Curl v. Ruston State Bank

104 La. 548
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedNovember 15, 1900
DocketNo. 13,668
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 104 La. 548 (Curl v. Ruston State Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Curl v. Ruston State Bank, 104 La. 548 (La. 1900).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Monroe, J.

In the matter of the “Ruston State Bank vs. S. A. Cameron et alsf’ the plaintiffs caused to be seized, under a writ of execution, a certain cotton compress situated in the town of Ruston; whereupon Willis Curl brought this suit, injoining the seizure, alleging that he is the owner of said compress, and praying for the perpetuation of said injunction. The bank, defendant in injunction, admits that the seizure was made'by its authority and proceeds to set forth at length its reasons for asking that the injunction thus issued be dissolved with damages, urging, among other matters, that the plaintiff in injunction [549]*549is estopped to set up the present claim. The facts disclosed by the. record are substantially as follows, to-wit:

Some time in 1896, one S. A. Cameron visited Euston, in the parish of Lincoln, and entered into an arrangement which, we infer, was rather tentative than definite, with some of the citizens, having in view the removal to that town of a cotton press, of which he claimed to be the owner, and which he represented as being at York Station in the State of Alabama. The exact nature.of this agreement is not made apparent in the'record, but, in February, 1897, Mr. Cameron wrote, from York Station, where he was living, to a Mr. Thompson, of Euston, to the effect that he had raised $2500, himself, but'needed as much more to move, erect and equip his press, and asking Mr. Thompson to get the Bank of Euston to lend that amount, offering, as security, to “mortgage” the press and insure it, and also to place with the bank, as collateral, his “contract” with the citizens of Euston. One or two other letters were written to the same effect, and, on the 22nd of March (1897), Cameron wrote to Thompson that he had received a letter from the president of the bank, from which he was hopeful that the desired loan would be made. We infer, however, that the bank and the citizens who were interested decided, before going further in the matter, to make some investigation at the Cameron end of the correspondence. Mr. Thompson, therefore, went to York Station to see Mr. Cameron. Upon his arrival, and as he was going, as he understood, in the direction of Cameron’s house, he met an old man whom he did not then know, but who was, and is, Willis Curl, the plaintiff in the instant case and father-in-law of Cameron. Not being altogether sure of the location of Cameron’s residence, Thompson asked Curl for information on the subject, and as there was more than one Cameron living at York Station, he particularly mentioned the fact that he was looking for the Cameron who owned the compress. Curl thereupon directed him to the residence of his (Curl’s) son-in-law, S. A. Cameron, and said that “lie guessed that he would have no trouble making a deal with that gentleman.” Thompson then went to Cameron’s home and entered into an agreement with him, as a result of which, shortly afterwards, Cameron visited Euston and perfected arrangements for the raising of funds necessary for the removal of the press. Those arrangements were as follows, to-wit: A public meeting was held, at which it was stated that Cameron was the owner of the press located at York Station, Alabama, and the questions of the advisibility of removing it to Euston, and of the ways and means, were discussed,' with the result that an agreement [550]*550was reached in accordance with which Cameron made a note for $2,620.14, dated July 7, 1897, payable to the order of the Ruston State Rank, January 1, 1898, which note was also signed by certain citizens of Ruston, as guarantors, and was identified with an authentic act, also executed by Cameron, which, after reciting that Cameron owes the bank $2,620.14, represented by the note already mentioned, proceeds thus: “The said S. A. Cameron further declares * * that in order <o secure to the holders of the aforesaid note the payment thereof, together with interest, J. J. Booles,. B. F. Thompson, A. A. Cann, “ Lewis & Co., Ltd., T. C. Standifer & Son, E. L. Kidd, W. L. Kendall, “ L. F. Marbury, J. Mack Smith, and Knowles Brothers, all residents of “ Lincoln parish, * * * have indorsed the said note, and made tiiemselves guarantors for the payment thereof. Now in order to “ secure the aforesaid indorsers, and to indemnify them against loss, in “ the event they shall have to pay the aforesaid note, or any part thereof, the said S. A. Cameron declares * * * that he does hereby pledge “ and pawn” certain property, which is described, including the cotton press in question, of which W. D. Turrentine was put in possession, as representing the pledgees. And, upon this security, the bank discounted the note and placed $2,500 to the credit of Cameron with the distinct understanding, as between the maker of the note and the guarantors, that the money was to be used exclusively for the purpose of removing the press from York Station to Ruston, and erecting and putting it in good running order in the latter place. The evidence justifies the belief that the greater part of the amount mentioned was used for the purposes indicated, for the press was taken to Rus ton and put in operation, with Cameron as manager, and his nephew, McElroy (who before that time had lived at York Station), as book-keeper. But, in accordance with an understanding between Cameron and the plaintiff (which really called for the payment of $1,500 to the latter), the plaintiff received $450 of the amount thus advanced by the bank, though the fact that he received that amount or that there was any reason for paying it to him was entirely unknown as well to Cameron’s guarantors as to the bank. Upon the contrary, during all this time there was no hint or suggestion that any one else than Cameron owned or was interested in the press. He represented, throughout the negotiations, that-he was the owner, and he acted as such; and Mr. Curl, his father-in-law, not only stood by and allowed him so to appear, but, as we have seen, directed Mr. Thompson to him as the Cameron who owned the press, and with whom Thompson would have no trouble in malting a deal concerning it.

[551]*551Proceeding with the narrative; late in the year 1897, within a month or two after the press had been erected, and whilst it was being operated under the management of Cameron, with Cameron’s nephew, McElroy, as book-keeper, Curl paid a visit to Euston, and during the few days, or perhaps, week that he was there, as the guest of Mr. Cameron, spent the greater part of his time either at Cameron’s residence or at the cotton press. He, however, met and conversed with the president of the Euston State Bank and made the acquaintance of several other citizens. During the period of his visit, as at all other times, Cameron was openly playing the role of owner of the press. It was in that ostensible capacity that he had brought it from Alabama, and had pledged it to secure the money borrowed in Euston to pay the freight and charges incidental to its removal and re-erection, and it was in that ostensible capacity that he was managing it and holding himself out to the people of Euston, and to the world at large, so publicly and notoriously, that no man situated as his father-in-law was, i. e., an inmate of his house and a daily visitor and habitue of the press, could have failed to have become informed of his attitude in the matter. The evidence satisfies us that Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
104 La. 548, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/curl-v-ruston-state-bank-la-1900.