Mark v. Osmer

Citations

• 138 Pa. 1
• 20 A. 841
• 1890 Pa. LEXIS 1231

Syllabus

<p>[To be reported.]</p> <p>1. When the purchaser of real estate at sheriff’s sale claims to be entitled to the proceeds of the sale as a lien creditor, and the sheriff, without making a special return under the provisions of the act of April 20, 1846, P. L. 411, takes the purchaser’s receipt therefor, the taking of such a receipt is an official act which the sheriff performs at his own risk.</p> <p>2. If, after making such an appropriation of the proceeds of sale, the sheriff learns that there was a prior lien upon the land and is obliged to pay the same, the statute of limitations runs against his right of action to recover from the purchaser the amount so paid, not from the date at which the prior lien was brought to his notice, but from the date when the receipt was taken.</p> <p>8. Where there is evidence that the purchaser, having knowledge of the existence of the prior lien, concealed it from the sheriff, and thereby induced the sheriff to accept Ms receipt, the statute might not begin to run until the discovery of such fraud and concealment; but, when no such fraud is shown, the statute will bar such an action, brought more than six years after the giving of the receipt.</p>