Bates v. Snider

Replevin. Trustee. Judgment. If a trustee recovers in replevin the property conveyed to him to secure a debt, the judgment should be for the property or its value, not to exceed what will pay the legal charge upon it.

Appeal from the Circuit Court of Grenada County. Hon. Sam Powel, Judge. At. the trial of an action of replevin by the appellee, trustee in a deed of trust executed by the appellant’s firm, to secure a creditor, the evidence tended to show payments upon the debt secured, and the court refused to charge for the defendant : (1) that if the jury believed that the defendant was indebted on the mortgage debt they should find in their verdict the amount so due; and instructed the jury for the plaintiff, (2) that they were not called upon to determine the amount Bates & Bro. owed the creditor, but the only question was whether they owed him anything covered by the deed of trust. Logical premises must be followed to their legitimate conclusions, although they lead to a novel application of old doctrines. A trustee’s interest in the property covered by the trust-deed, which is a mere security for debt, is limited to the right to protect the secured creditor. Buck v. Payne, 52 Miss. 279; Freeman v. Cunningham, 57 Miss. 67. Between the grantor and trustee exists a relation- like that between the bailor and bailee in an hypothecation, as to whom it is held that the verdict in replevin should assess not the value of the pledge, but the interest of the pledgee. Lloyd v. Goodwin, 12 S. & M. 223 ; Jones v. Hicks, 52 Miss. 682. The general owner in either case has a right, which is unaffected by the verdict, to redeem by paying the secured debt. If full payment is pleaded, the jury must pass on the account in any case, and they are as well qualified to decide questions of partial satisfaction. In order to end the litigation and benefit the litigants, the verdict should be so framed in these cases that the debtor can pay the sum due and retain his property. It is provided in Code 1880, § 2622, that, if the plaintiff’s interest is special, the jury shall assess its value; and, as no benefit can result by doing through the slow and expensive process of a trustee’s sale what can be done by immediate payment, this statute and these principles should be so applied as to compel the jury to find the sum due. In replevin by the trustee, to which the beneficiary is no party, the question is whether anything is due on the trust-deed and not the amount of the indebtedness. When a mortgagee or the bailee of a pledge brings this action, the verdict, under Code 1880, § 2622, should assess the sum secured. Jones v. Hieles, 52 Miss. 682. A trustee, on the contrary, is the owner of the property with power to sell for the mutual benefit of the grantor and the beneficiary, the chosen agent of both, and by the terms of the contract he is entitled to the possession. Payment to the mortgagee or pledgee is satisfaction of the debt, but no debt is due to the trustee. The creditor is not before the court, which, without jurisdiction of his person, can bind him by no verdict fixing the amount of his claim. The property or its full value is the measure of the recovery; for the deed of trust is the law of the transaction, and it cannot be altered or amended by the court, in the absence of one of the contracting parties.