[DOWNLOAD] "Malden Trust Co. v. George Et Al." by Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Malden Trust Co. v. George Et Al.
- Author : Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
- Release Date : January 07, 1939
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 64 KB
Description
LUMMUS, Justice. This is a bill to reach and apply, under G.L.(Ter.Ed.) c. 214, § 3(7). The debt owed by the defendants Arial W. George and his wife Sarah H. George is a balance upon a mortgage note after the foreclosure of the mortgage. Demurrers of the several defendants to the bill were sustained, and the plaintiff appealed. From the consequent final decree dismissing the bill without prejudice, the plaintiff likewise appealed. The plaintiff asserts, with strong indication in the record of the truth of the assertion, that the defendants answered as well as demurred, and that the facts were heard by a master who filed a report. That report was not confirmed, and without confirmation it settled nothing. North Carolina Railroad Co. v. Swasey, 23 Wall. 405, 410, 23 L.Ed. 136. Under Rule 28 of the Superior Court (1932) demurrers and answers in equity are normally filed at the same time, if not indeed included in the same document, and under that practice an answer cannot operate as a waiver of a demurrer. Fogg v. Price, 145 Mass. 513, 14 N.E. 741. A demurrer may be filed even after answer, by leave of court. Rule 28 of the Superior Court (1932); Equity Rule 8 (1926; 252 Mass. 603); Keown v. Keown, 231 Mass. 404, 405, 121 N.E. 153. The plaintiff contends that going to hearing before the master waived the demurrers. That may be the effect of voluntarily proceeding before a master without first setting down a demurrer for hearing. Fairbanks v. Newhall, 222 Mass. 598, 600, 111 N.E. 385; Attorney General v. Onset Bay Grove Association, 221 Mass. 342, 346, 109 N.E. 165; Berenson v. H. G. Vogel Co., 253 Mass. 185, 187, 148 N.E. 450; Luciano v. Caldarone, 255 Mass. 270, 272, 151 N.E. 70. But in this case the record does not disclose that the defendants went before the master voluntarily, without first seeking to have their demurrers heard. The Judge may have compelled them to try the merits first, as in his discretion he had a right to do. If so, the demurrers were not waived. Pearson v. Mulloney, 289 Mass. 508, 511, 194 N.E. 458. De Veer v. Pierson, 222 Mass. 167, 174, 110 N.E. 154. The plaintiff's appeal from the order that the answers and the master's report be omitted from the record for appeal as immaterial has not been argued and is therefore waived.