Patterson v. Patterson case brief

Patterson v. Patterson case brief summary
59 N.Y. 574 (1875)

CASE SYNOPSIS

In an action to foreclose a mortgage executed by defendant mortgagee to plaintiff executrix's testator, the mortgagee appealed a judgment of the General Term of the Supreme Court in the First Judicial Department (New York) that affirmed a judgment in favor of the executrix. The mortgagee also sought to have the amount of the testator's burial expenses offset the recovery against the mortgagee.

CASE FACTS
The mortgagee extended the mortgage in exchange for a bond that required the mortgagee to pay the testator an annuity in the testator's lifetime and, within four months after the testator's death, pay the executrix a proportional sum derived from the amount of time between the last annuity payment and the testator's death.

DISCUSSION

• The court modified and affirmed the judgment. 
• 2 N.Y. Rev. Stat. p. 87, § 27, implied that the executrix was to pay burial expenses. 
• Although the mortgagee was not entitled to a setoff of claims due against the testator during the testator's lifetime, the mortgagee, in light of the agreement with the testator, was entitled to be paid from the estate's assets in the executrix's hands the amount of the testator's burial expenses from the estate's assets in the executrix's hands.

CONCLUSION
In the executrix's action to foreclose on a mortgage, the court modified the judgment for the executrix by allowing the mortgagee a setoff as to the testator's burial expenses. The court otherwise affirmed the judgment.

Suggested law school study materials

Shop Amazon for the best prices on Law School Course Materials.