135 Minn. 443 | Minn. | 1917
In 1907 William Sauntry owned an undivided half of 40 acres of land in St. Louis county. On December 31, 1907, Sauntry and his cotenant gave to defendants Bennett and Longyear a 50-year mining lease of said land, by the terms of which Bennett and Longyear agreed to pay for the first four years a minimum rental or royalty of $20,000 per year, payable quarterly.
On October 1, 1908, Sauntry and wife gave a mortgage covering his half interest in the land, and in the mortgage there was inserted a clause that the mortgagors “sell, assign, transfer, set over and convey” the “mining lease” and all of their right, title and interest therein, “including all rights, rents or royalties thereunder” after January 20, 1909. This mortgage was foreclosed by advertisement, and the lands sold September 20, 1910. The certificate of sale, as far as concerns the lease and rents and royalties, follows the language of the mortgage.
On October 5, 1911, plaintiffs Orr, Stark and Collett, as judgment creditors of Sauntry, redeemed from said mortgage foreclosure sale and became vested with the title to the land described. A season of litigation followed. During part of the year of redemption, and during the ensuing litigation, the lessees did not pay the rents or royalties provided by the mining lease. Plaintiffs brought this suit against them to recover the amount accrued during the year of redemption and since that time. Thereupon the other defendants, as rival ^claimants of said fund, were impleaded, and the lessee defendants deposited the whole amount due with the Security National Bank of Minneapolis, a depositary designated by the court. The right of plaintiffs to the rents and royalties accruing after the time for redemption expired was unquestioned, and by stipulation of the parties the amount deposited, except $7,750, was paid over to plaintiffs, and it was stipulated that, if the defendants or any of them are entitled to recover a greater sum than $7,750, judgment may’ go against plaintiffs for the excess. Sauntry is now deceased and the ad
Plaintiffs concede this to be the rule as to rents and profits of land in general, but contend a different rule should apply to rents or royalties due under a mining lease, because under a mining lease the lessee takes only a qualified possession, leaving the lessor in possession of the surface, save as it must be disturbed for mining purposes, so that the lessee may operate, and one other than the morgagor might collect the rents without much disturbance to the possession of the mortgagor. Howell v. Cuyuna North. Ry. Co. 127 Minn. 480, 149 N. W. 942. We cannot recognize any such distinction. The statute is not to be narrowly construed to the prejudice' of the mortgagor. It does not contemplate any division with the mortgagee of his right of possession. It gives to him the full usufruct of the mortgaged land until his rights therein are completely barred by foreclosure of the mortgage and expiration of the period of redemption.
Mention of the lease in the judgment was not of importance. The benefits accruing and obligations arising under the lease run with the land, and an adjudication of title to the land adjudged the rights accruing under the lease as well. Boeing v. Owsley, 122 Minn. 190, 205, 142 N. W. 129.
Question is raised as to the validity of this judgment because it contains some amendments which were incorporated, as the record on its face shows, upon the stipulation of parties other than Sauntry.
We do not find it necessary to examine this contention, for it is very plain that there are no words in the judgment which lend any color to the claim that it adjudicated upon the right of plaintiffs to the money which had become due from Bennett and Longyear to Sauntry under this lease before the expiration of the right of redemption from the mortgage sale. On its face the judgment settled the rights of the parties only as of the time of its entry. Taken in connection with the whole record in the case, it doubtless established the right of plaintiffs from the time of the accrual of their title, namely, the conclusion of the redemption period. Swank v. St. Paul City Ry. Co. 61 Minn. 423, 63 N. W. 1088. Sauntry,-in that action, disavowed any claim of title to the land or any interest in it. But he did not allege that he never had owned it. On no theory can it be said that the judgment entered adjudicated upon the right of Sauntry to money demands which accrued to him under the mining lease prior to the completion of the foreclosure and prior to
For purposes of such new trial we may say that it is not important in this case whether the lease provides for payment of rent or royalties quarterly in advance or at the end of quarterly periods. No controversy between owner and lessee is presented. The important question here is, not how the court might think Bennett and Longyear should have paid their rent, but how they in fact did pay it. Whether they paid their rent to Sauntry down to September 30, or December 31, 1910, is a matter doubtless easy of ascertainment as a fact, without resort to deduction or theory. On another trial it may be so determined.
Judgment reversed and new trial granted on issue of amount of defendant administrator’s recovery.