Easton v. Littooy

Citations

• 91 Wash. 648
• 158 P. 531
• 1916 Wash. LEXIS 1116

Syllabus

<p>Principal and Agent — Apparent Authority — Collection of Notes — Place of Payment — Possession. Where mortgage coupon interest notes were made payable at the office of agents, it was the duty of the mortgagee to have the coupons there when due, and the mortgagor may assume that the agents are authorized to receive payment, although the coupons were not surrendered at the time of payment, where the agents had been in the habit of demanding and receiving such payments without having possession of the coupons.</p> <p>Same — Authority of Agent — Ratification—Estoppel. A mortgagee who failed to immediately repudiate the authority of agents who had been in the habit of receiving payment of interest coupons without possession of the coupons, upon notice that they had demanded and received a payment, but waited some time for remittance from them until they became bankrupt, is estopped to dispute the agency.</p> <p>Mortgages — Foreclosure—Premature Action — Maturity of Debt, An action to foreclose a mortgage will not be dismissed as prematurely brought, where the mortgagor had given notice to accelerate maturity, tendering unpaid matured interest and principal, and the contest waged was as to whether the debt was paid by the several tenders which had been declined owing to a hona fide dispute as to the authority of agents to receive one of the payments.</p> <p>Mortgages — Discharge — Tender. Although a tender by the mortgagor will discharge the lien, a court of equity will not declare a forfeiture of the lien where refusal of the tender was not unreasonable on account of a bona fide controversy as to a payment made to an agent, and a discharge of the lien would work a discharge of the debt.</p> <p>Interest — Suspension—Tender. Tender of the principal of a mortgage before suit, stops subsequent interest.</p> <p>Mortgages — Foreclosure—Attorney’s Fees — Tender op Debt. Attorney’s fees cannot be allowed on the foreclosure of a mortgage where the suit was the result of the mo