Beals v. Mayher

54 N.E. 857, 174 Mass. 470, 1899 Mass. LEXIS 957
CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
DecidedOctober 25, 1899
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 54 N.E. 857 (Beals v. Mayher) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Beals v. Mayher, 54 N.E. 857, 174 Mass. 470, 1899 Mass. LEXIS 957 (Mass. 1899).

Opinion

Loring, J.

Prior to May 12, 1897, the Haydenville Manufacturing Company was indebted to the First National Bank of Northampton, to the First National Bank of Easthampton, and to the First National Bank of Westfield, on certain promissory notes signed by it and indorsed by the plaintiff for its accommodation. On that day the manufacturing company made an assignment to the defendants Mayher and Robinson for the benefit of its creditors. On December 12,1897, the three banks received from the plaintiff thirty per cent of the amount due on the notes, and released the plaintiff from his liability as indorser. The plaintiff had previously been adjudicated an insolvent debtor, but upon these payments being made and the releases mentioned above being given the insolvency proceedings were stayed. The plaintiff contended that he was a creditor of the manufacturing company for the several sums so paid by him, and was entitled to share as such in the assets in the hands of the assignees; and further, that the banks could share in those assets only for the balance of the notes left after deducting the sums paid by him. The assignees refused to recognize the plaintiff as a creditor entitled to share in the estate, and this bill was brought before any dividend had been declared or paid by the assignees, to enforce the trusts set forth in the assignment and the plaintiff’s contention as to his rights and those of the banks to share in the assets. The three banks were made parties defendant; they appeared and set up that they were creditors to the full amount of the notes, and that the plaintiff was not entitled to prove as a [472]*472creditor at .all. The Superior Court ruled that the plaintiff was entitled to stand as a creditor for the sums paid by him, and the banks could only share in the assets for the balance of the notes after deducting those sums.

The terms of the assignment by the manufacturing company were as follows: “ And. then to pay and discharge in full, if the residue of said proceeds is sufficient for that purpose, all the debts and liabilities now due or to grow due from the Hayden ville Man. Co., with all interest money due or to grow due thereon.” There is no provision for any assent by the creditors to the assignment, for any discharge of the assignor, or for any notice to the creditors.

The notes held by the Westfield bank “ were duly proved by the said bank before the assignees before the plaintiff brought his suit and before he paid his money to the said banks or any of them,” but the notes of the other banks were not so proved.

It is settled in this Commonwealth, in England, and generally in America, that the holder of a note, on which the indorser’s liability has become absolute, has the right to prove the full amount against the estates in bankruptcy of both maker and indorser, provided no payment from either had been received before proof made; and it is settled that after such proof the receipt of dividends from one estate does not cut down the holder’s right to receive dividends on the whole amount proved against the other estate ; and, further, it is immaterial whether the subsequent payment is received from the maker after proof made against the indorser or vice versa; for, in the words of Lord Hardwicke in Ex parte Wildman, 1 Atk. 109, 110, to cut down the dividends due on the proof made “ would be taking away from a man the double security he had, and which he may make use of in law and equity, till he is satisfied his whole debt.” National Mount Wollaston Bank v. Porter, 122 Mass. 308, 309. Ex parte Turquand, 3 Ch. D. 445. In re Ellerhorst, 5 Nat. Bankr. Reg. 144. In re Weeks, 13 Nat. Bankr. Reg. 263.

When, however, the holder has received a partial payment before making proof, the authorities in America and England do not altogether agree as to what the rights of the several parties are. It is settled in both countries that if the holder has received a payment from the maker before he proves against the [473]*473indorser, he can prove for the balance of the note only. Sohier v. Loring, 6 Cush. 537; the cases on this and the preceding point are collected in Ames, Suretyship, 419, note.

In America it is held by the great preponderance of authority that a payment received from an indorser need not be deducted in making proof against the bankrupt estate of the maker. Ex parte Talcott, 2 Lowell, 320. Ex parte Harris, 2 Lowell, 568. Downing v. Traders’ Bank, 2 Dillon, 136. In re Ellerhorst, 5 Nat. Bankr. Reg. 144-147. In re Baxter, 18 Nat. Bankr. Reg. 497-499. In re Pulsifer, 14 Fed. Rep. 247, 249.

But in England it is established that a partial payment received before proof must be deducted as well when the payment is received from the indorser and proof is made against the maker, as when proof is made against the indorser after a partial payment by the maker. Ex parte Tayler, 1 De G. & J. 302. In re Oriental Commercial Bank, L. R. 6 Eq. 582. Where it is held that the note holder can prove for the balance only, the indorser is allowed to prove against the estate of the maker the partial payment which he has made; this was admitted in Ex parte Turquand, 3 Ch. D. 445. See Ex parte Wood, cited 10 Ves. 415 ; In re Sterling, 4 Hughes, 553. In America the whole debt being proved by the note holder, there is no room for any proof by the indorser who has made a partial payment; to allow proof by him as well as proof of the whole debt by the creditor would be to allow a double proof in respect of the same debt.

In the case at bar payment was made by the plaintiff after the date of the assignment, and his right to indemnity did not accrue until then. Thayer v. Daniels, 110 Mass. 345. But any difficulty by reason of the date when the plaintiff’s claim accrued is obviated by the, provision of the deed of assignment, by which debts and liabilities to grow due were secured, as well as those due when the assignment was made.

The rule of the United States courts in bankruptcy is founded upon the strict legal rights of the parties, and by it all the conflicting rights and equities which the parties severally have are secured to them, and we are of opinion that it must be adopted as the rule governing this assignment.

It was decided in Jones v. Broadhurst, 9 C. B. 173, and has been settled to be the law of England for nearly half a century, [474]*474that a partial payment by an indorser is not an extinguishment pro tanto as against the maker. • Agra & Masterman’s Bank v. Leighton, L. R. 2 Ex. 56. Thornton v. Maynard, L. R. 10 C. P. 695. Jones v. Broadhurst has been followed in New York. Beran v. Tradesmen's National Bank, 137 N. Y. 450.

In this Commonwealth the point has never been decided ; in North National Bank v. Hamlin, 125 Mass. 506, 508, Mr. Justice Lord stated that such was the law. In Granite National Bank v. Fitch, 145 Mass. 567, this court held that a partial payment made by an indorser under an express agreement was not an .extinguishment pro tanto, and left undecided the question where payment by an indorser is made without any agreement.

By the rule of the United States Bankruptcy Court the whole debt is proved by the note holder against the estate of the maker.

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54 N.E. 857, 174 Mass. 470, 1899 Mass. LEXIS 957, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beals-v-mayher-mass-1899.