In equity. Bill by Loretta Shropshire and Alexander C. Shropshire against John Fisher and William Lyle, executors, and Esther Lyle, sole devisee of John Lyle, deceased, to establish and enforce a vendor's lien, and for an accounting. Decree for complainants. 31 Fed. Rep. 694. Reversed and remanded, with direction to enter a decree for complainants for a less amount.
Statement by Mr. Chief Justice FULLER: In 1876 Mrs. Loretta Shropshire owned in her own right 540 acres of land in Iowa, derived from the estate of a former husband, 40 acres of which constituted her homestead. May 1, 1877, she borrowed from the German Savings Bank of Davenport, Iowa, $10,000 for 3 years, with interest at the rate of 10 per cent. per annum, payable semiannually, and she and her husband, Alexander C. Shropshire, executed a mortgage on the 540 acres. Judgments were rendered against her for various sums, and her brother, Alexander Rhinehart, became her surety upon a bond for a stay of execution. The stay having expired, all the real estate of Mrs. Shropshire, except her homestead, was held for sale, subject to the prior mortgage of the bank.
The statute of Iowa provides that 'in no action where the defendant has * * * stayed execution on the judgment shall he be entitled to redeem.' McClain, Ann. Code, § 4331. In February, 1878, Mrs. Shropshire applied for assistance to John Lyle, and it was arranged between her brothers, Alexander K. and Jehu Rhinehart, and herself, that Jehu Rhinehart should bid in the property at the sheriff's sale, and, if she succeeded in raising the amount of the judgment, that he should deed the land to her or to whomsoever she might direct. Lyle thereupon advanced to Mrs. Shropshire $4,250, and Jehu Rhinehart executed to him a quitclaim deed, dated March 28, 1878, for 500 acres of the land purchased at the sheriff's sale, for the expressed consideration of $4,250, and Mrs. Shropshire and her husband executed to Lyle a quitclaim deed for the 40 acres of land constituting the homestead tract dated March 20, 1878, and expressing a consideration of $1,000.
May 1, 1878, Mrs. Shropshire and her husband executed to Lyle a quitclaim deed of the entire tract, the consideration named being $14,250. May 1, 1879, Lyle purchased, and took an assignment of, the German Savings Bank mortgage. Mr. and Mrs. Shropshire continued in the possession of all the lands deeded to Lyle until January 1, 1881, when the property was surrendered to him, and he and those claiming under him have continued in possession from thence hitherto.
The original bill in this case was filed by Mrs. Shropshire, February 26, 1883, in the district court of Jasper county, Iowa, in which county the lands were situated, against John Lyle as sole defendant. On March 1, 1883, Lyle conveyed the lands to his grandson, George Lyle, and he took possession on the next day. The cause was then removed to the circuit court of the United States for the southern district of Iowa, on September 14, 1883, on the application of John Lyle, upon the ground that he was a citizen of the state of Illinois, and the plaintiff, Mrs. Shropshire, was a citizen of Iowa. The bill was amended January 15, 1886, by making A. C. Shropshire, the husband, a party complainant, and on August 27th of that year, the bill was further amended. The bill, as amended, in substance alleged that the advancement by John Lyle of $4,250 was a loan; that the quitclaim deeds of Rhinehart, Mrs. Shropshire, and her husband were intended simply as mortgages to secure the amount of the loan; that upon that loan and the German Savings Bank mortgage various payments had been made; that John Lyle, being the holder of the quitclaim deeds and the savingsbank mortgage, bought the lands in question of Mrs. Shropshire at the price of $42.50 per acre, and took possession of the same about January 1, 1881; and that there was a large amount of the purchase price still due, which defendant had neglected and refused to pay. The bill prayed that an account be taken of the amount due complainants, that the defendant be decreed to pay the balance due upon the purchase price of the land, and that a vendor's lien be established therefor, and for general relief.