135 Iowa 181 | Iowa | 1907
2. Same The appellant further contends that there is nothing to indicate that the above letter referred to the land in controversy. After Eobertson had testified that he was acquainted with this quarter section, he was asked whether he had written the letter to grantees concerning “'the tract of land just described and the price they held it at,” etc. “ Did you write such a letter ? ” and answered, “ Yes, sir; I wrote a letter something like that.” The witness, in characterizing what he wrote, evidently referred to the matter of price and the like, and not to the land. In the absence of anything to the contrary, we think that this evidence, in connection with the letter, sufficiently identified the property.
It is next asserted that, as an admission will not operate to pass title, the proof was inadequate. It is not the admissipn, but the facts admitted, that is relied on to authorize the relief demanded. If Peter Eingler was owner, and defendants merely mortgagees, as stated in the letter, the land should be subjected to the payment of Peter’s debts. Counsel suggest that F. A. Eingler may have intended to-take title for the purpose of permitting Peter to buy the .land of him. Possibly; but there is no proof of this:
The decree, while declaring the claims of defendants but a mortgage, required the grantees to account for rents. They were not shown to have been.in possession, or even to have received rents. The nearest to proof was the evidence of a witness who said he began to act as agent for them five or six years previous. If he ever rented the land, or collected any rents for them, the record does not disclose the fact; and as, under our statute, the mortgagor is entitled to possession, the court erred in crediting any amount as for rents and profits received on the indebtedness to defendants. The decree against Justin Ringler in each case is revered, and modified as to the other defendant.— Reversed in part; modified and affirmed in part.