O. S. VAN HUSS, ET AL.,
v.
THE PRUDENTIAL INSURANCE COMPANY OF AMERICA

Fla. | 1936-02-21
Whitfield, C. J., and Brown, J., concur., Ellis, P. J., and Terrell and Buford, J. J., concur in the opinion and judgment.
123 Fla. 20 Florida Supreme Court (1936) Positive Treatment
Also reported at: 165 So. 896
Cited by 15 cases

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Synopsis

The Florida Supreme Court affirmed a foreclosure decree in favor of Prudential Insurance Company against multiple defendants on a mortgage note. The court upheld the enforceability of the mortgage despite questions about the validity of execution by some defendants, including an insane person whose guardian had signed.


Holding

The mortgage was enforceable as to the sane defendants in full and as to the insane defendant V. V. Van Huss to the extent of $10,000.00 due to an obligation originated while he was still sane. The institution of suit to foreclose constituted valid exercise of the mortgagee's acceleration clause option. Procedural errors regarding the motion to dismiss and the failure to set a redemption period were harmless error.


Key Quotes

“The institution of the present suit to foreclose for the entire debt was, under the peculiar language of the acceleration clause involved in this case, in effect the exercise by complainant of the mortgagee's reserved option to declare the whole of the principal sum and interest secured by the mortgage due and payable.”

Establishes that filing the foreclosure suit constitutes valid exercise of the acceleration clause option

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Facts & Procedural History

O. S. Van Huss, Sarah M. Duggan, J. R. Duggan, and V. V. Van Huss (adjudicated insane) executed or purported to execute a mortgage to secure a debt of…

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Opinion of the Court
Davis, J.

Davis, J.

This is an appeal from a final decree of foreclosure of a mortgage rendered in favor of the Prudential Insurance Company of America, by which decree it was' held by the chancellor that the mortgage sought to be foreclosed was duly signed, witnessed, acknowledged and delivered in all respects as required by law by the defendants, O. S. Van Huss, Sarah M. Duggan and husband, J. R. Duggan, and was therefore of full binding force and effect' in its entirety as to said defendants, and each of them, but' was without force añd effect insofar as the mortgage in question had been executed by C. V. McClurg, as guardian' for an insane defendant, V. V. Van Huss, under purported authority of the Probate Court of Polk County; that the; execution and acknowledgment of the mortgage by the defendant, V. V. Van Huss, in person, subsequent to his adjudication as a monomaniac was of no legal force as to said; defendant; but that the mortgage in this suit foreclosed; was, however, enforceable as against the insane defendant,. V. V. Van Huss, to the extent of $10,000.00, because of the" obligation therefor having been originated in his behalf by virtue of an authority therefor given while said V. V. Van Huss was still sane; and decreed that Prudential Insurance Company of America was entitled to have enforced a mort-. gage lien against the premises described as subject to foreclosure for the amounts of $30,450.00 principal, $4,567.00., interest to August 1, 1935; the sum of $1,317.19 for delin-' quent taxes; $23.40 for abstract fees; and $3,550.00 attorney's fees for complainant’s solicitors.

There was no error in allowing the mortgage to be fore-' closed for the whole .amount of the mortgage debt, part of *22which was not matured except by virtue of an acceleration clause which defendant contends was not properly exercised.

The institution of the present suit to foreclose for the entire debt was, under the peculiar language of the acceleration clause involved in this case, in effect the exercise by complainant of the mortgagee’s reserved option to declare the whole of the principal sum and interest secured by the mortgage due and payable. Gus’ Bath, Inc., v. Lightbown, 101 Fla. 1211, 135 Sou. Rep. 300; Douglas Properties v. Stix, 118 Fla. 354, 159 Sou. Rep. 1; Corlett v. Wood, 81 Fla. 510, 88 Sou. Rep. 268. Compare: Treb Trading Co. v. Green, 102 Fla. 238, 135 Sou. Rep. 510, wherein a different situation was dealt with.

The chancellor should have expressly disposed of the pending motion to dismiss the bill of complaint before, or in connection with, his entry of a final decree on the merits. But his failure to do so was, at most, harmless error in this particular case in view of the fact that appellant by his appeal from the final decree has had the benefit of a review of the chancellor’s implied refusal to dismiss the bill of complaint, which refusal we find was entirely justified on the record, considering only the face of the bill of complaint to which the motion tO’ dismiss was addressed.

The failure of the chancellor to set forth in his final decree of foreclosure a definite date for the barring of appellants’ equity of redemption, while contrary to the settled practice, and indeed erroneous as a matter of procedure, was nevertheless harmless error in this particular case. This is so because of the entry herein of an order staying proceedings on the final decree and allowing supersedeas, the' effect of which was to postpone the foreclosure sale pending the final decision of the appeal entered from the final decree.

Where no particular period for making satisfaction of *23the mortgage indebtedness is specified in a foreclosure decree for the barring of a defendant’s equity .of redemption, the privilege of redemption may be exercised' as a matter of right at any time prior to the issuance of a master’s deed to the purchaser at the foreclosure sale, unless the court shall, by its further decree, otherwise specifically direct.

Reversible errors not having been made clearly to appear, the final decree is affirmed.

Affirmed.

Whitfield, C. J., and Brown, J., concur.

Ellis, P. J., and Terrell and Buford, J. J., concur in the opinion and judgment.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • …exercised at any time prior to entry of the order confirming the sale, unless otherwise directed by the trial court. Quinn Plumbing Company v. New Miami Shores Corporation, 100 Fla. 413, 129 So. 690; Huss v. Prudential Insurance Company of America, 123 Fla. 20, 165 So. 896; Holloway v. Sewell, 140 Fla. 464, 191 So. 825; Rosen v. Hunter, Fla.App.1969, 227 So. 2d 689. This right of redemption evolved from the [*845] common law. Connor v. Connor, 59 Fla. 467, 52 So. 727. § 45.031(1), Fla.Stat., F.S.A., as n…
  • Rosen v. Hunter, 227 So. 2d 689 (Fla. 3d DCA 1969)
    …irst be noted that the right to redemption is an inherent incident to any mortgage. Quinn Plumbing Company v. New Miami Shores Corporation, 100 Fla. 413, 129 So. 690; 73 A.L.R. 600. In the case of Van Huss v. Prudential Insurance Company of America, 123 Fla. 20, 165 So. 896, the court [*691] therein held that where a foreclosure judgment does not state a particular period in which the mortgage indebtedness must be satisfied, the privilege of redemption by the mortgagor of his equity in the property may be…
  • Scarfo v. Peever, 405 So. 2d 1064 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981)
    …. v. Nickel, 62 So. 2d 702, 704 (Fla.1952). . See August Tobler, Inc. v. Goolsby, 67 So. 2d 537 (Fla.1953); Murray v. Stalnaker, 154 Fla. 64, 16 So. 2d 650 (1944); Seligmann v. Bisz, 123 Fla. 493, 167 So. 38 (1936); Van Huss v. Prudential Ins. Co., 123 Fla. 20, 165 So. 896 (1936); Liles v. Savage, 121 Fla. 83, 163 So. 399 (1935); Douglas Properties v. Stix, 118 Fla. 354, 159 So. 1 (1935); Stegemann v. Emery, 108 Fla. 672, 146 So. 650 (1933); Jaudon v. Equitable Life Assur. Soc. of United States, 102 Fla.…

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