Baker v. Farmers & Merchants State Bank

1926 OK 265, 245 P. 555, 117 Okla. 93, 1926 Okla. LEXIS 736
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 23, 1926
Docket16300
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 1926 OK 265 (Baker v. Farmers & Merchants State Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Baker v. Farmers & Merchants State Bank, 1926 OK 265, 245 P. 555, 117 Okla. 93, 1926 Okla. LEXIS 736 (Okla. 1926).

Opinion

Opinion by

WILDIAMS, C.

The parties herein will be referred to as they appeared in the trial court.

This action was instituted by the plaintiff against the defendants to recover on a promissory note, and to foreclose a mortgage given *94 to secure the same. Defendant in his answer admits the execution of the note and mortgage sued upon, but alleges that is was agreed by and between the defendant and plaintiff that the rents received from the building upon which the mortgage was given should be applied to the satisfaction of the mortgage and note sued upon herein; that $605 was so deposited with the plaintiff and the plaintiff failed to credit the defendants with such amount or any part thereof. Plaintiff replied, denying the allegations of defendant’s answer. The defendant, after issues were joined and before trial, was given permission to amend his answer by interlineation so as to plead payment in full. A jury was waived and the issues submitted to the court. At the conclusion of the testimony, the Ok-mulgee Building & Loan Association filed a disclaimer. Judgment was rendered by the court for the plaintiff in the sum of $1,500, costs, and attorney’s fees. Motion for new trial heard and overruled, and defendant brings error. The defendant urges many ¿rounds for reversal in his petition in error. Only those, however, presented and argued in his brief will be considered.

The first assignment of error argued in plaintiff in error’s brief is as follows:

“The learned trial court erred in rendering judgment against the plaintiffs in error and in favor of the defendant in error for $250 attorney’s fees, or finy other sum, for the reason that said note does not provide for attorney’s fees; and in the absence of a contract therefor, attorney’s fees cannot be collected in a suit; upon a note, and to foreclose a mortgage.”

In the ease of C., R. I. & P. Ry. Co. v. Mashore, 21 Okla. 275, 60 Okla. 630, cited by the defendants, Judge Dunn had before him for consideration the construction of section 6915, Wilson’s 'Rev. & Anno. St. of Oklahoma, which provided for the recovery of attorney’s fees by the plaintiff in case of a recovery, and no provision for recovery by defendant in case he should prevail, and under those circumstances the section was held unconstitutional.

'Section 3877, R. L. 1910, has been construed by this court in the' case of Holland Banking Co. v. Dicks, 67 Okla. 228, 170 Pac. 253. After quoting the above section, which is as follows:

“In an action brought to enforce any lien the party for whom judgment is rendered shall be entitled to recover a reasonable attorney’s fee, to be fixed by the court, which shall be taxed as costs in the action”

—the court said:

“It cannot be questioned that this action was not only to recover upon the note sued upon, but also to enforce a lien which the plaintiff claimed to have on the stock evidenced by the certificates of stock which had been deposited as collateral for the note, and that therefore the defendants having recovered in the action, an attorney’s fee for him may properly be included in the cost.”

The court further says, commenting upon the authorities cited by the defendant in error:

“* * * We do not think these authorities are in point, for the reason that the amount of attorney’s fee in each of said cases is fixed at ten per cent, in the note. In short, the amount of attorney’s fee in said cases was contracted for at a given sum, and hence evidence was not necessary to establish the value of the attorney’s fee involved in said cases.”

In the case of Ardmore Hotel Co. v. J. B. Klein (Iron & Foundry Co., 104 Okla. 125, 230 Pac. 734, the statute was attacked on the ground that it was in conflict with article 5, sec. 59, of the Constitution of the state, and the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The court in the body of the opinion set out a number of cases, cited by the counsel in support of the unconstitutionality o£ tne statute, among which is the case of the Railway v. Mashore, supra, and says:

“The other cases cited in defendant’s brief affirmed the Mashore Case, supra, and are not, we think, applicable to the statute now under consideration, which provides: ‘The party for whom judgment is rendered shall be entitled to recover attorney’s fees;’ and does not specify the plaintiff alone.
“It will be observed that the .attorney’s fees provided for in section 7482, supra, are not fixed and determined by the act, nor imposed strictly as a penalty — but rather in the nature of costs, of which the amount is to be determined by the court.”

The court then closes its discussion of this question as follows:

“We conclude this statute, section 7482, is general in its nature and uniform in its operation, and does not violate section 59, article 5, of the Constitution, and therefore is not open to the constitutional objection urged.”

To the same effect is Scott v. Iman et al., 74 Okla. 13, 176 Pac. 81; Hutchinson Lbr. Co. v. Schrivener et al., 91 Okla. 293, 217 Pac. 854. The last ease on this question by our court is Keaton et al. v. Branch et al., 104 Okla. 287, 231 Pac. 289.

The second assignment of error urged by defendant is as follows:

“The learned trial court erred in not hold *95 ing that while a bank might apply money on deposit toward the payment of any obligation dne from the depositor to the bank, when this matter becomesl an issue, then the burden is upon the bank to show that there was a valid claim due from the depositor to the bank, and it is error to shift the burden from the defendant, requiring the defendant to show that he did not owe the bank any sum or sums.”

It will be observed that in this assignment of error the defendant admits the law to be, that where a bank holds various obligations of a defendant, and money is paid said bank to be applied upon such obligations, and no understanding between creditor and debtor as to what obligations the money so paid is to be applied, it is discretionary with the bank as to which obligation the money so paid is applied.

The defendant Baker testified that he had an understanding with the plaintiff, to the effect that all money derived from rent and paid to plaintiff should be credited upon the note sued upon in the instant case. The cashier of plaintiff’s bank, Mr. Denholm, with whom defendant claims to have had the agreement as to the application of the money received, positively denied such arrangement or agreement. The defendant admits that at the time he borrowed the $1,600 sued upon herein he owed the plaintiff bank two notes, one for $583.86 and one for $1,600. The evidence shows that $500 of the $1,500 borrowed, and for which suit is brought in-the instant case, was left on deposit in the plaintiff bank; that $482.36 of this $500 was applied by plaintiff bank to the payment of interest long past due on previous obligations. There is no contention that this amount was to be applied to the payment of the note sued upon in the instant case. Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
1926 OK 265, 245 P. 555, 117 Okla. 93, 1926 Okla. LEXIS 736, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baker-v-farmers-merchants-state-bank-okla-1926.