| Fla. | May 18, 1955
Plaintiff-appellant sued to foreclose a certain note and mortgage executed by defendants-áppellees, Julius Friedman and Eleanor Friedman, his wife, in the principal amount of $25,000. Defendants filed separate Answers and Counterclaims, alleging that the note and mortgage were executed under threats, duress and undue influence and prayed for cancellation of the note and mortgage. The cause was referred to a Special Master who took testimony. Julius Friedman is a lawyer, and he and the plaintiff invested money in a corporation which failed financially.. He averred that the plaintiff threatened him with disbarment and criminal prosecution ■if he did not pay plaintiff back the money which plaintiff had invested in the corporation. Eleanor Friedman testified that plaintiff had told her about his intended action if the investment was not returned, and she stated that she signed the note and mortgage to preclude plaintiff from pursuing the matter further against her husband. The Special Master made detailed findings and recommended that the mortgage be cancelled as to both defendants and that the note be cancelled as to Eleanor Friedman. Exceptions, were filed by both plaintiff and defendants to the Special Master’s Report; these exceptions were overruled, and the Court entered its Order in accordance with the recommendations of the Special Master.
This Court has repeatedly held that a finding of fact in an equity case will not be disturbed on appeal in the absence of manifest error. There are conflicts in the testimony taken before the Special Master, which conflicts were resolved in his findings of fact. He concluded that the mortgage was procured under duress and that the mortgage was therefore void. The mortgage encumbered the home owned by the defendants as an estate by the entireties..
No manifest error being made to appear on the questions of fact, the order of the lower court be, and the same is hereby affirmed.