Allin v. Williams

32 P. 441, 97 Cal. 403, 1893 Cal. LEXIS 555
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 25, 1893
DocketNo. 19076
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 32 P. 441 (Allin v. Williams) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Allin v. Williams, 32 P. 441, 97 Cal. 403, 1893 Cal. LEXIS 555 (Cal. 1893).

Opinion

Harrison, J.

In February, 1888, ten individuals, including the plaintiff and the defendant herein, borrowed upon their individual credit the sum of ten thousand dollars, for the use and benefit of- the Pasadena Lake Vineyard, Land, and Water Company, a corporation in which they were interested (five thousand dollars thereof from the San Gabriel Valley Bank, and five thousand dollars from a Mrs. Banta), for which they gave their joint and several notes. About a month afterwards, the corporation paid to the defendant a sufficient sum of money therefor, for the purpose of taking up the notes and repaying the sums thus advanced, and the defendant deposited the same with the San Gabriel Valley Bank, to the credit of “B. Williams et al.” He immediately paid the loan that had been made by the bank, but Mrs. Banta refused to accept the money on her note, for the reason that it would not mature for nearly a year, and thereupon the money for its payment, viz., $5,221.98, was left in the bank to the aforesaid credit. Prior to this time, the defendant had contracted to sell to one Webster certain real property in Pasadena, and Webster had contracted to sell a portion of the same property to one Wilson. Webster was owing defendant five thousand dollars on his contract of purchase, and Wilson was owing to Webster a little more than this amount on his contract with him; and on April 18, 1888, in pursuance of an arrangement between them for the purpose of liquidating these several obligations, the defendant made a conveyance of the land to Wilson, Webster uniting therein; Wilson executed to the defendant his note for five thousand dollars, payable February 10, 1889, and secured the same by a mortgage upon the land, made to the defendant, as trustee [406]*406for the ten individuals who had signed the Banta note; and on April 21st the defendant transferred the aforesaid sum of $5,221.98 from the account of “R. Williams et al.” to his own personal account in the same bank. In September of that year, several of these individuals expressed a dissatisfaction with his acts relating to the money, and thereupon the defendant, acting through his attorney, Wright, who was one of the ten, surrendered to Wilson the aforesaid note and mortgage, and took from him a new note for five thousand dollars, maturing February 10, 1889, payable to “R. Williams or order,” together with a mortgage on the same property, securing its payment, and on the same day indorsed the note to the order of "“John Allin, as trustee,” the plaintiff herein, and assigned the mortgage to him, “in trust for the benefit” of the ten contributors, naming them. After the Wilson note had matured, the plaintiff brought an action thereon, making Wilson and the defendant herein defendants in the action. Wilson suffered default, and the plaintiff, having dismissed the defendant herein from the action, took judgment against Wilson for the amount of the note, and for a sale of the mortgaged property. Upon the sale under that judgment, the property was bid in by the plaintiff for the sum of $2,400, and the sheriff returned a deficiency judgment of $3,737. Thereupon the plaintiff, as trustee for the benefit of the ten contributors, brought this action to recover from the defendant the amount of this deficiency.

1. The action against the defendant is for the purpose of enforcing his liability as an indorser upon the Wilson note. The averments of a recovery of judgment in the action against Wilson, and of the proceedings thereunder, are for the purpose of showing that a portion of the note has been paid, by subjecting the security given therefor to a sale, and thus determining the amount to be recovered from the defendant. The right to maintain an action against the indorser of a note whose payment has been secured by a mortgage given by the maker, after judgment has been recovered against [407]*407the maker in a suit to foreclose, was established in Vandewater v. McRae, 27 Cal. 596.

2. The court finds that Wright, who was the defendant’s attorney, by whom the indorsement "was made, was fully authorized to indorse the note, and there was sufficient evidence before it to authorize this finding. Aside from the general power of attorney which he had given him, the defendant directed Wright, at the time he was leaving the state in September, just after objection had been made by the contributors to his disposition of the money, to fix the matter up to suit those who were making those objections, and while he was absent from the. state he sent a telegram to Wright to exercise his best judgment in arranging the matter. In addition to this, the defendant himself, after his return to Pasadena, indorsed upon the note a waiver of payment, presentment for payment, protest, and notice of protest, and the court was authorized to treat this act as an affirmance and ratification of the prior indorsement by his attorney.

3. The appellant contends that his indorsement of the note to the plaintiff was without consideration, and merely for the purpose of transferring the title thereto, and that he did not incur the liability of an indorser.

An indorser may show, as between himself and his immediate indorsee, that the indorsement was made merely for the purpose of transferring the note from a nominal holder to the true owner, as from an agent to his principal, or that the circumstances under which the indorsement was made were such as would render it inequitable to enforce an indorser’s liability against him (McPherson v. Weston, 85 Cal. 90); but in any such case the burden of establishing such a defense to the apparent liability attendant upon his indorsement rests upon the indorser. The court below found, upon evidence which we think amply sustains its finding, that the indorsement on the said note was made for the purpose of making the said defendant liable as an indorser of said note, and giving to the persons for whose benefit the plaintiff prosecutes this action the additional [408]*408security of such indorsement, and was made and received in settlement of the differences which existed between the defendant and the said persons, and that it is untrue that said indorsement was without consideration.”

When the money was placed in the hands of the defendant, he was but a mere depositary thereof for the purpose of paying the Banta note, and after Mrs. Banta had refused to accept it until the note should mature, he still held it in trust for the ten contributors, without any authority to make any other disposition of it. Although some of these contributors expressed an opinion that the money ought not to lie idle, but should earn as much interest as they were paying to Mrs. Banta, still the defendant does not claim to have had any express authority to make a loan of it, but seeks to uphold his action by showing that there was a general desire that it should be loaned. He does not claim to have spoken specifically to more than three or four of the contributors, and they contradicted his statement, and, as well as the others, testified that the loan to Wilson was made without their knowledge. Under this evidence the court was authorized to find that the making of the loan to Wilson was his own act, and those for whom he held the money had the right to hold him responsible for any loss.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
32 P. 441, 97 Cal. 403, 1893 Cal. LEXIS 555, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/allin-v-williams-cal-1893.