87 Iowa 648 | Iowa | 1893
— On the nineteenth day of January, 1885, the defendant, Edward Robinson, made to James R.- Leach two promissory notes for five hundred dollars each, and two interest coupons for forty dollars each. One of the principal notes was due on the nineteenth day of January, 1888, one of the coupons was due one year later; and the other principal and coupon notes were due on the nineteenth day of
The only question to be determined is whether the tax deed to Yan Wagenen was valid, as against the mortgage held by the plaintiff. The mortgage provides that the mortgagor shall pay all taxes which had been or should be levied upon the land. On the eighteenth day of April, 1888, Yan Wagenen became the owner of Robinson’s interest in the land, by virtue of a sheriff’s deed, issued to him on “that date. The sale under which it was issued was made to satisfy a decree in favor of F. M. Slagle & Co., and against Robinson and wife, foreclosing a mechanic’s lien on the mortgaged premises. On the twenty-sixth day of May, 1888, a second sheriff’s deed to the premises was issued to Yan Wagenen, under a sale made to satisfy a judgment rendered against Robinson in favor of one McKugo.
It is not necessary to determine the exact date of the delivery. The evidence satisfies us that the arrangement with the mother was not completed, and the deed delivered to her, until several weeks after the certificate of tax sale was assigned to Van Wagenen, and that, for the purposes of this action, he must be regarded as the owner of the land, or as holding the legal title for himself and his partner at the time the assignment to him was made. We are therefore required to determine the effect of-that assignment. The appellee contends that it operated.as a redemption of the land from the tax sale; while the appellant insists that Van Wagenen was under no obligations to pay the taxes for which the land was sold; that it was not his duty to redeem from the sale; and that he had a light to regard the interest he acquired by virtue of the assignment of the certificate as separate and distinct from the title he obtained through the sheriff’s deeds.
Neither Van Wagenen nor his assignors, Miller & Thompson, had any interest in the land when it was sold for taxes, and owed no duty to the state to pay those for which it was sold. When, the certificate of sale was assigned by Miller & Thompson, they owned a judgment which was rendered in their favor, and
When the appellant purchased the land the records-of the county disclosed facts which should have apprised him of the defects in Yan Wagenen’s title and of the plaintiff's claims, and he has shown no ground for equitable relief. The.decree of the district court is.correct, and is affirmed.