Cohen v. Rossmoore

225 A.D. 300, 233 N.Y.S. 196, 1929 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 11624
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedMarch 1, 1929
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 225 A.D. 300 (Cohen v. Rossmoore) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cohen v. Rossmoore, 225 A.D. 300, 233 N.Y.S. 196, 1929 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 11624 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1929).

Opinion

Merrell, J.

The action was brought by the plaintiff, respondent, as payee of a promissory note made by the defendant David Knopfler to secure the payment of the sum of $500 and interest from December 11, 1925, the date of the note. The defendant, appellant, and the defendant Morris Schupper were indorsers of the note in suit. The plaintiff joined as parties defendant the maker of the note and the two accommodation indorsers. The defendant Knopfler appeared in person in the action and set up the defense of usury in his answer. The defendant Schupper made default in appearing or answering. The appellant Rossmoore answered in the action alleging that he was an accommodation indorser and indorsed the note without any consideration whatever and set up six affirmative defenses. The only defense involved upon this appeal is the sixth, wherein the defendant, appellant, alleges that the plaintiff, without the knowledge or consent of said defendant, appellant, released and discharged a chattel mortgage executed by the maker of the note as collateral security for the payment of a prior promissory note in the same amount and of which the note in suit was a renewal, and that the value of such security was in excess of the amount of the note, and that by discharging such chattel mortgage the plaintiff had discharged the appellant from all liability on the note in suit.

The pertinent facts are as follows: On May 11, 1925, Knopfler, the maker of the note in suit, made and delivered to plaintiff his promissory note for $500, payable seven months from the date [302]*302thereof, to wit, on December 11, 1925, with interest. This original note was indorsed by one W. B. Newman and by the defendant Schupper. At the time of the making of said note of May 11, 1925, the defendant Knopfler, as collateral security for the payment of said note, executed and delivered to plaintiff a chattel mortgage on certain machinery. On December 11, 1925, when the first note became due, Knopfler informed plaintiff that he could not pay the same and asked renewal of the note for one year. Pending negotiations for renewal, the note went to protest upon maturity. Plaintiff testified at. the trial that Knopfler, the maker of the note, had, about two weeks before its maturity, come to him and told him that he would not be able to pay his note on December 11, 1925, and requested renewal of the loan for another year, and that plaintiff release the chattel mortgage given as collateral security for said note; that plaintiff told him that he could not do any favors; that he wanted his $500, and that Knopfler told him that he could not give it to him, but that the money was secure; that some negotiation then ensued between plaintiff, payee of the note, and the maker, Knopfler, with reference to releasing the chattel mortgage security, and that Knopfler promised to furnish a new indorser, and suggested the name of the defendant, appellant. Of these negotiations between the maker and payee of the note the defendant, appellant, was in ignorance. When Knopfler suggested the name of the appellant as an additional indorser of the note to be given in renewal, plaintiff took steps to investigate the appellant and found him satisfactory. The renewal note was made by Knopfler and indorsed by appellant and the defendant Schupper and delivered to plaintiff, the payee therein named. Shortly thereafter the payee called up the appellant and verified his indorsement of the note. This was done, according to the testimony of the defendant, appellant, about the middle of December, 1925. The defendant, appellant, testified that at this time the plaintiff told appellant that he would like notes made out in installments instead of for the term of one year, to which proposition the appellant refused to accede, informing plaintiff that the changed tenure of the note would defeat his purpose in lending the indorsement, which was to assist Knopfler, the maker of the note. Appellant testified that he told plaintiff that he had to be satisfied with the note as it was, in view of the fact that the collateral behind it was ample, and that plaintiff stated that there was collateral there. Appellant testified that he pointed out to plaintiff that the collateral consisted of machinery, to which the plaintiff agreed, but stated that his lawyers insisted that there should be installment notes; that that was the way it was generally done. [303]*303Appellant testified that he refused flatly to indorse any installment notes, and told plaintiff that if the note which he had indorsed for the accommodation of Knopfler was unsatisfactory and thereby the first note was not renewed, that he withdrew his consent and indorsement, and that he would refuse to permit the use of the note. Appellant further testified that when the maker of the note called upon him and told him his tale, the appellant was very reluctant to indorse any note, and that he told the defendant Knopfler plainly that to indorse the note was equivalent to loaning money; that Knopfler insisted that it was not equivalent, and that it was a mere accommodation, and that the note would certainly be paid, and “ that the chattel mortgage behind the note was plenty; ” that “ the machinery was worthwhile for the amount of the note.” Appellant testified that on the strength of that, in a desire to help the defendant Knopfler, he indorsed the note in suit. Appellant testified that Knopfler informed him that Cohen demanded money on account of the loan; that the note was coming due, and unless it was paid or renewed under the terms stated, that Cohen would foreclose. Plaintiff eventually accepted the note in suit indorsed by defendant, appellant, and returned the original note to the maker. Across the face of the original note in three places there was written the word, “ Paid.”' The chattel mortgage which had been given at the time of the making of the first note was retained by plaintiff, and on May 17, 1926, five months after the execution of the note in suit, the plaintiff personally renewed the chattel mortgage which he had received as security by executing and filing a proper certificate in the office of the comity clerk of New York county. The renewal certificate signed by plaintiff, as mortgagee, states that there is due on the mortgage the sum of $500 and interest, and that the copy of the chattel mortgage and statement then filed was to continue the notice required by the statute made and provided for the renewal of chattel mortgages. Thereafter and on May 27, 1926, without the knowledge or consent of the appellant, plaintiff executed a satisfaction of the aforesaid chattel mortgage, which was filed on May 30, 1926, releasing and discharging the mortgage and destroying any right of subrogation on the part of the appellant thereto. It was admitted by the plaintiff at the trial that this release and discharge of the chattel mortgage was given at the request of Knopfler, and that the appellant had nothing to do with it. At the trial the appellant offered proof of the value and quality of the chattels covered by the mortgage. This testimony was excluded by the trial court over the appellant’s exception. Plaintiff, on his part, offered no evidence of the value of the' security, notwith[304]*304standing the fact that the answer of the appellant alleged that the security was of a value exceeding the amount of the note.

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Bluebook (online)
225 A.D. 300, 233 N.Y.S. 196, 1929 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 11624, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cohen-v-rossmoore-nyappdiv-1929.