Bradstreet v. Crosbie

123 Okla. 269
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedSeptember 21, 1926
DocketNo. 17126
StatusPublished

This text of 123 Okla. 269 (Bradstreet v. Crosbie) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bradstreet v. Crosbie, 123 Okla. 269 (Okla. 1926).

Opinion

Opinion by

FOSTER, C.

An action was brought by the plaintiff in error, Delight Bradstreet, as plaintiff, in the district court of Tulsa county, to cancel a mortgage held by the defendant in error, J. E. Crosbie. upon certain real property located in the city of Tulsa. Subsequently, L. G. Bradstreet, the husband of Delight Bradstreet, intervened in' the action, also seeking the cancellation of the mortgage and' a promissory note which the mortgage purported to secure. An answer was filed by the* defendant in error, and also a cross-petition, wherein he sought judgment foreclosing said mortgage.

Trial resulted in a judgment of foreclosure against both Delight Bradstreet and L. G. Bradstreet, and a personal judgment against R. G. Bradstreet individually for the sum of $22,017.13, plus interest and attorneys’ fees. From this judgment, and from an order overruling their motion for a new trial, both the original plaintiff, Delight Bradstreet, and the intervener, R. G. Bradstreet, appeal.

After judgment foreclosing the mortgage, and on the same day plaintiffs in error’s motion for a new trial was overruled, the trial court, on the application of defendant in error, appointed a receiver for the premises covered by the mortgage. Immediately after the appointment plaintiffs in error moved the court to vacate the order, and when their motion so to do had been overruled reserved an exception to the ruling of the court.

It was charged by plaintiffs in error, both in the amended petition of Delight Bradstreet and in the petition in intervention of L. G. Bradstreet, that the note and mortgage in controversy here were not supported by any consideration.

The record discloses that prior to June. 29, 1923, both the defendant in error and [270]*270plaintiff in error, L. G. Bradstreet, were interested in certain oil corporations located in tile city of Tulsa, Among other .corporations L. G. Bradstreet was president of Bradstreet & Braden, Inc., and owned 60 per cent, of its stock. The other 40 per cent, was owned by O. E. Braden and wife.

J. E. Crosbie was likewise interested in several corporations, among them being the Little Fay Oil Company, of which he was president. Prior to January 29, 1923, Bradstreet & Braden, Iric., and J. E. Crosbie purchased the 10/16tlis interest in an oil and gas lease designated in the record as the school land lease, each taking the 5/16ths interest therein. This lease was operated for some time by J. E. Crosbie.

The Bradstreet companies did not prosper, and Bradstreet & Braden, Inc., soon' was unable to meet its share of the operating expenses of the school'land lease, and was also about to default in payment of certain notes given for its share of the purchase price of said lease. It thereupon negotiated a sale of all its properties to Schaffer Oil & Refining Company. The property of all the other companies in which Bradstreet was interested was included in the sale. At this time Bradstreet & ■ Braden, Inc., owed, as its share of the operating expenses of the school land lease, a considerable sum of money. Out of the proceeds of the sale to the Schaffer Company it paid $25,000 of this debt in cash and executed its note for about $18,000, on January 29> 1923, to Little Fay Oil Company, a corporation, due 90 days thereafter.

This note was indorsed by L. G. Bradstreet individually. It also paid out of the proceeds of this sale other obligations, among them being some of its notes given in payment of the purchase price of the school land lease, which were then held by the Central National Bank of Tulsa. In the fall of 19231 Bradstreet & Braden, Inc., having defaulted in the payment of its note to Little Fay Oil Company, Crosbie procured from L. G. Bradstreet, on November 19, 1923, a note for some $22,000, secured by a mortgage on Bradstreet’s home in the city of Tulsa, signed and acknowledged by his wife, Delight Bradstreet, for which he surrendered the note of January 29, 1923, executed by Bradstreet & Braden, Inc., to Little Fay Oil Company.

At the time this note was given, to wit, November 19, 1923, Bradstreet & Braden was insolvent, and the note of January 29, 1923, ,was worthless.

This note and the several renewals thereof, together with the mortgage purporting to secure it, form the basis of the instant action. At the request of plaintiffs in error the trial court made and filed findings of fact and conclusions of law. The trial court, among other things, found as follows:

“That the real estate mortgage to secure the indebtedness herein covers the homestead of plaintiff and intervener, who are husband and wife, and was the' homestead for sometime prior to the execution of said mortgage, and at all times since its execution to the present time. * * * The court fiilds that the indebtedness represented herein- and secured by said mortgage was given to pay and satisfy the running expenses of the school land lease referred to in the evidence, said expenses being due to the defendant by Bradstreet & Braden, Inc. * * *”

The case at b.ar is one of equitable cognizance, and this court will review the entire record, and render or cause to be rendered such judgment as the trial 'court should have rendered. Schock v. Fish, 45 Okla. 12, 144 Pac. 584. Plaintiffs in error contend that the trial court erred in holding that the note and mortgage of November 19, 1923, were executed for a good and valuable consideration. The trial court found that the note and mortgage of November 19, 1923, were given to pay and satisfy the running expenses of the school land lease due to the defendant from Bradstreet & Braden, Inc.

The right of J. E. Crosbie to enforce the original obligation against Bradstreet & Bra-den, Inc., may not be questioned. Primarily, the original debt is and has always been the debt of Bradstreet & Braden, Inc.

The asserted claim of J. E. Crosbie of right to recover therefor upon a promissory note executed by L. G. Bradstreet individually, and secured by a real estate mortgage upon his homestead, suggests at once the questión of whether the note is supported by any consideration. The basis for this claim must necessarily be found in the notes of January 29, .1923, and of November 19, 1923.

The first note of January 29, 1923, was given by Bradstreet & Braden, Inc;, to Little Fay Oil Company, a corporation. Since the trial court found the indebtedness was due not to Little Fay Oil Company, but to Cros-bie, it must follow that the note was unenforceable, because made payable to a payee to whom Bradstreet & Braden owed nothing, unless the circumstances that it was indorsed by L. G. Bradstreet individually should render it enforceable as to him, or unless there was a transfer of the debt by Crosbie to Little Fay Oil Company prior to the execution of the note. Section 7098, O. O. S. 1921, provides:

[271]*271“Absence or failure of consideration is a matter of defense as against any person not a bolder in due course. * * *”

In First National Bank v. Gibbs (Ind.) 141 N. E. 264, it is said:

“As between tbe accommodating and tbe accommodated parties, no ■ consideration is a proper defense. Shireman v. Second National Bank, 72 Ind. App. 256, 124 N. E. 712. Tbis is true whether tbe accommodating party is drawer or indorser.”

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First National Bank v. Gibbs
141 N.E. 264 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1923)
Schock v. Fish
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Bluebook (online)
123 Okla. 269, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bradstreet-v-crosbie-okla-1926.