Fisher v. Chaffee

BARNARD, P. J.

This is an action to quiet title and for declaratory relief.

On December 1, 1936, the plaintiff and the defendants Chaffee entered into a written contract for the sale and purchase of a 10-acre orange orchard on deferred payments. The Chaffees took possession and on December 2, 1936, executed a crop mortgage to the defendant Randolph Marketing Company covering the oranges to be produced on the land until the debt was paid. Sometime in December, 1939, the defendants Chaffee, being delinquent in some seven payments called for by the contract, refused to further perform the contract and notified the plaintiff that they would not make any further payments thereunder. Thereupon, the plaintiff took possession of the property and shortly thereafter directed the defendant Etiwanda Citrus Fruit Association to pick the oranges then growing thereon. This association picked that crop and still has in its possession the money accruing from the sale thereof.

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This action was filed on September 6, 1940, the plaintiff praying that her title to the land be quieted and that she be given a judgment declaring that the defendant Randolph Marketing Company has no right, title or interest in and to the returns from the crop of oranges picked during the 1940 season or in the crops growing or to be grown on said land. At the trial, it was stipulated that there was no controversy insofar as the defendant Etiwanda Citrus Fruit Association is concerned and it seems to be conceded that that defendant is merely holding the proceeds of the 1940 crop pending a determination of who is entitled thereto. The court found in all respects in favor of the plaintiff and entered a judgment quieting her title to' the real property and declaring that the defendant Randolph Marketing Company has no lien upon the crops harvested during 1940, or upon any crops to be produced upon the land in question, and further ordering the Etiwanda Citrus Fruit Association to pay the proceeds of the 1940 crop to the plaintiff. From this judgment the defendant Randolph Marketing Company alone has appealed.

It is conceded, as it must be, that appellant’s rights under its crop mortgage are dependent upon whether the Chaffees still had any interest in the property as vendees under the purchase contract. Appellant’s main contention is that the rights of these vendees had not been terminated and that the plaintiff and respondent, who will be hereafter referred to as the respondent, wrongfully took possession of the premises and harvested the 1940 crop. It is argued that the parties had by their contract agreed that, in the event of a breach or default, the rights of the vendees were to be terminated in either of two ways; that the setting forth of these two ways excluded any others; and that the contract was not terminated in either of those ways. The contract provided that in the event of a default the vendor could at her option declare the entire remaining indebtedness due and payable, advertise and sell the property at public auction, either party being allowed to bid, and the proceeds to be applied so far as necessary in payment of the amounts due, with the alternative provision that the vendor might bring an action to recover the entire principal and interest and to foreclose and determine the interest of the vendees. It is conceded that neither of these methods was pursued and the appellant contends that it follows that the respondent has not terminated the contract in the manner provided for therein, and that the same is still in