Bohannan v. First Nat. Bank in Dallas

85 S.W.2d 989, 1935 Tex. App. LEXIS 1300
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 28, 1935
DocketNo. 1481.
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 85 S.W.2d 989 (Bohannan v. First Nat. Bank in Dallas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bohannan v. First Nat. Bank in Dallas, 85 S.W.2d 989, 1935 Tex. App. LEXIS 1300 (Tex. Ct. App. 1935).

Opinion

GRISSOM, Justice.

Appellants, W. T. Bohannan and wife, Ora Bohannan, brought this suit in the 101st judicial district court of Dallas county, against First National Bank in Dallas, and the Federal Mortgage Company, and others, alleging, so far as is necessary to be shown here, that appellants borrowed from the Federal Mortgage Company $2,350 and executed two notes, payable to the order of Federal Mortgage Company, one in the principal amount of $2,350, and the other for $460, principal and interest to be repaid in 120 monthly installments to be credited on the $2,350 note, and $18.40 on the $460 note, and all the payments subsequent to the 25th installment to be credited on the $2,350 note. Appellants executed a deed of trust to secure the payment of said notes. Appellants alleged that the loan contract was usurious because appellants executed notes in the aggregate principal amount of $2,810, when only $2,350 was borrowed, and that in consequence thereof defendants below, by the terms of said two notes and deed of trust, were enabled to, and did, collect and receive during the first 25 months of the contract, interest at the rate of 15.4 per cent, per an-num, and because such amounts so collected were applied as interest on said loan. Appellants sought to have the loan declared usurious, the provisions for interest canceled, the cloud cast upon the title of the property described in the deed of trust removed, and all sums paid by them credited on the principal, leaving a balance of $333.36 owing to appellants after payment of the principal of said notes, for which sum they ask judgment against the many defendants, jointly and severally. No penalty for the collection of usurious interest was asked.

It will not be necessary to set out in detail the pleadings of the various defendants below, except to mention that each of them answered by general denial, and that appellee First National Bank in Dallas pleaded specially that the execution of the instruments alleged by appellants to show a usurious contract merely evidenced an agreement by which appellants obligated themselves to pay the loan of $2,350 with interest thereon as agreed in 120 monthly installments of $30.15 each. Each installment represented a part of the borrowed principal with interest on unpaid monthly balances at a rate which does not exceed the maximum provided by law. In the alternative, appellee alleged that the notes taken in connection with the deed of trust constituted one contract, by the terms of which appellants agreed to return the borrowed $2,350 and interest thereon by paying 120 monthly installments of $30.15 each, each installment including both principal and interest, and that nei *991 ther in the life of the loan, nor otherwise, could interest in excess of 10 per cent, be, nor had it been, collected. Appellees prayed that appellants take nothing, and that the notes and deed of trust be adjudged a valid contract.

Appellants proved the loan of $2,350 to them by the Federal Mortgage Company, and the execution of the two notes and deed of trust; that the debt and interest evidenced thereby was payable in 120 monthly installments of $30.15 each; that appellants had paid 89 payments of $30.15 each, aggregating slightly more than $2,683. No proof is shown as to whom the payments were made, nor the dates of the payments, nor the manner of the application of such payments by any of the defendants. There was no evidence as to any agreement as to the rate of interest the loan was to bear, except as same was shown by a mathematical calculation based on the .provisions of the notes and deed of trust. Nor was there any allegation by-appellants as to any agreed rate of interest at the time the contract was executed. It is undisputed that the sum of money actually borrowed by appellants from the Federal Mortgage Company was $2,350.

A jury was waived, and the case submitted to the court. Judgment was rendered against appellants and in favor of the appellees. The court found that the contract was not usurious, and that appellants did not pay usurious interest. Appellants filed a motion for new trial, and evidence was heard thereon. The court overruled the motion for new trial, and appellants duly perfected their appeal.

Each of the notes provides that in the event of accelerated maturity or prepayment, appellants would pay “ * * * in satisfaction of the loan and interest a sum equal to the principal of the loan made, and also interest thereon computed at the rate of 10 per cent, per annum with the interest payable in monthly installments, and interest at 10 per cent, per annum on any interest matured and in default * * * less any payment made credited as of the date of such payment * * * and we shall not be called upon to pay as principal and interest of the loan any greater sum.” This provision is substantially repeated in the deed of trust. Other provisions of the contract show it was the intention of the parties to collect only accrued interest. We do not think this conclusion conflicts with that in Both-well v. F. & M. State Bank & Trust Co., 120 Tex. 1, 30 S.W.(2d) 289, 76 A. L. R. 1480. Appellants were not obligated by the contract in the event of default to pay interest on interest required to be paid in advance.

It is plainly evident that there is nothing in the accelerating clauses of either note, or in the deed of trust in connection therewith, that could make the contract usurious.

The question to be determined is whether or not the notes and deed of trust are on their face usurious as a matter of law. Whether or not the contract is usurious is a problem in mathematics as well as law. The contract provides for payment of the notes for $2,350 and $460 in 120 monthly installments of $30.15 each, out of which last amount $11.75 of each payment was to be applied on the note for $2,350 and $18.40 was to be applied in payment of the note for $460 for the first 25 payments. Thereafter for 95 months each payment of $30.15 was to be applied entirely to the payment of the $2,350 note. No rate of interest is specified. No statement is made as to the amount of interest, or principal, included in either of the notes, or the amount of principal or interest included in any payment provided for. Appellants contend that a proper construction of the contract requires the application of the total payments made during the first 25 months of the contract. That is, $361.80 for each of the first and second years, and $30.15 for the 25th month, solely to interest, which interpretation would authorize the collection of $126.80 interest for the first year in excess of 10 per cent., with a like result for the second year, and with the authority to collect under the contract $10.66 more than 10 per cent, interest for the 25th month. In the alternative, appellants contend that out of the monthly payments $18.40 should be applied to interest alone, and $11.75 to the principal, which would result in authority to collect $7.71 less than 10 per cent, interest during the first year, $6.36 in excess of the legal rate for the second year, and $1.16 excessive interest for the 25th month.

If either of appellants’ theories be correct, the contract is usurious. The question is: Is either of the above-suggested interpretations of the contract either necessary or unavoidable? Is the contract reasonably susceptible of any other construction when effect is given to all the *992 terms and provisions of said instrument? San Antonio Real Estate B. & L. Ass’n v. Stewart, 94 Tex. 441, 61 S. W. 386, 86 Am. St.

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Related

Community Savings and Loan Association v. Fisher
409 S.W.2d 546 (Texas Supreme Court, 1966)
Davis v. Federal Mortgage Co.
111 S.W.2d 1066 (Texas Supreme Court, 1938)
Federal Mortg. Co. v. Davis
100 S.W.2d 717 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1936)

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Bluebook (online)
85 S.W.2d 989, 1935 Tex. App. LEXIS 1300, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bohannan-v-first-nat-bank-in-dallas-texapp-1935.