Davis v. Miller

55 N.W. 89, 88 Iowa 114
Supreme Court of Iowa·Decided May 15, 1893·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

Robinson, C. J.

1. o°ínnorseríIty tSt!er of pr0' I. The petition in this case was .filed in July, 1891, and alleges the following facts: On the first day of March, 1881, O. L. ma<^e his negotiable promissory note the sum of one hundred and seventy-nine dollars, payable four years •after its date, to the order of Belle Taylor, at Anamosa, Iowa. The payee indorsed the note in blank to the the defendant, and he indorsed it in like manner to the plaintiff. The amount due on the note, and unpaid, is one hundred and sixty-five dollars. On the seventeenth day of December, 1889, the defendant wrote to the plaintiff in regard to the note as follows:

“I thought that note paid last summer, as per •agreement. Have written to O. L. Taylor concerning "that matter. If he don’t see to the settlement of it, I will, without additional costs. T. J. Millee.”

Subsequently he wrote another letter, in which he :said he would pay the plaintiff the remainder due on the note in case the maker did not. It does not appear that the note was ever protested, but the petition. [116] alleges that, by means of the letters referred to, the defendant waived presentation, demand, notice of nonpayment, and protest of the note, and became absolutely liable thereon as indorser. The maker and payee of the note were named in the petition as parties defendant with Miller, and judgment was demanded against all of the defendants for the amount due on the note, with an attorney's fee and costs. The original notice was personally served on Miller in Shelby county, but no service was made upon the other defendants, and they did not enter an appearance in the case. At the next term of court, Miller filed an application for a change of the place of trial to Shelby county, and for a judgment for expenses incurred in attending court in Jones county. The application was accompanied by an affidavit of Miller, which showed that he was then, and had been for fourteen years, a resident of Shelby county, and that his codefendants were, when the application was made, and also when the action was commenced, nonresidents of this state. The change demanded was granted, and judgment was rendered in favor of the defendant for his expenses.

The appellant insists that the action was properly brought in Jones county, for the reason that the note was, by its terms, payable there, and the appellee was responsible for its payment. The appellee contends that, although the undertaking implied by his indorsement bound him, conditionally, to pay the note, yet it did not require him, in any event, to pay it at Anamosa; that the obligation of the maker to pay it there was not assumed by the indorsement; and that the letters did not extend his liability in that respect.

The letters contained an absolute promise to pay the note if the maker did not. The appellee knew when he wrote them that he had not received due notice of the nonpayment of the note, if such notice had not been given; and, in the absence of a showing to [117] the contrary, his promise will be presumed to have been made with knowledge of the fact that the note had not been protested for nonpayment. The effect of such a promise, so made, is to waive demand and notice of nonpayment. Lomax v. Smyth, 50 Iowa, 228, and authorities therein cited. It follows that on the showing made- by the petition, if the defendant is liable for the payment of the note, his liability is 'that of an indorser.

2. payment against indorII. We are next required to determine whether the blank indorsement of a negotiable promissory note, payable, by its terms, at a designated place, requires the indorser, when his liability becomes fixed, to pay the note at such place, when he resides outside the -eounty where it is situated. Section 2586 of the Code is as follows: ‘ ‘Except where otherwise provided herein, personal actions must be brought in a county wherein some of the defendants actually reside. But, if none of them have any residence within the state, they may be sued in any county wherein either of them may be found. But in all actions upon negotiable paper, except when made payable at a particular place, in_ which any maker of such paper, being a resident of this state, is made defendant, the place of trial shall be limited to a county wherein some one of the makers of such paper resides.” It is contended by the appellee that the first clause of that section is applicable to this action. It is clear that the remainder is not, for the reason that the note in suit is made payable at a particular place, and the makers are nonresidents of the state, and are not actual parties to the action.

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Davis v. Miller, 55 N.W. 89, 88 Iowa 114 (iowa 1893).

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