Altfillisch v. McCarty

207 N.W. 67, 49 S.D. 203, 48 A.L.R. 1270, 1926 S.D. LEXIS 15
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 23, 1926
DocketFile No. 5338
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 207 N.W. 67 (Altfillisch v. McCarty) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Altfillisch v. McCarty, 207 N.W. 67, 49 S.D. 203, 48 A.L.R. 1270, 1926 S.D. LEXIS 15 (S.D. 1926).

Opinion

CAMPBELL, J.

Plaintiff brought his action against defendants to recover on a certain promissory note. The note was made by defendant McCarty, payable to the order of defendant [204]*204Smith, and was by Smith indorsed in blank before maturity, and so indorsed was delivered and transferred to De Smet National Bank, and thereafter plaintiff acquired the same, paying value, but after the maturity thereof. Judgment was rendered against the defendant maker, M'cCarty, by default. The defendant Smith answered that his taking of the note as payee and his indorsement thereon were entirely without consideration, and solely for the accommodation of the De Smet National Bank, and for a second defense that said bank received certain money, which was to be applied upon the note in question, and failed so to apply the same, and of course denying that plaintiff was the owner and holder of the note in due course. Defendant did not submit any testimony at the trial showing or tending to show any payment to De Smet National Bank, which failed to be applied upon said note, but confined his testimony to the defense that he was an accommodation party. The jury returned a verdict for the defendant upon all the issues; plaintiff having moved for directed verdict at the close of the defendant’s testimony and at the close of all the testimony in the case, which motions were denied. Alfter the verdict plaintiff moved the court for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, which motion was likewise denied. Judgment was thereafter entered upon the verdict in favor of the defendant Smith, and from that judgment, and an order denying his motion for new trial, plaintiff appeals.

The evidence clearly shows that appellant was the owner and holder of the note at the time of the trial, and that he paid value for the same at the time it was transferred to him, and was therefore a “holder for value,” as defined in section 1730, Rev. Code 1919. However, he did not acquire the note until after maturity, and therefore cannot rank ,as a holder thereof “in due course,” as defined in section 1756, Rev. Code 1919'. Appellant j resents several close and interesting questions. One of his principal contentions, which we will first examine, is that, being a “holder for value,” though not a “holder in due course,” respondent is liable to him, regardless of the fact that respondent in truth was merely an accommodation party, to' the knowledge of appellant at the time of taking the instrument.

Prior to- the adoption of the Negotiable Instruments Daw, which was first proposed and recommended to the Legislatures of [205]*205the states by the National Conference of State Boaids of Commissioners for promoting Uniformity of Legislation in 1896, and which has now been adopted, with but slight modifications, in some 40 states, it appears to have been the rule in England and in] some states that, when an accommodated party transferred accommodation paper for value, after maturity in good faith, without diversion from its intended purpose, the transferee could enforce the same against the accommodation party, although be took with notice of such accommodation character. The decided weight of American authority, however, seems to have been that a transferee from the accommodated party, taking after maturity, even though giving valuable consideration, had no greater light against the accommodation party than his transferrer. See cases collected in note to- 2 Ann. Cas. 256.

Since 1913, however, we can only concern ourselves with the decision of this question in the light of the Negotiable Instruments Law as adopted in this state. Chapter 279, Laws 1913. Material provisions of that law on this question are as follows:

Section 1730, Rev. Code 1919 (section 26, N. I. L-)1: “Value for Consideration. Where value has at any time been given for the instrument, the holder is deemed a holder for value in respect to all parties who became such prior to that time.”
Section 1756, Rev. Code 1919 (section 52, N. I. L.) : “Holder in Due Course. A holder in due course is a holder who has taken the instrument under the following conditions: 1. That it is complete and regular upon its face. 2. That he became the holder of it before it mas overdue, and without notice that it has been previously dishonored, if such was the fact. 3. That he took it in good faith and for value. 4. That at the time it was negotiated to him he had no notice of any infirmity in the instrument or defect in the title of the person negotiating it.”
■Section 1762, Rev. Code 1919 (part of section 58, N. I. L.) : “Other Than Holder in Dxk Course-Defenses. In the hands of any holder other than a holder in dice course, a negotiable instrument is subject to the same defenses as if it were non-negotiable.” •
Section 1732, Rev. Code 1919 (section 28, N. I. L.) : “Absence or Failure of Consideration. Absence or failure of consideration is a matter of defense as against any person not a holder [206]*206in due course, and partial failure of consideration is a defense pro tanto, whether the failure is an ascertained and liquidated amount or otherwise.”
Section 1733, Rev. Code 1919 (section 29, N. I. L.) : "Accommodation Party. An accommodation party is one who has signed the instrument as maker, drawer, acceptor, or indorser, without receiving value therefor and for the purpose of lending his name to some other person, Such a person is liable on the instrument to a holder for value, notwithstanding such holder at the time of taking the instrument knew him to be only an accommodation party.”'

This question has frequently arisen under the provisions of the Negotiable Instruments Law where the holder of the paper acquired the same before maturity, as was the case in McKinney v. Peters, 41 S. D. 285, 170 N. W. 132; but we have found only two cases squarely considering this matter and containing any discussion thereof, under the terms of the Negotiable Instruments Law, where plaintiff paid value-after maturity, as here; that is, was a “holder for value,” but not a “holder in due course.” Those cases are Marling v. Jones (1909), 138 Wis. 82, 119 N. W. 931, 131 Am. St. Rep. 996, and Rylee v. Wilkerson (1924), 134 Miss. 663, 99 So. 901.

The Wisconsin case holds squarely that the accommodation party cannot defeat recovery, merely on the ground that the paper was accommodation paper, at the suit of a holder for value, though said holder did not acquire the paper until after due. The Mississippi case, on the other hand, takes the opposite view, and after consideration and discussion of the matter says that, construing the Negotiable Instrument Act as a whole:

“Section 29 must be construed as rendering an accommodation party liable to a holder for value only when he became such before the maturity of the instrument.”

These two cases have aroused a considerable controversy. The Wisconsin case has been criticized in an article in 57 U. of P. Law Review, 662, and 26 Harvard Law Review, 493, and supported by Prof. Henning in 59 U. of P. Law Review, 471-532, as pointed out by P'rof. Brannan in an interesting annotation found in Bran-nan’s Negotiable Instruments Law (3d Ed.), p. 122.

[207]*207Upon careful consideration of the matter, we believe that the decision of the Wisconsin court has the support of the better reasoning.

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Bluebook (online)
207 N.W. 67, 49 S.D. 203, 48 A.L.R. 1270, 1926 S.D. LEXIS 15, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/altfillisch-v-mccarty-sd-1926.