26 Colo. App. 475 | Colo. Ct. App. | 1914
On the 1st day of October, 1902, The Ancient Order of Emethachavah, a communistic corporation, through Franklin P. White, 'C’Chief and its sole trustee, purchased from James W. Weir of Denver, Colorado, lots 16 and 17 in block 2 in Weir Addition, State of Colorado, for $1,200 and gave 70 serial notes in payment therefor. The said Weir executed and delivered a warranty deed conveying said lots to Franklin P. White as sole trustee and C’Chief of The Ancient Order of Emethachavah. The deed contained the following notice
“A vendor’s lien, however, is hereby expressly retained by said first party on the above described property, until all of said notes, aggregating twelve hundred dollars, are fully paid, when this deed shall become absolute.”
Three hundred and sixty dollars of the purchase price was afterward paid to Weir, leaving some $840' evidenced by that series of said notes from 27 to 70, both inclusive, unpaid, with interest thereon. On the 10th day of January, 1908, said White as sole trustee of The Ancient Order of Emethachavah, by quit claim deed, for $1.00 and other consideration, conveyed said lots to his principal, The Ancient Order of Emethachavah. On. the 31st day of January, 1910, the said Franklin P. White, sole trustee and C’Chief of The Ancient Order of Emethachavah conveyed said lots.from himself, as trustee, to himself, as an individual, for the consideration of $1.00 and other valuable considerations. Said Franklin P. White as an individual did on the 9th day of February, 1912, long after the commencement of this suit, enter on the margin of the record of his said quit-claim deed, in the recorder’s office, a claim of homestead, and avers, first: That the promissory notes given for the purchase money of said lots were the personal notes of said White, and denies that The Ancient 'Order of Emethachavah ever assumed to- pay or become responsible for the payment thereof; second, that he holds, a homestead on said premises, which is superior in right to the claim of the defendant in error; third, that on the 25th day of November, 1907, he was, by a U. S. bankruptcy court, in Denver, Colorado', discharged and released from all of his debts, and asks that the defendant in error be restrained and enjoined from selling said lots for the payment of the purchase money, for the reasons aforesaid. A reply denied the allegations in the answer of plaintiff in error, and set up much new matter. Judge Whitford of the Denver District Court took the evidence and, upon the final hearing, denied the relief
Taking the original deed of these lots with the above instrument, and the purpose seems self-evident to. create an equitable lien for the purchase money for these lots. All of the defenses, to the enforcement of this equitable mortgage or lien are purely technical, contrary to equity and fair dealing, and untenable in a court of equity.
The evidence discloses that the Denver Fraternity of Emethachavah, a voluntary association, was organized in 1898, and the same was incorporated on the 18th day of March, 1901, under the name of The Ancient Order of Emethachavah. The articles of incorporation provide that The Ancient Order of Emethachavah shall be the chief organization, and all other organizations shall be subordinate to' it and shall be under its jurisdiction and control. The articles provide for a .C’Chief, who. shall hold his office during 'his natural life, or until his successor is. .appointed and qualified, and. shall be manager of the corporation, and all the title to the property of the corporation shall be vested in him as sole trustee. He is given power to. appoint his own successor and advisory director, and is. the sole trustee of the organization. The only other officer provided for by the articles of incorporation is an advisory director, without power other than as advisory. The articles further provide that all members of the corporation talcing the holy covenant degree of the order shall, upon taking such degree, yield up., grant, convey, remise, release, quit-claim, assign and transfer to. the C’Chief all of the property of such member so- taking such degree, of every name or nature, real, personal and mixed, which said property shall thereupon become the property of the C’Chief to be heldl by him in trust for this corporation as aforesaid. The C’Chief is given sole power to. provide by-laws for the corporation. The articles also, provide that no organization bearing the name of Emethachavah or words
The evidence is convincing that, after the incorporation of The Ancient Order of Emethachavah, the C’Chief adopted and generally used the name “Denver Fraternity of. Emethachavah” -as the business designation or name in which the corporation did business up until late in the year 1904, when conditions made it -desirable for him to use the name “The Ancient Order of Emethachavah.”
It is insisted by counsel that a homestead filing takes preference of a general lien on real estate, and we are cited tO' authorities holding that where the abstract of a judgment of a court of record is filed in the recorder’s office as a general lien on the real estate of the judgment debtor, the general lien must give way to the proper filing of a homestead on a specific piece of property to the value of $2,000. That is quite trae. If it were otherwise, the holder of a general lien might maintain the same against property many times the value of its incumbrance, and wait for years before making a levy on a specific piece of property for the satisfaction of his claim;, and thereby postpone the rights of those entitled to a homestead during the continuance of his lien. However, if a lien holder neglects to subject a specific piece of property to a levy immediately upon the filing of a general lien covering 'all of the property of a judgment debtor, then one entitled to a homestead right may defeat his lien in part, at least, by filing a claim of homestead preceding such levy: Weave v. Johnson, 20 Colo. 366-67, 38 Pac. 374; Jones v. Olson, 17 Colo. App. 365-71, 67 Pac. 349.
The lien in this case, however, is not general, but specific and fastened upon the lots purchased and for the purchase money. Claims for purchase money on real or personal property make the equities of the holder of such claims doubly strong and such claims are usually excepted by statute from the exemption laws: 21 Cyc. 509.
Under the conditions of this record, we think it clear that these notes were intended to be, and were, the notes of The Ancient Order of Emethachavah; that the notice of vendor’s lien in the deed and written agreement constituted a valid
Finding no reversible error in the record, the judgment and decree of the trial court is hereby affirmed.
Affirmed.