Harbel Oil Co. v. Steele

This is an appeal from a judgment in favor of the defendants, Horace Steele and Ethel Steele, Texas Independent Oil Company, a corporation, and Blakely Oil Incorporated, a corporation, and against the Harbel Oil Company, a corporation, as plaintiffs. Texas Independent Oil Company, a corporation, is the successor in interest to the assets and liabilities of Texas Independent Oil Company, a co-partnership, composed of the defendants Horace Steele and Ethel Steele. This is the fifth time this matter has been on appeal. The proceedings upon which this appeal is based were had after the matter had been remanded by the Supreme Court of Arizona, in the case of Harbel Oil Company v. Steele, 83 Ariz. 181, 318 P.2d 359 (1957). A reading of that decision is essential to an understanding of the matter now before us. In short, the Supreme Court of Arizona held that the various property involved in this action could only be foreclosed by court action as far as the realty was concerned, and as far as the mortgaged property was personal, the foreclosure could only be by sale. The Supreme Court of Arizona also held that the defendants were mortgagees in possession subject to the plaintiff mortgagors equity of redemption. The matter was before the Supreme Court again in the case of Harbel Oil Company v. Superior Court of Maricopa County, 86 Ariz. 303, 345 P.2d 427 (1959). The Supreme Court of Arizona stated in that case: