Barnett v. Stewart Lumber Co.

547 S.W.2d 788, 1977 Ky. App. LEXIS 638
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedFebruary 18, 1977
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 547 S.W.2d 788 (Barnett v. Stewart Lumber Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barnett v. Stewart Lumber Co., 547 S.W.2d 788, 1977 Ky. App. LEXIS 638 (Ky. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

HOWERTON, Judge.

This action originated in the Floyd Circuit Court on April 3, 1972 when Stewart Lumber Company filed an action seeking to recover $3,000.00 from Junior Martin, which was the outstanding balance due the company from the sale of a sawmill to Martin and W. H. Guinn. Martin answered the complaint, and filed a third party action against the Appellants and W. H. Guinn, as third party defendants. Martin alleged that the Appellants and Guinn had contracted with him for the purchase of his interest in the sawmill and that, in so doing, the Appellants had assumed the $3,000.00 debt owing to the Appellee Stewart Lumber Company.

The case was tried before a jury. At the close of the evidence presented by Martin, the Court directed a verdict on the contract between the lumber company and Martin, in favor of the lumber company, in the sum of $3,000.00 with interest at the rate of 6% from June 13, 1973 until paid.

At the close of the evidence by the Appellants, the Court directed a verdict as a matter of law on the agreement between Martin and the Appellants to pay the debt owing the lumber company in favor of Martin, and against the Appellant Robert Barnett. In the judgment, the Court set over the claim and ordered Robert Barnett to pay Stewart Lumber Company the sum of $3,000.00 with said interest.

The jury then considered the evidence and concluded that the agreed sale price for cash was $1,364.75, of which Robert Barnett was to pay $1,114.75 and W. H. Guinn was to pay $250.00.

The Court had previously determined that Robert Barnett, together with Donnie Barnett, had paid Martin the sum of $800.00, and that Martin had retained for his own use refunds from the telephone company in the amount of $35.00, and the electric utility company in the amount of $370.00 which he had agreed to give to the buyers. The Court allowed Barnett a eredit of $1,002.50 on the purchase price and entered judgment directing Robert Barnett to pay Martin the sum of $112.25 with interest at the rate of 6% from June 13, 1973.

The Court also entered a default judgment against W. H. Guinn for the sum of $250.00 less a credit of ½ of the refunds, or $202.50, plus a credit of $21.00 for lumber belonging to Guinn and taken by Martin, leaving a balance of $26.50. At the time Martin acquired the refunds, Guinn owned of the sawmill. Guinn subsequently sold his interest to the Barnetts.

The Appellants have set forth eight errors. Some will be stated and considered separately, while others will be grouped together.

The first allegation of error is that the trial court failed to enter a directed [790]*790verdict in favor of Donnie Barnett. The basis claimed for this error is that Donnie Barnett had nothing to do with the transaction for the purchase of the sawmill from Junior Martin. Unfortunately, for Donnie, he did not allege this fact as a ground for a directed verdict when he made his motion to the trial court. This Court has consistently held that failure to specify a particular ground for a directed verdict forecloses appellate review of the trial court’s denial of the motion. Hercules Powder Corporation v. Hicks, Ky., 453 S.W.2d 583 (1970); Gulf Oil Company v. Vance, Ky., 431 S.W.2d 864 (1968).

Even if the alleged error had been properly preserved for review on appeal, the record indicates that there was probative evidence for a jury to consider that Donnie was involved in the transaction. For one thing, the evidence indicated that it was Donnie who wrote the check for $799.00 as part payment for the purchase, and it was also proven that the negotiations for the sale by Martin were in the presence of both Appellants.

The Appellant, Donnie Barnett, had made himself a counter-claimant against Junior Martin in this action. The judgment of the trial court dismissed the counter-claim of the Appellants against Martin, and the only judgment entered against the Appellant Donnie Martin was to pay a proportionate share of the cost of the action. The judgment in favor of the Appellee Martin was otherwise against the Appellant Robert Barnett.

The next contention of the Appellants is that the alleged assumption of the $3,000.00 note was not in writing and is therefore barred by the Statute of Frauds. In support of this contention, the Appellants cite KRS 371.010(4).

There was, in fact, another note in the sum of $2,000.00 which from the proof was apparently assumed by the Appellants as a part of the consideration for the purchase of the sawmill. The payee for this additional note was not a party to the action, and no final disposition was made of this note such as was with the $3,000.00 debt owing to the Appellee Stewart Lumber Company. We therefore make no disposition on this note at this time. The Appellants did raise the same issue regarding the $2,000.00 note in their brief. There was ample proof throughout the trial that the assumption of both notes constituted a part of the consideration for the purchase of the sawmill.

We have a situation where possession has been taken of the property of Junior Martin and a part of the consideration has been paid. Martin has vacated the property and the Appellants now attempt to avoid additional payment on the ground that the debts incurred by Martin for his own acquisition of the sawmill were not in writing. It should also be noted that it is not Stewart Lumber Company attempting to force payment by the third parties, but it is Martin.

KRS 371.010(4) applies only to enforcement by the payee and not by the debtor whose obligation was assumed by another. Williston, Contracts, § 460 (3rd Ed., 1960); Corbin, Contracts, § 395 (1950). Furthermore, if one promises to pay the debt of another in order to further some purpose of his own, as to acquire a sawmill, such promise is not within the section. Miller v. Davis, 168 Ky. 661, 182 S.W. 839 (1916). Ordinarily, a promise to pay the debt or default of another when not in writing is prohibited by the Statute of Frauds, but there are many exceptions. It has often been held that where the consideration for the agreement to pay the debt of another redounds to the benefit of the promisor, the Statute of Frauds does not apply as it would be inequitable and unfair to permit one to receive and enjoy the benefits of a promise and then evade his part of the obligation because the promise was not in writing.

The Appellants third contention is very much like their second, in that they argue that the assumption of the notes was invalid because the sale contract was over $500.00 and not in writing, as required by [791]*791KRS 355.2 — 201. Subsection (3) of the Statute provides:

A contract which does not satisfy the requirements of subsection (1) but which is valid in other respects, is enforceable

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547 S.W.2d 788, 1977 Ky. App. LEXIS 638, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barnett-v-stewart-lumber-co-kyctapp-1977.