Douglas County Memorial Hospital Ass'n v. Newby

278 P.2d 330, 45 Wash. 2d 784, 1954 Wash. LEXIS 474
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 23, 1954
DocketNo. 33018
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 278 P.2d 330 (Douglas County Memorial Hospital Ass'n v. Newby) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Douglas County Memorial Hospital Ass'n v. Newby, 278 P.2d 330, 45 Wash. 2d 784, 1954 Wash. LEXIS 474 (Wash. 1954).

Opinion

Donworth, J.

This is an action to recover a balance of $592.76 alleged to be due and owing by defendants to Douglas County Memorial Hospital (herein called the hospital) for services rendered to defendant wife.

Simultaneously with the filing of the complaint, the hospital sued out a writ of attachment, pursuant to which the sheriff attached and took possession of one 1950 Ford sedan which was in the defendants’ possession.

Defendants’ answer admitted incurring the original hospital bill, but alleged as an affirmative defense that the parties had entered into a verbal agreement that defendants would pay the sum of twenty dollars per month until the bill was paid in full; that pursuant to this agreement, defendants had, prior to the commencement of the action, paid [785]*785a total sum of two hundred fifty dollars to the hospital on the account, and since then, and prior to preparing their answer, they had paid an additional fifty dollars into the registry of the court, leaving an unpaid balance in the amount of $512.76. It was further alleged that this verbal agreement had been confirmed by a written agreement to the same effect, entered into at the time defendant wife was finally discharged from the hospital.

These affirmative allegations were denied in toto by the hospital’s reply.

At the time of the trial, the amount of the hospital bill had been reduced to $452.76. Judgment was entered against defendants in that amount. Costs were allowed the hospital, except certain items incurred relative to the attachment proceedings.

Defendants have appealed from the judgment entered against them. They assign error in respect to two findings of fact, entered by the trial court, and further assert that the judgment is not supported by the findings and that it “is contrary to law.”

In this court, appellants, in their brief, discuss two contentions argued by respondent hospital in the trial court, to wit, (1) that the agreement to pay twenty dollars per month upon the account was void because not authorized or ratified by its board of trustees, and (2) that the agreement was void for lack of consideration. In its brief, respondent ignores the first contention and confines its argument in the support of the judgment solely to the second contention. Therefore, the only question now before us is whether there was a legal consideration for appellants’ agreement to pay twenty dollars per month.

Since neither party presented any oral argument in this court in support of its position, we will discuss the evidence rather fully as it bears upon the issue of consideration.

There is no dispute as to the basic facts. Appellants lived with their four children on the Barnes ranch near Water-ville. The husband is a farm hand, and was so employed between November, 1952, when his wife first was admitted to [786]*786the hospital, and February 10, 1953, when she was discharged the last time.

The husband testified that, when his wife first entered the hospital in November, 1952, he told the head nurse that they were unable to pay for hospitalization. When she was discharged from the hospital the first time later that month,. they were unable to pay the account. At that time, he made a verbal agreement with the head nurse (who had apparent authority to make such arrangements) to pay twenty dollars per month on the hospital bill owing at that time.

On February 10, 1953, when appellant wife was discharged the last time, the head nurse told the husband that the board of trustees desired a signed agreement to pay twenty dollars per month. Appellants were financially unable to pay their account in full, and the respondent was aware of that fact. The proposed agreement to pay twenty dollars a month was entirely satisfactory to appellant husband, and he executed a printed form prepared by the hospital (which is part of each patient’s hospital record), reading as follows:

“Contract
“We Date 2-10-53
I agree to pay to the account of Letta Newby with Douglas County Memorial Hospital Association as follows:
“$....................................on or before discharge $20.00 or moré on
week
2nd day of each month
:...............................................Sign here Joe L. Newby Address........................
Credit Department
................................................Address.....................”

At this time, the balance amounted to $715.86, so that the parties must have contemplated that appellants would have three full years in which to pay off. the account at the rate of twenty dollars per month.

Pursuant to the oral and written agreements the husband, prior to the commencement of this action, made monthly payments, which were accepted by the hospital in reduction of appellants’ account in the following amounts:

[787]*787 Payments
November 18, 1952."................................. $50.00
January 3, 1953..................................... 20.00
February 2, 1953.................................... 20.00
February 27, 1953................................... 30.00
April 2, 1953........................................ 20.00
May 11, 1953........................................ 20.00
June 1, 1953........................................ 20.00
August 10, 1953..................................... 20.00
September 9, 1953................................... 20.00
October 3, 1953..................................... 10.00
Total ........................................$230.00

On October 3, 1953, appellant husband contacted Mr. Wainscott, the then president of the hospital, and stated that he had heard from his employer that the board of trustees of the hospital (herein called the board) wanted him to sign a promissory note for the balance of the account. The president, in effect, requested the husband to sign a note which could be discounted at a bank. According to the husband’s testimony:

“I met up with him downtown. And I had heard that the board was wondering if I would go to the bank and sign a note to pay this off in full. So I approached Mr. Wainscott and told him if the board would go along with me and the bank would accept me, I would go in to the bank to sign a note, to have the banker to figure out the interest. And if the hospital would help me on the interest on this deal, because I wasn’t set up with any interest. And Mr. Wainscott refused it. That was on October 3.”

The board member’s version of this conversation was:

“Well, he said that Forrest [his former employer] had talked to him and said I wanted to see him about his account down at the hospital.

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Related

Wallace v. Kuehner
46 P.3d 823 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2002)
Newby v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co.
307 P.2d 275 (Washington Supreme Court, 1957)
DOUGLAS ETC. ASS'N v. Newby
278 P.2d 330 (Washington Supreme Court, 1954)

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Bluebook (online)
278 P.2d 330, 45 Wash. 2d 784, 1954 Wash. LEXIS 474, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/douglas-county-memorial-hospital-assn-v-newby-wash-1954.