Abernathy v. McCrummen

146 S.W. 665, 1912 Tex. App. LEXIS 315
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 17, 1912
StatusPublished

This text of 146 S.W. 665 (Abernathy v. McCrummen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Abernathy v. McCrummen, 146 S.W. 665, 1912 Tex. App. LEXIS 315 (Tex. Ct. App. 1912).

Opinion

GRAHAM, C. J.

This is an appeal, brought to this court through writ of error proceedings, from a moneyed judgment, including a foreclosure of deed of trust lien on lands, rendered in the district court of Lubbock county on July 28, 1910.

The record shows that L. M. McCrummen is the wife of John McCrummen, deceased, and, as independent executrix of his estate, brought suit against M. G. Abernathy and his wife, M. D. Abernathy, to recover the balance, including interest and attorney’s fees, due on a certain promissory note, of date September 28, 1906, due on its face on or before three years after its date, bearing 10 per cent, interest per annum, and providing for 10 per cent, attorney’s fees, and signed byM. C. Abernathy and Mollie Dl Abernathy, and payable on its face to John Mc-Orummen, and to foreclose a deed of trust lien on certain lands on which the lien "had been created by a deed of trust, executed by M. G. Abernathy and M. D. Abernathy to secure the payment of said note; allegation being made that the note had credits indorsed thereon of date and amounts as follows: September 28, 1908, for the sum of $766.42; February 11, 1908, for the sum of $3,221.93; November 3, 1909, for the sum of $500. That M. G. Abernathy and wife answered by a general demurrer, a general denial, and pleaded that they were entitled to credits on the note sued on in the sum of $500, being the value of 2% shares of bank stock converted by John McCrummen, dividends on said bank stock in the sum of $475, converted by John McCrummen, $2,285.31, the aggregate value of three notes, executed by W. T. Jennings and payable on their face to F. E. Whellock, for $733.33% each, bearing 8 per cent, interest per annum, and $2,000 paid on one note, executed by F. E. Whellock, payable on its face to M. G. Abernathy and M. D. Abernathy, and transferred by them to John McCrummen; allegation being made that all of said sums were received by John McCrummen in his lifetime, under a contract to apply the same as a credit on the note sued on. That plaintiff below replied by supplemental petition containing a general demurrer, a special exception, and a general denial.

The trial below was had before the court, without a jury, who rendered judgment for plaintiff against defendant M. G. Abernathy for the sum of $4,731.47, with 10 per cent, interest per annum thereon from the date of judgment, and in favor of plaintiff and against both of the defendants for a foreclosure of the deed of trust on the land.

The record shows that John McCrummen and M. G. Abernathy had many business dealings between themselves from about the year 1905 up to the time of the death of John McCrummen; and some question was sought to be raised during the trial as to the proper application that should be made of the moneys and other things of value that are shown by the record to have passed from Abernathy to McCrummen. As the record *666 successfully shows, however, that all evidences of indebtedness by Abernathy or his wife to John MeOrummen had been settled prior to the death of MeOrummen, except such balance as may have remained unpaid on the note sued on, we will not discuss the testimony as to other transactions between MeOrummen and Abernathy, except in so far as they may throw light upon the question of the amount of credits to which the note sued on was entitled; and, as plaintiffs in error bring the case before this court on three assignments of error only, we will confine our discussion of the evidence to the questions raised under said assignments; they being as follows:

(1) “The court erred in not crediting the defendants M. G. Abernathy and Mollie D. Abernathy with the sum of $2,285.31, shown to have been paid to John MeOrummen in the transfer of three certain promissory notes, executed by W. T. Jennings and payable to the order of F. E. Whellock, of date July 22, 1907, for the sum of $733.33% each, and by said Whellock transferred to defendants below, and by them transferred to John MeOrummen, which were to have been credited as payments for the full amounts thereof on the note sued on in this cause.”

(2) “The court erred in not crediting the defendants with the sum of $2,000, shown'to have been paid to John MeOrummen on the 11th day of February, 1908, by the transfer of the note executed by F. E. Whellock for said sum, and by these defendants transferred and delivered to said John MeOrummen, to be credited upon the note herein sued upon.”

(3) “The court erred in not giving to the ■defendants credit for all sums shown to have been paid by them to the said John McCrum-men on the note sued on in this case.”

Plaintiffs in error submit each of said assignments as a proposition, and we will discuss and dispose of them together, as we are of the opinion that they must each be overruled.

The statement of the case above made shows most clearly that the only issue on the trial below was the amount of credits to which the note sued on was entitled; and, as defendant in error makes no complaint in this court as to the credits allowed by the trial court in rendering its judgment, we will not inquire into the credits allowed any further than may be necessary in disposing of the contentions of plaintiffs in error, and will ascertain from the statement of facts whether or not plaintiffs in error have furnished proof conclusive of the fact that the note sued on was entitled to credit of either or both of the sums mentioned in the first and second assignment of error, or any part of either, and, if so, whether plaintiffs in error have also furnished proof conclusive that such sum,'or sums, was not included in the credits allowed by the court in reaching the conclusions on which the judgment was rendered.

[1] We will not consider the third assignment, for the reason that same is too general, and does not sufficiently point out an error to require a consideration thereof at our hands under the rules.

Aside from the credits indorsed on the note sued on, we find nothing in the record from which it can be certainly known, either as to the date for which the credit should be given, or the amount thereof, as to any of the credits which plaintiffs in error contend, under their first and second assignments, they were entitled to and were not allowed; and we are therefore unable to say, with any degree of certainty, just what items the trial court did allow, or the date from which he allowed them, as a credit, though counsel for both plaintiffs in error and defendant in error, in their briefs, as well as in oral argument before this court, appear to have proceeded on the idea that the trial court in rendering his judgment allowed as credits each of the items indorsed on the note in amount and as of their dates, respectively, and, in addition, also allowed as a credit the value of 2% shares of bank stock, together with certain dividends paid thereon, including, also, certain dividends paid on 10 other shares of bank stock.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that plaintiffs in error have failed to show from the record conclusively what items of credit the court below allowed in rendering its judgment, and we will therefore proceed to see if there is any theory under the facts proven on which the judgment rendered below can be sustained; and, if so, under the record as it comes before us, it is our duty to affirm the judgment rendered below.

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Bluebook (online)
146 S.W. 665, 1912 Tex. App. LEXIS 315, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/abernathy-v-mccrummen-texapp-1912.