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72 N.Y. 575

Morris v. . Tuthill

New York Court of Appeals

Decided February 19, 1878

New York Court of Appeals · decided 1878-02-19

Tuthill. The action was brought to foreclose two mortgages executed by the defendant to one Woodhull, assigned by his administrators to plaintiff. The first answer was demurred to; demurrer sustained with leave to defendant to amend. He served an amended answer, a portion of which was tricken out.

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

““The facía that the assignor of a mortgage and his assignee acted in concert with the view, unnecessarily , to harass and oppress the mortgagor, and with intent to prevent payment, to the end that the equity of redemption might he foreclosed, and they become purchasers for less than the value, do not constitute a defense to an action to foreclose a mortgage. So, «Iso, the facts that the assignee took title from motives of malice, and solely with the view to bring an action, and that the assignor assigned from a like motivo, and without consideration, furnish no defense, and do not impeach plaintiil’s title. It is sufficient to sustain the action, that the mortgage debt is due, has been transferred to, and is owned by, plaintiff; and the mortgagor can only arrest the action by paying or tendering the amount due.””

quoted by 1 later decision, including Toler v. East Tennessee, V. & G. Ry. Co.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1878-02-19

How this case has been cited

Cited by 34 later decisions (2 by the Supreme Court) — most recently November 1982 · most notably Dickerman v. Northern Trust Co. (1900), Bitterman v. Louisville & Nashville Railroad (1907)

1 federal appellate · 28 state decisions

100187818801890190019101920193019401950196019701980decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Per Curiam.

¶1 The facts stated in the second answer of the appellant as amended, unexplained and uncontradicted, might justify the inference that the plaintiff and the former holders and owners of the mortgages in suit have acted in concert, with a view unnecessarily to harass and oppress the appellant, and with intent to prevent the payment of the amounts due upon the securities, to the end that the equity of redemption might be foreclosed, and they become the purchasers of the fee of the property for less than its value. But they do not tend to show that the mortgages have been satisfied or that the full amount claimed is not due thereon, or that the plaintiff is not the legal holder and owner, and entitled to maintain this action. The proceedings for the foreclosure by advertisement, and the means taken to obstruct and embarrass the appellant in his efforts to raise the money to redeem his property and prevent the sale, may be laid out of view, as these proceedings were discontinued.

¶2 The motives of the former owner of the mortgages in selling, or of the plaintiffs in buying them, are not material, and the appellant has no concern with the consideration of the assignment. It is sufficient that the mortgage debt is due, and has been transferred to and is now owned by the plaintiff. He may have bought it from motives of malice toward the defendant and solely with a view to sue upon them, and the former owner from a like motive may have transferred them without consideration, but this would not constitute a *578 defense to the action. The appellant can only arrest the action by paying the amount due, or tendering the same and bringing it into court. The facts statéd do not constitute an equitable defense to the mortgages, or impeach the plaintiff's title.

¶3 The matters stated are wholly irrelevant, and the answer was properly stricken out.

¶4 The order must be affirmed.

¶5 All concur. .

¶6 Order affirmed.

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