Deseret National Bank v. Dinwoodey

53 P. 215, 17 Utah 43, 1898 Utah LEXIS 45
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedApril 11, 1898
DocketNo. 888
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 53 P. 215 (Deseret National Bank v. Dinwoodey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Deseret National Bank v. Dinwoodey, 53 P. 215, 17 Utah 43, 1898 Utah LEXIS 45 (Utah 1898).

Opinions

Johnson, District Judge:

This action was originally brought to recover upon a written guaranty made by the defendants to the Deseret National Bank of Salt Lake City of which the following is a copy:

“Salt Lake City, Utah, March 17, 1892.

“For value received, we or either of us promise to pay to the Deseret National Bank of Salt Lake City any and all sums of money which the said bank may loan or advance to the Burton-Gardner Company upon notes, or on their accounts, to the amount of $25,000, and with inter[46]*46■est on said loans or advances from the time the same are made, respectively, at the rate of ten per cent, per annum, until paid; said payment to be made upon demand.

“W. S. BurtoN. Elias Morris.

“L. G. Hardy. W. 0. BurtoN.

“E. M. Weller. O. H. Hardy.

“HENRY DlNWOODEY.”

Three amended complaints were afterwards filed, based upon the express writing of the written guaranty set out in the original complaint. Demurrers thereto were sustained, and the fourth amended complaint, upon which the trial was had, was filed August 31, 1895. The theory -upon which the original and three amended complaints were based, was that the written guaranty covered past, as well as future, indebtedness of the Burton-Gardner Company. In this fourth amended complaint the plaintiff seeks to reform the written guaranty, above set out, so as to make it cover past indebtedness, represented by two notes of the Burton-Gardner Company, for $20,000, which were indorsed by all the defendants, except the appellant, Dinwoodey, as well as future loans and advances thereafter made by the bank to the Burton-Gardner Company. This reformation is asked for on the ground of mutual mistake on the part of the plaintiff and defendants, and each of them, as guarantors of the paper. The trial' court reformed the written guaranty as prayed for in the complaint, and rendered judgment against the defendants for prior indebtedness, as shown by the two notes of $10,000 •each, which had been renewed by making new notes of the Burton-Gardner Company for advances made after the guaranty was executed. From this judgment the defendants appeal to this court.

The defendants filed their answer, in which they denied •all the material allegations of the complaint, except the [47]*47corporate existence of the plaintiff and the Burton-Gardner Company, and admit the execution of the writing described in the complaint, and their liability thereon to the extent of all future loans and advances made after its execution, and deny that it was intended by either party to cover past indebtedness of the Burton-Gardner Company, and allege that all such advances and loans have been fully paid by said Burton-Gardner Company to plaintiff; deny that there were any actual mistakes in the execution of said instrument; and deny specifically all the other allegations of the complaint. Henry Dinwoodey only has perfected his appeal, and therefore this appeal will only be considered so far as it concerns him. He appeals from the judgment of the lower court upon questions of both law and fact.

It is contended by respondent that, at the time of the execution of the written guaranty by appellant, viz.: March 17, 1892, the Burton-Gardner Company was indebted to respondent in the sum of $20,000, upon two certain promissory notes, not yet due; and, desiring to borrow more money from respondent, the appellant executed the guaranty in suit to secure the payment of such back indebtedness, as well as all future advances to be made to said Burton-Gardner Company, not, however, to exceed $25,-000; and, by inadvertence and mutual mistake of the plaintiff and defendants, the said guaranty failed to state specifically and in terms said indebtedness covered by said two notes; and they ask that, by a decree of the court, said guaranty be so reformed and corrected as to cover said two notes, the past indebtedness of the said Burton-Gardner Company to respondent, as well as future advances to be made, as they say was the true agreement, understanding, and intention of the parties. This is denied by the appellants, and they say that the guaranty was [48]*48not intended to cover said two notes or any back indebtedness, but only future advances and loans to be made. This brings us to the consideration of the evidence upon that question. The law upon this point, we think, is correctly stated by Justice Miner in the case of Ewing v. Keith, 16 Utah 312, wherein he says: “In such case the burden rests upon the moving party of overcoming the strong presumption arising from the terms of the written instrument. If the proofs-are doubtful or unsatisfactory, if there be a failure to overcome this presumption by testimony entirely plain and convincing beyond reasonable controversy, the writing will be held to. express correctly the intention of the parties.” 2 Pom. Eq. Jur. § 850; Adams, Eq. pp. 170, 171: In the case of Chambers v. Emery, 13 Utah 392, Justice Bartch says:' “If it were once established that the effect of the terms of a written instrument could be avoided by a bare preponderance of parol evidence, the gates to perjury would soon be wide open.” To the same effect are 1 Jones, Mortg. § 252; Howland v. Blake, 97 U. S. 624; Snell v. Insurance Co., 98 U. S. 85; Coal Co. v. Doran, 142 U. S. 417; Insurance Co. v. Henderson, 16 C. C. A. 390, 69 Fed. 762. Numerous other authorities might be cited to the same effect. Equity will not reform a written contract unless the mistake is proved to be the mistake of both parties. Demond v. Providence, etc., R. Co., 5 R. I. 130. In this case, Aimes, C. J.,says: “A court of equity has no power to alter or reform an agreement made between parties, since this would be in truth the power to contract for them, but merely to correct the writing executed as evidence of the agreement, so as to make it express what the parties actually agreed to. It follows that the mistake which it may correct in such a writing must be, as it is justly expressed, a mistake of both parties to it; that is, such a mistake in the drafting of the writing as [49]*49makes it convey the intent or meaning of neither of the parties to the contract. If the court were to reform a writing to make it accord with the intent of one party only to the contract, who averred and proved that he signed it as it was written, by mistake, when it actually expressed the agreement as understood by the other party, the writing when so altered would be just as far from expressing the agreement of the parties as it was before, and the court would be engaged in the singular office for a court of equity of doing right to one party at the expense of precisely' equal wrong to the other.” See, also, 15 Am. & Eng. Enc. Law, 647. The evidence necessary to establish a mutual mistake, and to warrant a court of equity in correcting a written instrument, must be such as to leave no reasonable doubt in the mind of the court, and when the mistake is denied in the answer the proof must be strong to overcome such denial. If the evidence is at all loose, confused, contradictory, or uncertain, it is insufficient to support a decree for the reformation of a written instrument. See 5 Am. & Eng. Enc. Law, 650. This doctrine is supported by an overwhelming line of authorities.

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Bluebook (online)
53 P. 215, 17 Utah 43, 1898 Utah LEXIS 45, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/deseret-national-bank-v-dinwoodey-utah-1898.