Beardsley v. Beardsley

86 F. 16, 29 C.C.A. 538, 1898 U.S. App. LEXIS 2247
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 14, 1898
DocketNo. 967
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 86 F. 16 (Beardsley v. Beardsley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Beardsley v. Beardsley, 86 F. 16, 29 C.C.A. 538, 1898 U.S. App. LEXIS 2247 (8th Cir. 1898).

Opinion

PHILIPS, District Judge,

alter stating the case as above, delivered the opinion of the court.

Had appellee in his bill disclosed on its face some of the positions taken in argument on this hearing, by his counsel, as to some matters of fact, the bill would have been quite vulnerable to attack for inconsistency and contradiction. While the pleader may allege any number of facts, all tending to show that in legal effect they entitle him to the relief sought, yet the facts pleaded must be consistent with each other. If one fact stated be immediately followed by another statement wholly contradictory of the other, the pleader would, in justice to the adversary, he compelled to elect upon which of the two allegations he would stand.

The first contention of counsel for appellee is that the tender of April 25, 1887, was not accompanied with a demand for delivery of the stock to him. He then argues his cause on the theory of such demand having been made. In the forum of conscience he ought to admit the fact of a conditional tender before being heard to base an argument thereon; for, if such be the actual fact, it is not true that he made a tender of the naked payment of $7,9G8.30 without demanding a delivery of the stock. In the absence of any opinion in this record of the circuit court, we are not advised as to the particular ground upon which the decree was based. Because of the various and independent positions assumed in argument in justification of the decree, we cannot assume that the court found as a matter of fact that the tender of April 25, 1887, was made unconditionally. And, in view of all the evidence and circumstances, we are unable to perceive any reasonable escape from the conclusion that the offer to pay the money was made to depend upon the simultaneous delivery of the [20]*20stock found by the decree to belong of right to appellee. In the first place, it is indisputable that appellee, in order to provide money for this tender, arranged therefor with one Drexler, at San Francisco, on the understanding between them that said stock was to be turned over to him as collateral security. To this end, Drexler never put the money into appellee’s hands, or subjected it to Ms absolute control, but protected himself by drawing a check for the amount on a New York bank, made payable to the bank at Little Rock, Ark., and sent it thereto, accompanied with a letter of special direction. So, when the money was drawn out of the bank to make a tender, it was not intrusted to the hands of appellee; but the clerk of the bank took it, and accompanied Mr. Martin, appellee’s solicitor, to make the tender. And, when the tender as made was refused, the money was returned into the bank, and Drexler’s check therefor was destroyed. Mr. Martin’s version of what occurred between him and Mr.'Moore, appellant’s solicitor, at the time of the alleged tender, is substantially as follows:

“In the afternoon of that day he got O. T. Walker, clerk of'the bank, to go, with the sum of $7,968.30, in legal-tender money, with him, to Moore’s office, and told Moore that, as the solicitor of Paul IP. Beardsley, he had come to make him a tender of said money. Moore said he wanted to put his answer in writing, and that it would be, in substance, that he would accept the money, but could not deliver the stock. That he (Martin) then said to him that he made the tender of the amount under decree of the court; that he could take it, and deliver the stock. Moore wanted him to reduce his tender to writing, but he replied that no writing was necessary, as he brought the money, with Mr. 'Walker as a witness to the transaction. Moore rexilied that he was willing to accept the money, and hold it pending the appeal to the supreme court.”

Without at all questioning that Mr. Martin acted within the admissible lines of fidelity to his client, it must be said that there was some refined diplomacy in his approach to Mr. Moore. His ingenuity to obtain the advantage of an apparent unconditional tender, while being sure that his client was to have the stock on parting with the money, is palpable. That the matter of the delivery of the stock was not only discussed between them, but must have first been suggested by Martin, is evident from Martin’s own statement, because he states that Moore said he would accept the money, “but could not deliver the stock.” Why should Moore make this response, unless it was understood that the tender was made on demand of the delivery of the stock? That the apprehension of Mr. Moore was well founded, that the acceptance of the money was designed by Mr. Martin to imply a Settlement of the pending appeal, is made manifest by the statement-then made by Martin to Moore, “that he made tender of the amount under decree of the court.” Mr. Moore, an astute and cautious lawyer, alive to the infirmity of human memory, and the liability to misconception of language employed in a verbal colloquy, suggested at the outset that he (Martin) put his tender in writing, and that he (Moore) would make Ms answer in writing. This reasonable and fair suggestion, Mr. Martin saw fit to decline. Mr. Moore, in order that his position might be made absolute, did at the time write out his answer, as follows:

[21]*21‘•Messrs. Martin and Jones: In response to the tender here now made by yon of the sum of $7,960.57 in payment oi" the amount decreed to the defendant John I). Beardsley under the decree in said cause, I hereby agree to accept and hold the same without prejudice to the supersedeas granted under the appeal taken by John D. Beardsley in said cause to the supreme court.
“John M. Moore,
“Attorney for Defendant J. D. Beardsley.
“The above is my response to the tender in said cause. Mr. Martin demanded that I deliver the stock. 1 advised Mm I did not have it.”

If, indeed, it was Mr. Martin’s purpose to make an unconditional tender of the money, it would have been the simplest and frankest method of making that fact known, to have at once said to Mr. Moore, “I make you this tender, whether or not you or your client deliver the stock.” More than this, if it was the purpose in good faith of Mr. Martin to pay over this money without more, the sure and certain way was afforded him by the decree of the court, which authorized the payment of the money into the court registry. Had he done this, all controversy would have been ended as to the character and effect of the tender. This opportunity and right, however, the ap-pellee was unwilling to avail himself of, for the obvious reason that under his arrangement with Drexler he could not leave the money on deposit with the clerk of the court without putting up with Drexler, as collateral security therefor, the said shares of stock.

Unwilling to rest the decree upon the question of fact, that no demand was made foi' the delivery of the stock at the time of the tender of the money, counsel for appellee contends that, even if such demand was made, it was only such condition as the appellee had a right to insist on, as payment of the money and delivery of the stock were made by decree of the court interdependent or simultaneous acts, to be performed by the respective parties; citing in support the language of the court in Halpin v. Insurance Co., 118 N. Y. 165-176, 23 N. E. 482, 485:

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Bluebook (online)
86 F. 16, 29 C.C.A. 538, 1898 U.S. App. LEXIS 2247, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beardsley-v-beardsley-ca8-1898.