Astoria State Bank v. Markwood

156 N.W. 583, 37 S.D. 56, 1916 S.D. LEXIS 7
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 4, 1916
DocketFile No. 3799
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 156 N.W. 583 (Astoria State Bank v. Markwood) 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
Astoria State Bank v. Markwood, 156 N.W. 583, 37 S.D. 56, 1916 S.D. LEXIS 7 (S.D. 1916).

Opinions

McCOY, J.

On February 2, 1910, defendants, executed and -delivered to one Windherst a series of six promissory notes -for $1,000 each, as part payment for a stock of merchandise sold and delivered to defendants by Windherst. One of said notes was payable on or before Miar-ch 2, 1910; two on or before February 1, 1911; two on- or before February 2, 1911; and one on or before February 2, 1912. One of the notes due on or before February 1, [58]*581911, had indorsed thereon a payment of $200 at the time of its ¡delivery. All these notes were made payable at the James Valley Bank at Huron. Windherst indorsed and delivered to plaintiff, .¡prior to maturity, in good faith, for the consideration of $3,800, four of said notes, namely, the two maturing on of before February 1, 1911, one maturing on or before February. 2, 1911, and ■the one maturing on or before February 2, 1912. Plaintiff instituted this suit to recover on the note maturing February 2, 19x2, alleging nonpayment thereof. Defendants admitted the execution arid delivery of the note, and pleaded as an affirmative partial defense a payment thereon of $511.06. On the trial it appeared, without dispute, that defendants on September 18, 1913, paid on said note to Windherst the siim of $511.06. There was evidence tending to show that Windherst never paid this $511.06 to plaintiff. There was no evidence tending to show that Windherst had actual possession of said note at the time of said payment. At 'the close of the evidence plaintiff moved for á directed verdict on the grounds: (1) That the undisputed evidence shows that the said payment was made to a person not in possession-of the note, ‘arid after defendants' had knowledge that the note had been sold arid'delivered- to plaintiff; (2) that there is' no evidfetlce to show the'relation of principal and agent' between plaintiff and Wind-Tierát ’(’3)-'that the'’note;"'being negotiable, ’could be discharged "diily by 'payment' to the owner or person in possessioh thereof. -The motion to direct a verdict was denied, ánd the issue as to ^udh 'payment was submitted to the jury, and a verdict returned in favor of defendants. The appellant assigns as'error the over-•fiitlmg'of 'such: -motion.'v ■■ r

[1-3] There can be no question /but what .the rule of. law_Js 'th'at a'pegptiabie nóte must be .paid' to .the legal owner and holder 'if the' time -of ''such payment,'' arid that a payment .to .any .other person not in possession of'the rióte will not bind the legaj owri.er and holder, unless the. legal owner has either expressly of by irn-^ficatítíh authorized-such other perso’ir to- ’récélve such payment for 'frimV‘The-person állegingm-uéh 'payment has the brirden 0‘f -slioiw-¡iflg that the-payment was ffiádé fo''a'pér§órí! aüthofized' to receive ;thé same.' Actual authority-df á-'péfsoii'riot the -Owner-or possessor •óf’W-hbfe t<S': receive 'payment riéed-nóTbe éstab'lisliéd':-'by 'dífédt 'testimony, - but"’ may* b-e’ 1'established'-fry dfcümstanceS. ’Reich'.V. [59]*59Kellogg, 8 S. D. 596, 67 N. W. 687; McVay y. Bridgman, 21 S. D. 374, 112 N. W. 1138; Campbell v. Gowans, 35 Utah, 268, 100 Pac. 397, 23 L. R. A. (N. S.) 414, and exhaustive note, 19 Ann. Cas. 660; Bautz v. Adams, 131 Wis. 152, 111 N. W. 69, 120 Am. St. Rep. 1030; Doe v. Callow, 64 Kan. 886, 67 Pac. 824; Hoffmaster v. Black, 78 Ohio St. 1, 84 N. E. 423 ,21 L. R. A(N. S.) 52, 125 Am. St. Rep. 679, 14 Ann. Cas. 877; Doyle v. Corey, 170 Mass. 337, 49 N. E. 651. In this case, as we view the effect of the evidence, the defendants fully met the burden of proof by showing facts and circumstances warranting the trial court in denying plaintiff’s motion to- direct a verdict.

[4] The four notes assigned to plaintiff were executed and delivered at Huron, where defendants and Windherst then resided. Shortly after the making of said notes Windherst -became a resident of Sherman, this state. The plaintiff bank was at all times located in the state of Illinois. The note sued upon in this action was the last to become due of those assigned to plaintiff. The first to- be paid of the notes assigned to- plaintiff was the one due February 1, 1911, on which $200 had been indorsed. On January 30, 1911, defendants paid to Windherst $952, of which $800 was to- satisfy the principal unpaid on this note, and $152 was to apply on the -interest of the other three notes held by plaintiff. Windherst sent this payment to plaintiff, and plaintiff applied1 $800 thereof on the principal of said note, and -the remainder on the interest of the other notes on February 7, 1911, and on that date returned the canceled note to Windherst at Sherman, and thereafter Windherst sent the canceled note by .mail to -defendants. The ether note due February 1, 1911, and' the one du-e February 2, 1911, assigned to plaintiff, were not paid when due, but were paid by -defendants by a check for $2,120 mailed to Windherst at Sherman on February 28, 1912. The plaintiff actually received the payment at its bank in Illinois on .March- 6, 1912, while On March 4th Windherst sent the -canceled notes to defendants from Sherman by mail. Stamped across the face -of each -of these notes appears: “Paid Mar. 1, 1912, Sherman State Bank, Sherman, S. D.” One of the defendants- who had charge of the payment of said notes in substance testified that:

“In making these -remittances to Windherst, I suppose we were making -them- to the owner of -the notes, and did not -know [60]*60anything about the bank’s, ownership' until we received that letter •in March after Windherst’s death.”

The letter here referred toi bears1 date “March 2, 1914.” The witness, continuing, further testified:

“We received a letter from, plaintiff bank about March, 1912, asking us if we 'had made payment to Windherst on our note then due. In this letter they did not claim to1 own the notes, and nothing therein to indicate that they had any interest in them, not any more than possibly making collections for Windherst. We answered, and informed them we had sent the money to Windherst, and had expected a reply if it was not all right, and there was no reply, and we supposed it was all right. We had talked with Windherst a couple of times about extending the time of payment. He said he had put some of our notes up as collateral to a man in Illinois, hut that he was looking after the collection of them himself. We never received any word from the bank granting us an extension of time. All our arrangements were with Windherst.”

An officer of plaintiff bank, among other things, in substance testified, when, explaining why Windherst had been, permitted to collect and send the payments to plaintiff, that most of these payments were sent to plaintiff by Windherst before maturity, and that plaintiff could not say anything* about it until it was due. Other written testimony of plaintiff conclusively shows that all the prior payments of principal on all prior notes were made after ■due; the most of them more than a year after due. This witness for plaintiff further testified that the letters asking for an extension of time came through Windherst to plaintiff; and this witness further testified that the two notes paid by the $2,120 payment might have been sent to the Sherman State Bank for collection, but that they were not sent fe> the James aVlley Bank of Huron, where they were payable, and in which city defendants resided. The letter of March 2, 1914, written to defendants by plaintiff after the death of Windherst, referred to in defendants’ testimony, is as follows:

“our note given to Mr. J. H.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
156 N.W. 583, 37 S.D. 56, 1916 S.D. LEXIS 7, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/astoria-state-bank-v-markwood-sd-1916.