Central Finance Co. v. Martin

157 So. 149
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 29, 1934
DocketNo. 14913.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 157 So. 149 (Central Finance Co. v. Martin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Central Finance Co. v. Martin, 157 So. 149 (La. Ct. App. 1934).

Opinion

LECHE, Judge

ad hoe.

On November 2,1932, defendants, James M. Martin and John F. Blackwell, together with W. L. Rodgers, signed and executed the following promissory note;

“§355.05 New Orleans, La., Nov. 2, 1932.

“For value received, we, the makers, endorsers, guarantors, sureties and each of us in solido promise to pay to the order of Central Finance Co., Inc., at its office, in the City of New Orleans, Louisiana, Three Hundred Fifty Five & 05/100 Dollars, with eight (8%) per cent interest per annum from maturity until paid, in 15 equal installments of $23.67 each, the first installment payable Dec. 2 and the remaining installments monthly thereafter.

“Failure to pay any installment of this note when due or to fulfill any of the obligations herein, undertaken shall ipso facto without demand or notice, mature all remaining installments on this note, together with interest, costs, and attorney’s fees as hereinafter set out.

“The makers of this note and the endorsers, guarantors, and sureties hereon hereby severally waive presentment for payment, demand, notice of non-payment, protest and all pleas of division and discussion, and agree that the time of payment hereof may be extended from time to time, one or more times without notice of such extension or extensions and without previous consent, hereby binding themselves in solido unconditionally and as original promissors for the payment hereof, in principal, interest, costs and attorney’s fees.

“No delay on the part of the holder or holders hereof in exercising any right hereunder shall operate as a waiver of said 'right

“Should this note not be paid at maturity or when due or demandable as herein provided, or should it become necessary to employ an attorney to enforce the same or recover the amount hereof or any portion of same or should this note be placed in the hands of an attorney for collection or compromise or for any other reason, the makers, endorsers, guarantors, and sureties and each of them hereby agree severally and in solido to pay the fee of such attorneys which fees are hereby fixed at fifteen per cent on the amount then due on this note, with interest and costs, said fee in any event to be not less than $15.00.

*150 “At or after the maturity of this note, or when same becomes due under any of the provisions hereof, any money, stocks, bonds or other property of any kind whatsoever, on deposit or otherwise to the credit of the maker, endorsers, guarantors or sureties on the books of the holder or holders of this note, in transit or in their possession, may, without notice, be applied at the discretion, of said holder or holders, to the full or partial payment of this note.

“In the event that the undersigned, or any of them, should fail in business, or become insolvent, or be adjudged bankrupt, or proceedings in Involuntary bankruptcy or for the appointment of a receiver should be filed against them or any of them, this note, and every other debt, liability, or obligation due by the undersigned or any of them, to the holder or holders or this note, shall immediately become due and payable without demand, or notice, or putting in default.

“And each of us, the undersigned, does hereby waive all benefits from homestead exemption and any other exemptions to which the undersigned or any of them may be entitled, ' under the laws of any State of the United States now in force or hereafter adopted, as against this obligation or in the renewal thereof.

“Addresses: Signatures:

“DeSoto Hotel W. L. Rodgers

“Monteleone Hotel J. M. Martin

“823 St. Louis St. John E. Blackwell”

Eight complete installments were paid ini accordance with the terms of the note and only the sum of $.12 was paid on account of the ninth installment which fell due on August 2, 1933, thereby maturing the entire balance. The payee, Central Finance Company, Inc., then brought this suit against defendants for the balance due on said note including interest, costs, and attorney’s fees. Defendants filed exceptions of no cause or right of action and a plea of prematurity together with their answer to the petition. Judgment was rendered below in favor of plaintiff, and defendants have appealed therefrom.

W. L. Rodgers, comaker with defendants on the note, filed a petition in bankruptcy in the United States District Court for the Eastern Division of the Southern District of Mississippi at Meridian, Miss., and in due course the referee in bankruptcy confirmed his proposal for an extension under section 74 of the Bankruptcy Act (11 USCA § 202).

Section 204 of chapter 8, title 11, United States Code Annotated, reads as follows:

“Extensions extended to persons secondarily liable for debt; evidence of confirmation of extension. Extensions made pursuant to the foregoing provisions of this chapter shall extend the obligation of any person who is secondarily liable to any person for the prompt payment of such debt or 'debts, or any part thereof, and a copy of the order confirming such extension, certified as required by the provisions of law with reference to judgments and proceedings in courts of the United States, shall be sufficient evidence that such extension has been confirmed in any suit or proceeding brought against any such person so liable. (July 1, 1898, c. 541, § 76, as added, Mar. 3, 1933, c. 204, § 1, 47 Stat. 1474).”

Pursuant to the above section of the Bankruptcy Act, defendants produced and filed in evidence a copy of the order issued in the bankruptcy proceedings confirming the extension granted to Rodgers. It is conceded that Rodgers received all the funds advanced as consideration for the note and that defendants were only accommodation makers, consequently, the entire defense is based on the proposition that defendants are secondarily liable within the meaning of the above-quoted section of the Bankruptcy Act and, therefore, entitled to the extension granted by the provisions of that section to persons secondarily liable.

Section 192 of Act No. 64 of 1904 (Negotiable Instruments Daw) reads as follows:

“The person ‘primarily’ liable on an instrument is the person who by the terms of the instrument is absolutely required to pay same. All other parties are ‘secondarily’ liable.”

Section 29 of the same act reads:

“An accommodation party is one who has signed the instrument as maker, drawer, acceptor, or indorser, without receiving value therefor, and for the purpose of lending his name to some other person. Such a person is liable on the instrument to a holder for value, notwithstanding such holder at the time of taking the instrument knew him to be only an accommodation party.”

Section 60 of the same act reads:

“The maker of a negotiable instrument by making it engages that he will pay it according to its tenor, and admits the existence of the payee and his then capacity to indorse.”

There is no question that defendants signed as makers or comakers on the note, as the note itself clearly show’s this. They did not sign on the reverse side and there are no *151 qualifications attached to their signatures.

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Related

Continental Bank & Trust Co. v. Bouterie
169 So. 812 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1936)
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159 So. 359 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1935)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
157 So. 149, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/central-finance-co-v-martin-lactapp-1934.