BancOhio National Bank v. Abbey Lane Ltd.

469 N.E.2d 958, 13 Ohio App. 3d 446, 13 Ohio B. 536, 1984 Ohio App. LEXIS 11223
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 19, 1984
Docket83AP-336
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 469 N.E.2d 958 (BancOhio National Bank v. Abbey Lane Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
BancOhio National Bank v. Abbey Lane Ltd., 469 N.E.2d 958, 13 Ohio App. 3d 446, 13 Ohio B. 536, 1984 Ohio App. LEXIS 11223 (Ohio Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

Koehler, J.

In October 1980, Robert Hardy, the appellant herein, and J. Phillip Eller obtained a commercial loan from ap-pellee bank in the amount of $25,000. The cognovit note was signed by appellant and Eller both as individuals and as partners in an enterprise called “Abbey Lane, Ltd.”

Subsequent to the debtors’ failure to tender payments as required under the note, appellee took a cognovit judgment against the makers in the amount of $28,094.10 on June 6, 1981. Appellant thereafter successfully moved to vacate the judgment against him pursuant to Civ. R. 60 and asserted various defenses to appellee’s claim.

Based upon the affidavit of one of its officers, appellant’s deposition, the note, and certain letters mailed to appellant and Eller, appellee moved for summary judgment. The trial court sustained appellee’s motion in a March 29, 1983 entry and this *447 appeal was subsequently initiated. Appellant raises four assignments of error as follows:

“1. The Franklin County Court of Common Pleas was in error in failing to recognize the executory accord between BancOhio National Bank (hereinafter ‘BANCOHIO’) and HARDY as a bar to a suit on the original contract.
“2. The Franklin County Court of Common Pleas was in error in failing to find that the Appellant, BANCOHIO had waived its right to insist on HARDY’s payment of the full amount of the Note.
“3. The Franklin County Court of Common Pleas erred in deciding this case on a Motion for Summary Judgment since there are disputed issues of material facts.
“4. The Franklin County Court of Common Pleas erred in deciding this case on a Motion for Summary Judgment since BANCOHIO, the moving party, failed to meet its burden of proof.”

Although appellant has asserted what he contends are four assignments of error, his arguments will be consolidated as described below.

Appellant’s first assignment of error argues that the motion for summary judgment was improperly granted as there was an “accord” reached between the parties which constitutes a “substitute contract” and bars a suit on the original contract.

At his deposition, Hardy testified that:

“* * * in sitting down and talking with the bank concerning the matter, they agreed on that whole program of $12,500 plus interest for each one of us.”

The bank also sent a letter to both Eller and appellant, appellant’s copy of which reads, in part:

“Pursuant to our conversation of March 27, we have scheduled a meeting at this office for 9:30 AM on May 1, 1981, with you and Phil Eller.
“Your half of the loan payment, plus interest, will be $13,857.60 on May 1.
“We will expect you and your Cashier’s Check or Certified Check payable to BancOhio National Bank in the above amount at 9:30 AM on May 1.” (Emphasis sic.)

Appellant argues that his testimony, when combined with the letter, creates a factual question as to whether or not appellee agreed to discharge appellant’s liability for the full amount of the note ($25,000 plus interest) and accept in its place appellant’s 'promise to pay one-half of that amount. Appellant argues that, since there is evidence of the discharge of the original obligation, summary judgment in appellee’s favor against appellant on the original note was improper. We disagree.

Had appellant tendered all or part of the sum described in the bank’s letter at the appropriate time and place using the prescribed method of payment, his argument that his liability on the original note was discharged would be somewhat more persuasive. However, appellant did not show up at the appropriate office of the bank at 9:30 a.m. on May 1, 1981, and has not tendered any money to the bank in payment of the note.

Where there is an accord and satisfaction, the debtor’s original liability will be discharged upon the performance of some agreed duty. See, e.g., Frost v. Johnson (1838), 8 Ohio 393. Here there was no such performance.

At best, what is alleged by appellant’s testimony is an “accord executory,” or an agreement for the future discharge of an existing claim by a substituted performance. 6 Corbin, A Comprehensive Treatise on the Working Rules of Contract Law (1962) 71, Section 1268 (hereinafter “Corbin”). An accord ex-ecutory is not in itself at once operative as a discharge of a claim unless the agreement itself specifically provides therefor. Corbin, supra, Section 1269, at 75.

In this regard, an accord executory generally resembles what is called a “unilateral contract,” or the exchange of *448 a promise for a performance. A creditor promises to discharge a debt upon the debtor’s performance of a certain act, usually the deliverance of a lesser sum of money or some valuable object to the creditor, or the performance of some service. The creditor does not want to give up his right to sue the debtor for the full amount owed in exchange for the debtor’s promise to deliver something of value to him. Rather, he wants possession of the money or object, or a performance of the service, before discharging the debt.

In the case at bar, reading appellant’s testimony and the bank’s letter most strongly in appellant’s favor, we must conclude that there is nothing evidencing an intention on the part of the appellee to discharge the appellant’s liability for $25,000, plus interest, in exchange for appellant’s promise to pay onedialf of that amount. Indeed, at best, there may have been an “accord executory” through 9:30 a.m., May 1, 1981, but appellant’s failure to tender the sum agreed upon at that time would appear to have caused the termination of that agreement.

As noted above, there must be a clear indication of a creditor’s intention to discharge a debt in return for a debtor’s promise to pay a lesser sum in order to enforce such an agreement. Absent such clear indicia of intent, we must hold that only the performance of the requested act, not the mere promise to perform, can discharge the debt. As there is nothing in the record which tends to prove that ap-pellee intended to discharge appellant’s liability on the original note prior to the requested performance, we cannot conclude that the trial court erred in determining that appellant was liable for the full amount of the loan. Accordingly, appellant’s first assignment of error is without merit and is hereby overruled.

Appellant’s second assignment of error asserts for the first time in this case that appellee has waived its right to assert a claim on the original contract. Appellant’s answer below asserted the defenses of “accord,” “estoppel,” and that the appellant signed the note solely as an accommodation party. These defenses were addressed by the appellee in its memorandum in support of its motion for summary judgment, and by appellant in his memorandum in opposition to appellee’s motion for summary judgment.

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Bluebook (online)
469 N.E.2d 958, 13 Ohio App. 3d 446, 13 Ohio B. 536, 1984 Ohio App. LEXIS 11223, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bancohio-national-bank-v-abbey-lane-ltd-ohioctapp-1984.