Stoeckle v. Rosenheim

Citations

• 10 Del. Ch. 195
• 87 A. 1006
• 1913 Del. Ch. LEXIS 20

Syllabus

<p>A junior mortgagee may pay off the prior lien for his protection and be substituted for the creditor.</p> <p>• A demand for payment of the prior mortgage is sufficient to establish the right of redemption of the junior mortgagee, who pays the prior mortgage for his protection, without the necessity of his waiting for legal proceedings.</p> <p>Where a first mortgage, which has been paid by a second mortgagee and satisfied by mistake, is thereafter reinstated, it is entitled to priority over a third mortgage, given before the satisfaction of the first, since the .third mortgagee did not acquire his rights upon the credit of the satisfaction.</p> <p>As a general rule, equity will not grant relief from a mistake of law; but where a person is ignorant of his legal rights, and enters into some transaction affecting such rights, equity will treat the case as analogous to a mistake of fact, and grant relief.</p> <p>Where a lienholder has acquired the legal title to the property, on which there is a subsequent lien, equity will preserve the prior lien, without merger for his protection.</p> <p>Where the holder of a second mortgage, who had acquired the legal title to the premises, paid the first mortgage, and secured a satisfaction of record thereof under a mistaken belief that a third mortgage had been satisfied by execution against the personal property of the debtor, and all the rights of the third mortgagee can be protected by the decree, the Chancellor will restrain foreclosure under the third mortgage, pending a proceeding by the second mortgagee to have the property sold to satisfy his mortgage, even though the true facts might have been ascertained by him from the records.</p> <p>A mortgage which has been satisfied by mistake may be reinstated as a lien by a court of equity, in order to grant relief from the mistake, if no superior equities exist.</p>