HARRIET E. MCBRIDE, APPELLANT,
v.
G. A. WORLEY AND CHARLES DEERING, APPELLEES
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McBride, as representative of a deceased mortgagee, sought to void a foreclosure decree and subsequent sale on grounds that the deceased mortgagee lacked proper service and appearance in the original foreclosure proceeding, and that his death during the sale process voided the transaction. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal, holding that the foreclosure decree was valid and that a party's death pending sale does not void a confirmed master's deed.
The court held that the foreclosure decree was valid and the sale could not be set aside. The court rejected both grounds: first, that McBride's prior participation in related proceedings and his attorney's six-year representation of him estopped any challenge to the attorney's authority, and the decree had been of record for five years before the challenge was made; second, that death of a junior lienholder pending the sale process does not void a confirmed master's deed, as such matters in pais should not be permitted to unsettle land titles years after confirmation.
“We know of no authority upon which to sustain this contention. Even before final judgment or decree, the holding of the courts seems to be that the death of a party renders the judgment or decree voidable, not void.”
The court's holding that death of a party pending proceedings renders a judgment voidable rather than void, rejecting the argument that McBride's death voided the foreclosure decree.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceIn 1903, Dade County Security Company foreclosed a prior mortgage on property, naming Lee McBride (who held a junior mortgage) as a party. A final for…
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Cockrell, J.
In March, 1912, Harriet E. McBride, as the real and personal representative of Lee McBride, deceased, filed her bill against George A. Worley and wife, Dade County Security Company, Charles Deering and H. F. Atkinson, as Master in Chancery, alleging that in 1903 the Security Company foreclosed a prior mortgage given by' Worley, naming the said Lee McBride, who held a junior mortgage as' a party to the proceedings, which resulted in a final decree for the Security Company on March 8, 1909; that no service was had upon Lee McBride, “neither was his appearance ever entered by anyone lawfully authorized to enter same, and that the said Lee Me- Bride-was not a lawful party to said proceedings;” and pending the process for the sale of the property by the master, Atkinson, the said Lee McBride, died in April, 1909. The property was bought in at that sale by the mortgagee Security Company, and subsequently sold to Deering. The bill prays that the decree be declared void, that the sale thereunder be set aside, and that the property be resold to pay first the mortgage to the Dade County Security Company, and then the mortgage to this complainant. The separate demurrer of Deering was sustained, and the complainant failing to amend her bill, it was dismissed as to Deering.
The complainant in appealing from this decree of dismissal as to Deering has not seen fit to bring before us the Dade County Security Company, and no suggestion is made in her brief as to a possible equity from the charge in her bill as to conspiracy between Deering and the Security Company, and possible trusteeship arising out of that conspiracy, but asserts an equity solely upon the allegations as to want of jurisdiction over the person of Lee McBride prior to the final decree, and to the effect of the unsuggested death of the said McBride subsequent thereto.
The allegation in the bill that Lee McBride’s appearance was not entered by anyone lawfully authorized to enter same is a negative pregnant and repugnant to good pleading. The appellant cites us to the case of Worley v. Dade County Security Co., 52 Fla. 666, 42 South. Rep. 527, wherein it appears that Lee McBride filecL-a demurrer to the bill filed by the Security Company, and upon his appeal here this court reversed the final decree therein entered, and directed the bringing in of new parties. Our records show that proceeding to be the identical one here attacked as void for failing to bring Lee McBride into it. The bill does not allege with positiveness that the attorney purporting to represent Lee McBride in that cause in securing the reversal of that decre acted without authority for him, nor does it intimate that during the sis years of the actual representation by this attorney of Lee McBride in that cause he was in ignorance of the usurped authority, nor -does it allege that Deerin-g, the purchaser from the purchaser of the judicial sale was aware of any fact to indicate that the attorney was without authority. The original decree of foreclosure entered in 1905, as well as the mandate of this court reversing that decree upon the purported appeal of Lee McBride was of record in Dade County for five years or more before this feeble attempt to deny the authority of the attorney successfully representing the said Lee McBride is made.
In fact the appellant relies chiefly upon the second ground, which is that the death of Lee McBride pending the process of advertising the property for sale, avoided the order of confirmation. We know of no authority upon which to sustain this contention. Even before final judgment or decree, the holding of the courts seems to be that the death of a party renders the judgment or decree voidable, not void. See Collins v. Mitchell, 5 Fla. 364-372.
There was no suggestion of the death of Lee McBride presented to the chancellor when the order of confirmation was applied for. To permit master’s deeds to be set aside years after the confirmation of the sale upon matters solely in pais, such as the death of some junior lienholder intervening the final decree and the sale, would be little short of bringing uncertainty into a large proportion of our land titles, and would find no justification in any decision, rendered by this court, , which are all confined to suggestions of death in a cause pending. The decree is affirmed.
Shackleford, C. J., and Taylor, Hocker and Whitfield, J. J., concur. .
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Citizens Bank & Tr. Co. v. Grey, 130 So. 274 (Fla. 1930)…elter himself behind equivocal, evasive, or doubtful terms, and thus mislead complainant, nor behind a general denial which amounts to no more than a negative pregnant or an evasion of the points of substance. 1 Ency. Pl. Pr. 876; McBride v. Worley, 66 Fla. 564, 64 So. R. 235. Where the facts are within defendant's knowledge he must answer positively (1 Ency. Pl. Pr. 876, 932, Bostwick v. Van Sant, supra; Section 4904 (3118), Comp. Gen. Laws of Florida, 1927, an evasive and qualifying answer has been held…
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Izler v. Porter Slyke, 115 So. 516 (Fla. 1928)…ermitting the entry of decree pro confesso the defendant had admitted the allegations of the bill of complaint and had nothing further to defend whereby it would be unnecessary to substitute his legal representatives or heirs. See McBride v. Worley, 66 Fla. 564, 64 So. 235. The chancellor in this cause in vacating the second final decree recited in his order that it was done because "The defendant Henry Sligh was dead at the time of the entry of final decree. Such decree was inoperative then against him,…
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Blanton v. Wm. G. Woodward C. T. A. of the Estate of Clara H. Blanton, 107 Fla. 691 (Fla. 1932)…t answer positively, and an evasive and qualifying answer is not sufficient. If he knows they are true he must admit them. Bostwick v. VanSant, 98 Fla. 565, 124 So. 14; Citizens Bank & Trust Co. v. Gray, 100 Fla. 958, 130 So. 274; McBride v. Worley, 66 Fla. 564, 64 So. 235; 1 Ency. Pl. & Pr. 875; Story’s Eq. Pl. (10th Ed.) Sec. 852, 21 C. J. 471. The portions of the answer stricken do not comply with these most exemplary rules. No sufficient reason appearing for granting a rehearing in this cause the peti…
Authorities Cited
- Worley v. The Dade Cnty. Sec. Co., 52 Fla. 666 (Fla. 1906)
- Collins v. Mitchell, 5 Fla. 364 (Fla. 1853)