Trower v. Bernard

Citations

• 37 Fla. 226

Syllabus

<p>EQUITY PRACTICE—IGNORING' INFORMAL PLEADING—REFERENCE TOmaster—who to make order of.</p> <p>1. When the defendant to a bill for foreclosure of mortgage interposes a plea to such bill, but fails] to verify it by oath, and fails to have it certified by his counsel as being, in his opinion, well-founded in law, the complainant has a right to ignore such a plea, and to treat it as no plea at all, and to enter decree pro oonfesso for want of any pleading.</p> <p>2. The order of reference to a master to take testimony in a chancery cause should be made by the judge, and not by counsel in the cause.</p> <p>3. After a decree pro oonfesso is properly entered in a foreclosure •suit, where there is no complicated accounting to be had, the judge can hear such evidence, ex parte the complainant, as is necessary to determine the reasonableness of attorneys’ fees contracted by the mortgage to be paid in the event of its foreclosure, and as to the amount paid out by the complainant for taxes and to keep the property in repair, and can himself compute the amount due for principal and interest on the mortgage, and thereupon render a final decree, without any reference of such matters to a master to take such evidence.</p>