Colson & Sons v. Ellis

151 S.E. 654, 40 Ga. App. 768, 1930 Ga. App. LEXIS 690
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedJanuary 23, 1930
Docket19723
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 151 S.E. 654 (Colson & Sons v. Ellis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Colson & Sons v. Ellis, 151 S.E. 654, 40 Ga. App. 768, 1930 Ga. App. LEXIS 690 (Ga. Ct. App. 1930).

Opinion

Bell, J.

1. A promissory note which recites that it is given for the purchase-money of described personalty, the title to which is retained in the payee until the note is paid, is not void or unenforceable as disclosing a want of consideration because it fails to show a delivery of the property to the purchaser who executed the note. Loewenherz v. Weil, 33 Ga. App. 760 (127 S. E. 883).

2. Under the provisions of the negotiable-instruments act, a note which is otherwise in the form of a negotiable instrument may contain a statement of the transaction out of which it arose, without losing its negotiable character. Thus, a note may be a negotiable instrument although it appears from its face that it was executed in consideration of a conditional sale of personalty. Ga. L. 1924, pp. 126, 127, § 3 (2), Park’s Code Supp. 1926, § 4269 (3), Michie’s Code of 1926, § 4294 (3) ; Howard v. Simpkins, 70 Ga. 322 (2); Simmons v. Council, 5 Ga. App. 386 (63 S. E. 238); Whitten v. Railway &c. Investment Asso., 16 Ga. App. 684 (2) (85 S. E. 973); Bledsoe v. City National Bank, 7 Ala. App. 195 (60 So. 942); Citizens National Bank v. Buckheit, 14 Ala. App. 511 (71 So. 82); s. c. 196 Ala. 700 (72 So. 1019); Continental Guaranty Corp. v. People’s Bus Line, 31 Del. 595 (117 Atl. 275); Critcher v. Ballard, 180 N. C. 111 (104 S. E. 134).

3. One who signs a negotiable instrument in the name of a partnership, by himself as a member of the partnership, will be liable to the holder thereon to the same extent as if he had signed the note in his own name, and in a suit upon the note the fact that other persons sought to be held as partners were not in fact members of the partnership, or that no such partnership was in existence, will not defeat the action as to the person who actually executed the instrument. Ga. L. 1924, pp. 126, 131, § 18, Park’s Code Supp. 1926, § 4269 (18); Michie’s Code, 1926, § 4294 (18); Higdon v. Bell, 144 Ga. 485 (3) (87 S. E. 385); Bell v. Higdon, 20 Ga. App. 272 (92 S. E. 1018); Comolli v. National Cash Register Co., 169 Ga. 409 (150 S. E. 551); Frazier v. Cottrell, 82 Ore. 614 (162 Pac. 834). Again, if in truth such a partnership existed, the fact that the plaintiff may have omitted or struck from the action others who were members, will not prevent a recovery against the member affixing the firm’s signature as by himself, where there is no objection upon the ground of nonjoinder. Dickenson v. Hawes, 32 Ga. App. 173 (2) (122 S. E. 811).

4. In a suit upon a negotiable instrument against the alleged makers as a partnership, to which a plea in abatement was filed by the defendants, denying the existence of such partnership and complaining of a misjoinder of parties, where, after the filing of such plea, the plaintiff by amendment struck from the petition all parties defendant except one, and alleged that this defendant was the person who executed the instrument, the plea in abatement as to such matters was satisfied, and the court did not commit reversible error in striking it. Compare Harris v. Lumpkin, 136 Ga. 47 (2) (70 S. E. 869); Witt v. Nesar, 145 Ga. 674 (89 S. E. 747); Fay v. Burton, 147 Ga. 648 (2) (95 S. E. 224).

[769]*7695. A negotiable instrument payable to a named person or bearer may be transferred by delivery alone. Moreover, if in this case a written indorsement was necessary, an entry made and signed by the payee upon the back of the note, directing the maker to pay to a named person “balance on the within note,” and completed by delivery, would be sufficient to transfer the title to the instrument and authorize a suit thereon in the name of the transferee. Ga. L. 1924, pp. 126, 128, 133, 134, §§ 9, 30, 32, Park’s Code Supp. 1926, §§ 4269 (9), 4271 (1) (3), Michie’s Code, 1926, § 4294 (9, 30, 32); Hendrix v. Bauhard, 138 Ga. 473 (75 S. E. 588, 43 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1028, Ann. Cas. 1913D, 688); Cook v. Moody, 17 Ga. App. 465 (2) (87 S. E. 713); Hooper v. Bank of Hiawassee, 29 Ga. App. 459 (116 S. E. 32). Whether such delivery or transfer of the note would also convey the title to the property which was retained in the conditional sale, is a question not for decision in the instant case, since the suit by such transferee is merely to recover upon the note irrespective of any issue as to the title to the property.

6. A promissory note which recites that it is given for the purchase-money of described personal property sold by the payee to the maker, the title to which is retained in the payee until the note is paid, and contains further stipulations to the effect that in case of the destruction of the property while in the possession of the maker, the loss shall fall upon the latter, and that the maker has no defense, under the laws of this State, against the payment of the note, and waives all rights to plead any defense against its payment in the hands of any holder, purports upon its face to embody all the terms of a valid contract of sale of personalty, and, in the absence of fraud, accident or mistake, it will be conclusively presumed that the writing contains the entire agreement between the parties, and evidence of prior or contemporaneous parol representations, or agreements in regard to the subject-matter will be inadmissible to add to, take from, or vary the written terms of the instrument. Bond v. Perrin, 145 Ga. 200 (88 S. E. 954); Pryor v. Ludden, 134 Ga. 288 (67 S. E. 654, 28 L. R. A. (N. S.) 267); Reeves Tractor Co. v. Barrow, 30 Ga. App. 420 (118 S. E. 456).

7. A stipulation in such note that the maker had no defense against the payment of the note and waived all right to plead any defense against its payment in the hands of any holder, amounted to a waiver of all warranties, either express or implied, with respect to the quality or condition of the property, and in such a ease the purchaser, on a plea of failure of consideration, can not claim that he did not purchase the property on his own judgment, but relied upon warranties and false statements by the seller as to the character of the property. Mock v. Kemp, 17 Ga. App. 448 (87 S. E. 608); Anderson v. International Harvester Co., 27 Ga. App. 533 (109 S. E. 417); Butler v. Citizens Bank, 28 Ga. App. 184 (2) (110 S. E. 501); Connell v. Newkirk-George Motor Co., 28 Ga. App. 382 (111 S. E. 749); Washington & Lincolnton R. Co. v. Southern Iron Co., 28 Ga. App. 684 (112 S. E. 905), and cit.; Hadden v. Williams, 37 Ga. App. 464 (140 S. E. 797).

8. In the instant ease there was no averment that the purchaser was induced to sign the note by any false representation as to its contents, [770]*770nor were there any allegations to show that ho should be excused for his failure to ascertain the same; and hence, as to a plea of failure of consideration, he must be held to have bought the article as it stood, and is bound by his bargain, without any sort of recourse on the seller. Purser v. Rountree, 142 Ga. 836 (83 S. E. 958); Rose v. Weinberger, 108 Ga. 533 (34 S. E. 28, 75 Am. St. R. 73).

9.

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Bluebook (online)
151 S.E. 654, 40 Ga. App. 768, 1930 Ga. App. LEXIS 690, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/colson-sons-v-ellis-gactapp-1930.