International Harvester Co. of America v. Myers

Citations

• 86 Kan. 497
• 121 P. 500
• 1912 Kan. LEXIS 327

Syllabus

<p>syllabus BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Mortgage — Record Title in Mortgagor- — Equitable Owners in Possession — Notice to Mortgagee. Among the many facts shown and found by the court were the following: Two minor sons rented a farm of their father, adjoining the home place. Later they, with an elder brother, bought it and continued to work it and improve it, they and their mother still living on the home place, the parents having been divorced. The deed was taken in the name of the elder brother, who did not work the land, but went into business in another county. The deed was recorded. He used the land as a basis of credit and later mortgaged it to secure a mercantile debt. The mortgagor’s agent inquired of him as to possession and was told that no one lived on the place but’ that the two brothers rented it. An examination of the records by the agent disclosed the record ■ title in the mortgagor. In the meantime the two brothers had come of age and had worked and improved the land, asserting that each owned a one-third interest therein, and this was generally understood in the neighborhood; they were ignorant of their brother’s use of the land to obtain credit and of his execution of the mortgage. That ordinary diligence by way of inquiry in the neighborhood or of either of the brothers in possession would have revealed their claim but that no such inquiry was made. The court adjudged that the brothers, William and Henry, held their interests in the land unaffected by the mortgage of plaintiff. Held, not error.</p> <p>2. Equitable Title — -Possession —■ Claim, of Ownership - — ■ Evidence. When the possession and use of the land by the two brothers had been shown it was competent to prove the neighborhood notoriety of their claim of ownership.</p>