.”
The defendants also introduced in evidence certified copies from the Circuit Court of the Fourth Judicial Circuit of the State of Florida, for Duval county, of the proceedings in another section of ejectment instituted, on the same date in said court as the foregoing, by the same plaintiffs against one Helen Broward for the recovery of ;‘a part of water lot five, situate, lying and being in the city of Jacksonville, county of Duval and State of Florida, said part or portion of said water lot five being the same on which is a dwelling-house occupied by the defendant,” in which the declaration was in the same form as in the other case, and in which the defendant William S. Whitlock, by leave of the •court, interposed the same plea, alleging ownership in him, and that he was not guilty; and that the said William S. Whitlock filed therein his petition and bond.for removal thereof to the United States Circuit Court upon the same grounds as in the other case; and that the cause was removed to said United States Court on the same date as was the other cause. The defendants then proved by the oral examination of John Wurts that he (the witness) is one of the solicitors of record in this cause for the defendants. That prior to the destruction of the records of the United States Court for the Northern District of Florida in 1891, he had several times carefully examined the record of the case of John Buckell and Mary E. Buckell vs. Peter Jones, George L. DeCottes and William S. Whitlock, in ejectment, in the Circuit Court for the Northern District of Florida. That according to his recollection, which was very clear on the subject, the transcript of the record from the United States Supreme
“John Buckell and Mary E. Buckell vs. Helen, Broward and-Whitlock.”
Then followed the copy of an agreement of counsel for a verdict with a sum stated for mesne profits; then came a statement of the empaneling of a jury and the-verdict, and then the judgment, which, I am inclined to think, did not contain Whitlock’s name. I think the judgment-was worded substantially the same as-the judgment against Jones et al.
“Lawrence Waterbury and William Marshall to William S. Whitlock.—Satisfaction of mortgage;
State of New York City and County of New York—ss.
We, Lawrence Waterbury and William Marshall, composing the firm of Lawrence, Waterbury & Co., of the city of New York, the mortgagees hereinafter mentioned, do hereby certify that a certain mortgage bearing date the twenty-second day of September, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, made and executed by William- S. Whitlock, of the city of New York, to us to secure the payment of
In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals at the city and county and in the State of Flew York, the 22d day of March, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
Lawrence Waterbtjry, (seal).
Wi. Marshall, (real).
Sealed and delivered in presence of—
Edwin F. Corey, Jr.,
Wi. H. Berners.”
Which cancellation of mortgage -was duly proved for record on the same date of its execution,' and was recorded in the public records of Duval county, Florida, on the 26th day of June, A. D. 1877.
Upon the pleadings and the above stated evidence the cause was finally heard and argued on February 17th, 1892, on which date it resulted in a final decree dismissing the complainant’s bill. From this decree the complainants below have appealed.
All of the questions presented are included in the comprehensive assignment of error to the effect that the decree is contrary to law and equity, is contrary to the'evidence, and is not supported thereby.
The propriety of the decree appealed from, in so far as the defendants, other than William S. Whitlock,
The first of these propositions must be answered 'in the negative. The proof is that the ancestor (Robert M. Shoemaker) of these defendants pui’chased the property in question for a large and valuable consideration in good faith and in full reliance upon the information exhibited to him by the public records as to the status of the title thereto, and that he had no semblance of notice or knowledge of the facts now disclosed by the bill for the first time, to the effect that the last mortgage executed pending the ejectment suits was nothing more than a renewal of the older security for the same unpaid debt. The first mortgage, executed and recorded long prior to the institution of the ejectment suits was made to entirely different parties from-the last one, and there is nothing upon the face of the record as it appeared to the defendants when purchasing that even tended to suggest that the two instruments had any sort of connection or relevancy to
In answer to the second proposition involved, the appellant contends that it is not estopped or precluded by the judgments in the two ejectment suits in favor of the Buckells from enforcing its mortgage executed pending those suits, for the following reasons: 1. Because the description of the property involved in those suits was vague and indefinite, and does not describe the samé land involved in this suit. 2. Because the verdicts and judgments in said suits do not describe any land whatever, and do not adjudicate the quality of the estate they find for the plaintiffs therein. • 3. Because said judgments were not rendered expressly against William S. Whitlock, but only against the co-defendants, his tenants in possession. 4. Because the
The mortgage sought to be enforced by the appellant, executed by William S. Whitlock to Daniel B. Whitlock, and covering the same property involved in those ejectment suits, having been made during the pendency of those suits against William S. Whitlock, is bound and precluded by the judgments in those suits, to the effect that the mortgagor, William S. Whitlock, had no title to the property, and consequently could not give a valid mortgage thereon. Murray vs. Ballou, 1 Johns. Chy. 566; Newman vs. Chapman, 2 Randolph, 93, S. C. 14 Am. Dec. 766, and authorities cited in notes. A purchaser pedente lite is bound by the judgment or decree rendered against the party from whom he makes the purchase, as much as though he had been a party to such judgment or decree himself. Inloes’ Lessee vs. Harvey, 11 Md. 519; Sheridan vs. Andrews, 49 N. Y. 478; Tilton vs. Coefield, 93 U. S. 163; 2 Black on Judgments, secs. 550, 655, and citations; American Exchange Bank vs. Andrews, 12 Heisk, 306; Russell vs. Place, 94 U. S. 606; Castle vs. Noyes, 14 N. Y. 329.
When the defendant’s ancestor, Robert M. Shoemaker, looked into the records to ascertain the status of the title to this property before investing his
The decree below dismissed the bill as to all of the defendants. This was improper, so far as the defendant William S. Whitlock is concerned. He appeared in the case, but put in no defense, and the bill was taken as confessed against him; but inasmuch as the answering defendants showed that the property in their hands was not subject to the lien of the mortgage sought to be enforced, no decree subjecting the property in their hands to foreclosure and sale there
The decree appealed from is affirmed in part, and reversed in part, with directions for the entry of a decree in conformity to this opinion. The costs of the appeal to be paid by the appellant.