Baut v. Donly

67 N.E. 503, 160 Ind. 670, 1903 Ind. LEXIS 122
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedMay 26, 1903
DocketNo. 20,019
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 67 N.E. 503 (Baut v. Donly) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Baut v. Donly, 67 N.E. 503, 160 Ind. 670, 1903 Ind. LEXIS 122 (Ind. 1903).

Opinion

Jordan, J.

Action by appellee on two promissory notes, bearing date December 1, 1897, executed by Martin and John Baut, each for $175, payable to appellee at the First National Bank of Michigan Cjlty, Indiana. Upon the issues joined there was a trial by jury, and a verdict returned awarding to appellee the full amount due upon both of the notes, and the jury also returned answers to a series of interrogatories. Appellant J ohn Baut unsuccessfully moved for a new trial and judgment was rendered against him and his codefendant Martin Baut on, the verdict of the jury. Appellant John Baut alone appears, Martin Baut having declined to join.

The only error assigned is overruling the motion for a new trial. Appellant filed a separate answer to the complaint, whereby he admitted the execution of the notes, but alleged that he executed each of them as surety for his codefendant Martin Baut, of which fact it is averred appellee had notice at the time the notes were executed. Appellant further alleged in his answer that his said codefendant, on or about September 2, 1897, entered into negotiations with one Fred C. Adams for the purchase of 100 patented dressmaking guides, together with the exclusive privilege of selling said guides in Macomb county, in the state of Michigan; that in consideration of said purchase, appellant and Martin Baut executed two promissory notes on September®, [672]*6721897, payable to said Adams in the sum of $175 each, at the First National Bank of Michigan City, Indiana. Appellant alleges that after executing these two notes he placed them in the hands of Martin Baut, to be delivered by him to Fred C. Adams, upon the latter complying with the aforesaid agreement, of all of which facts it is averred appellee had notice. The answer then charges that Adams did not comply with the terms of his said agreement, by failing to sell to said Martin Baut the said dressmaking guides, together with the privilege of selling the same in the territory mentioned in the state of Michigan; that Martin Baut on his part also failed to comply with the agreement, by failing to purchase of Adams the guides in question with the aforesaid privilege. It is further averred that after the execution of the notes Martin Baut and Fred C. Adams transferred them to appellee, in consideration of the sale by the latter to Martin Baut of an interest in a certain school wherein the art of dressmaking was taught, of which transaction and sale appellant had no knowledge until after the transfer of the notes to appellee; that when said notes became due appellee procured appellant and Martin Baut to renew them; that when appellant renewed- said notes he had no knowledge that they had been diverted from the purpose for which they were intended to be used at the time of their execution, and he renewed them under the belief that they had been used as originally contemplated. It is further alleged that the notes in suit are the ones which under the circumstances appellant renewed, and it is charged that appellee, at and previous to the time that the original ones were transferred to him, knew that they had been executed for the purpose of purchasing from said Adams the guides and territory as heretofore stated, and that they had been executed on the part of appellant for that purpose, and for no other. Upon the facts alleged appellant prayed judgment in his favor. A demurrer to this answer was overruled.

[673]*673The errors argued by counsel for appellant relate (1) to the giving and refusing to give certain instructions to the jury; (2) that the evidence does not sustain the verdict of the jury.

As is usually the case, there is a sharp conflict in the evidence upon some of the material or issuable facts in the case. Nevertheless there is evidence going to establish or prove that Martin Baut, who is the son of appellant John Baut, negotiated with one Ered C. Adams for the purchase of 100 patented dressmaking guides, with the right or privilege of selling the same in Macomb county, in the state of Michigan. The purchase price was to be $350. Two promissory notes of date September 2, 1897, each for $175, payable to Ered C. Adams at the Eirst National Bank of Michigan City, Indiana, were executed by Martin Baut, as principal, by his father John Baut, appellant herein, as surety.. One of these notes was to become due in three months after the cíate thereof, and the other was to be due in five months. It appears that Martin Baut and Ered C. Adams went to Michigan City and procured appellant to sign said notes for his son Martin. Appellee was not present when the notes were executed. After their execution Martin Baut, with the consent of appellant, took possession of them, and was, as it appears, to turn them over to Adams in payment of his purchase from the latter of the guides and territory in controversy. It seems, however, that Martin Baut and Adams, after the execution of the notes, failed to consummate the sale and purchase in question as intended, for the reason that Martin Baut concluded that instead of making said purchase, as had been agreed upon between himself and Adams prior to the execution of the notes, he would purchase a one-half interest in an institution owned and conducted by appellee in the city of Elkhart, Indiana; said institution being a school wherein the. art of dressmaking was taught to the pupils thereof. In respect to the [674]*674question as to whether Martin Baut was solicited by appellee to purchase an interest in the school, the evidence is conflicting; appellee testifying that Martin first came to him and suggested making the purchase of an interest in the school, and that he in no manner solicited or induced him to purchase such interest. There is evidence to establish that Martin Baut offered to turn over to appellee, in consideration of the sale to him of a one-half interest in the school, the two notes, heretofore mentioned, executed by him and his father. Appellee agreed to accept these notes, if Adams, the payee thereof, would indorse them. The latter accordingly indorsed them, and Martin Baut thereafter delivered them to appellee, in consideration of the sale to him of a one-half interest in the school. At the time appellee accepted and received the notes in consideration of said sale to Martin Baut, the jury find, and there is evidence to sustain the finding, that appellee had no knowledge that appellant had signed the notes for the purpose of enabling Martin Baut to purchase the guides and the right to sell them in Macomb county, in the state of Michigan. After the maturity of the note which became due in three months, appellee demanded payment thereof from appellant. The latter claimed that he was not at the time prepared to pay the note, and requested that appellee extend the time of the payment of the two notes for one year. This, appellee, it appears, refused to do, but finally agreed and consented that if appellant and his son Martin Baut would execute new notes to him, he would make one of these new notes payable in four months after December 1, 1897, and the other due and payable in seven months after said date. To this proposition appellant, as it seems, agreed, and the notes in suit were thereupon executed by him and Martin Baut. Adams, the indorser of the old notes, was not a party 'in any manner to the latter transaction. After the execution of the notes in suit the old ones were surrendered and turned over by appellee to appellant [675]*675and Martin Baut for cancelation.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
67 N.E. 503, 160 Ind. 670, 1903 Ind. LEXIS 122, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baut-v-donly-ind-1903.