Republic Trust Co. v. Hughes

Citations

• 262 Pa. 159
• 105 A. 75
• 1918 Pa. LEXIS 611

Syllabus

<p>Mortgages — Covenants to pay taxes — Breach—Affidavit of defense — Averments—Sufficiency.</p> <p>1. Under the Acts of May 1, 1909, P. L. 800, and June 17, 1913, P. L. 507, imposing an annual tax of four mills on each, dollar on all mortgages, and providing that no failure to assess or return the same shall discharge such owner or holder thereof from liability therefor, the tax imposed by the act is due on a mortgage, even though the same has never been returned for taxation, and has not been assessed as part of the taxable’s property.</p> <p>2. Where in an action of scire facias sur mortgage the mortgage provided that the mortgagor would punctually pay all taxes and the principal and interest or charges in the nature thereof which might be levied on the mortgage, and gave the mortgagee the right of foreclosure for violation of any of the covenants contained in the mortgage, one of the breaches relied upon was the failure to pay taxes, an affidavit of defense alleging that the mortgagors had paid the city and school taxes, and that no tax was laid or levied upon the principal sum or interest money secured by said mortgage, and that none was legally due thereon, was but a partial denial of the breach alleged and insufficient to prevent summary judgment.</p> <p>3. Where in such case it appeared that the mortgage had been given to a trustee to secure the payment of certificates to be issued to the amount of $75,000, that the mortgagors were a firm of stock brokers, and that they had transferred the certificates to a customer to secure the return to him of bonds advanced to them, but where the mortgagors contended that the mortgage had been discharged by reason of a certain agreement between them and their customer, by the terms of which, “all claims that the said (customer), on note or agreement of any kind against the firm of (defendants)........ or against any member of said firm individually, are hereby cancelled and all parties released from future liability”; an