82 So. 655 | Ala. Ct. App. | 1919
This was a suit for the conversion of cotton by the mortgagee against a warehouseman, and was tried upon an agreed statement of facts by the court without the intervention of a jury.
On January 2, 1914, one Graham became indebted to the plaintiff, and to secure the indebtedness executed a mortgage on personal property, including "his entire crop of cotton grown in Elmore county during the year 1914." At this time Graham lived in Elmore county on a tract of land owned by himself, which he was farming, and during the year 1914 Graham raised a crop consisting of cotton and other farm products. The defendants, during the year 1914, were warehousemen in the town of Eclectic, and were doing a general warehouse business for the public, weighing and storing cotton for hire. They received from Graham 15 bales of cotton of various weights, which cotton was raised by Graham during the year 1914, in Elmore county. This cotton was stored in their warehouse, and receipts therefor were given to Graham. The cotton remained in the warehouse for a period of two or three weeks, and then Graham presented to the defendants their receipts, and demanded and received the cotton into his possession. Graham thereupon carried the cotton away to some other place, and made disposition of it unknown to any of the parties to this suit. The mortgage was duly recorded in Elmore county. The court rendered judgment for the defendants.
In order for the plaintiff to be entitled to recover in this suit, the burden would be on it to show that the cotton claimed to have been converted was property described in the mortgage held by it. In other words, unless the facts are sufficient to show that this cotton was grown by Graham, the mortgagor, or under his direction, in Elmore county, on lands owned by him, or in which he had some interest at the time of the execution of the mortgage, the plaintiff would have no specific lien or title to the cotton sued for. Windham Co. v. Stephenson,
It is insisted by the appellant that the delivery of the cotton by the defendants to Graham, the mortgagor, after constructive notice of plaintiff's mortgage, rendered the defendants liable to the plaintiff for the conversion of the cotton. In support of this proposition plaintiff's counsel have cited a line of authorities in line with the decision in the case of Hudmon v. Du Bose,
"It has long been settled that an agent who intermeddles with the goods of another is guilty of conversion, if the same act of intermeddling by his principal would, under like circumstances, have rendered the latter liable in trover. If it was the wife's ring, and she gave the husband no authority to dispose of it, and he turned it over to Melton, he would be liable for a conversion. Therefore the mere fact that the defendant turned the ring over to Melton with the consent of Sullivan did not bring the case within the exception to the rule as laid down in the case of Nelson v. Iverson,
As against the whole world except the mortgagee, the mortgagor is regarded as the owner of the property mortgaged, and has therefore the right to maintain an action against a third person for its conversion. Stephens v. Head,
We find no error in the judgment of the court or in the record, and the judgment is affirmed.
Affirmed.