Angel v. Bullington (330 U.S. 183)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided February 17, 1947 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 330 U.S. 183 · 67 S. Ct. 657
- Docket
- No. 31
- Argued
- March 5, 1946; reargued November 18, 1946
- Decided
- February 17, 1947
- Term
- October Term 1946
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Frankfurter
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
- Precedent
- This decision overruled or formally altered earlier precedent
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Vinson, Justice Burton, Justice Douglas, Justice Frankfurter (wrote), Justice Black, Justice Murphy
- Dissenting
- Justice R. H. Jackson, Justice Reed (wrote), Justice Rutledge (wrote)
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Frankfurter delivered the opinion of the Court. In 1940, Bullington, a citizen of Virginia, sold land in Virginia to Angel, a citizen of North Carolina. Only part of the purchase price was paid. For the balance, Angel executed a series of notes secured by a deed of trust on the land. Upon default on one of the notes, Bullington, acting upon an acceleration clause in the deed, caused all other notes to become due and called upon the trustees to sell the land. The sale was duly made in Virginia and the proceeds of the sale applied to the payment of the notes. This controversy concerns attempts to collect the deficiency. Bullington began suit for the deficiency in the Superior Court of Macon County, North Carolina. Angel countered with a demurrer, the substance of which was that a statute of North Carolina (c. 36, Public Laws 1933, Michie’s Code § 2593 (f)) precluded recovery of such a deficiency judgment. This is the relevant portion of that enactment: “In all sales of real property by mortgagees and/or trustees under powers of sale contained in any mortgage or deed of trust hereafter executed, . . . the mortgagee or trustee or holder of the notes secured by such mortgage or deed of trust shall not be entitled to a deficiency judgment on account of such mortgage, deed of trust or obligation secured by the same: . . . .” The Superior Court overruled the demurrer, and…
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