Easley v. Gill

77 S.W.2d 268
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 16, 1934
DocketNo. 1336
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 77 S.W.2d 268 (Easley v. Gill) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Easley v. Gill, 77 S.W.2d 268 (Tex. Ct. App. 1934).

Opinion

LESLIE, Justice.

G. W. Gill brought this suit on two vendor’s lien notes in the sum of $600 and $2,390, respectively, which were secured by vendor’s lien on 160 acres of land, be'ng the east one-half of fractional section No. 27, containing 320 acres, El Paso county school lands, league 317, siiuated in Fisher county, Tex. Easley, defendant below, appellant here, owed Gill a note in the principal sum of $3,427.27, dated February 14, 1929, the payment of which Easley secured by placing said two vendor’s lien notes with Gill as security. The $3,427.-27 note stipulated that the two vendor’s lien notes were security for same, and the note contained the further provision granting Gill the right to sell the collateral notes at public or private sale, with or without notice, and apply the proceeds to the indebtedness. This power of sale was later exercised, and at the private sale, after notice, Gill bought the two notes for $1,500. He then brought this suit upon the same. Easley answered by alleging the usurious nature of the $3,427.27 note; he alleged that he borrowed $2,704.76 from Gill and executed his note for $2,904.76 providing for interest at the rate of 10 per cent, per annum from date until paid, and that this note with its accrued interest was renewed in the execution of the $3,427.27 note. [269]*269He alleged that a $200 bonus was added in the face of the $2,904.76 note. Gill denied all charges of usury, and alleged that the various notes executed by Easley to him were separate and distinct transactions, and that no parts of them were ever merged until the unpaid portions of them were incorporated in the $3,427.27 note.

The trial was before the court without a jury, and at the conclusion of the testimony judgment was rendered in favor of the plaintiff for $3,160, the amount of the two vendor’s lien notes, and the defendant was denied any relief. There are no findings of fact or conclusions of law in the transcript. There is a statement of facts in the record, and, by two propositions briefed, Easley contends that the court erred in not allowing him certain credits on the principal amount ($2,704. 76) which he borrowed from Gill, and which was carried forward in the $3,427.27 note, and in this respect he contends that the court erred in not applying these credits to the two vendor’s lien notes in this suit “to the same extent as he could have urged in a suit on the original note ($3,427.27) to secure which the Vendor’s Lien notes were pledged.”

To make clear our conclusions on the merits of this appeal, we regret that it becomes necessary to make a rather extended statement of the material facts involved. It is also necessary to some extent to make repetition of certain matters that their logical connection with other facts may readily appear. The substance of the material facts is as follows:

W. B. Campbell and others executed and delivered to appellant, Easley, a warranty deed dated November 15, 1924, to the south one-half of section No. 26, and fractional section No. 27, each containing 320 acres, El Paso county school lands, league 317, situated in Fisher county, Tex. The consideration was the assumption by Easley of lien indebtedness against the land held by the Federal Land Bank of Houston and the National Bank of Commerce of Fort Worth, Tex. On December 1, 1924, Easley conveyed these lands by quarter sections to J. F. Fraser. For the east one-half of fractional section No. 27 he received, among other considerations, two vendor’s lien notes, one for $600 and the other for $2,300, due, respectively, November 15, 1929, and 1930. These are the notes upon which the instant suit was filed. In fact, Fraser, together with other considerations given, executed for each quarter section a set of six vendor’s lien notes payable to the order of Easloy. On March 20, 1925, each quarter was reconveyed by Eraser to Easley in separate conveyances. Each reconveyance was subject to the set of six vendor’s lien notes against it, but Easley assumed the taxes.

The debt to the Federal Land Bank amounted to approximately $5,645.62, and to the National Bank of Commerce, $7,037.05.

To save his land from sale- under these debts, Easley negotiated with Gill for financial assistance. According to his allegations, on November 29, 1924, he borrowed $2,704.76, executing his note for $2,904.76, with interest from date. 1-Ie also alleges that a $200 bonus was included in this note which made it a usurious contract. On February 14, 1925, he executed a note to Gill for $5,645.62; February 16, 1925, a note for $1,500; and June 29, 1925, a note for $200.

Easley supplemented the $2,704.76 with $4,-132.29 of his own funds and paid off the $7,-037.05 due the National Bank of Commerce. In this three-cornered transaction, and for the purpose of securing the payment of the $2,904.76 note, the bank transferred its debt and lien to Gill. As evidence of Gill’s loan to Easley, the latter executed the $2,904.76 note of date November 29, 1924.

Next C. W. Gill loaned Easley $5,645.62 to take up the Federal Land Bank debt. Easley executed a note of date February 14, 1925, payable to the order of Gill for that amount, and bearing 10 per cent, per annum interest from date, etc. Upon receipt of this amount, this bank transferred its lien to C. W. Gill.

After the above amounts were advanced by Gill to Easley, Gill received the notes executed for the same and entered them on the debit side of the ledger, and the payments thereafter made on them by Easley were entered on the credit side.

After the two banks transferred their liens to Gill to secure his advancements to Easley, the latter, to further secure the same, transferred to Gill the four sets of vendor’s lien notes received by him from Fraser and subject to which he permitted Fraser to recon-vey the four quarter sections of land back to him. By an arrangement between Gill and Easley, the latter was to go out and place, or pledge, the four sets of vendor’s lien notes 'and apply the proceeds derived therefrom to the payment of Easley’s several obligations to Gill, whereupon Gill was to release, to the pledgee of any set of such notes, any and all liens acquired by him and existing against any particular quarter section of land securing the notes thus disposed of. The pledgee [270]*270would in turn become the holder of the first lien against the land so released.

Pursuant to the above arrangement, Easley borrowed $3,000 from E. N. Kirby and secured the same by the vendor’s lien notes against the southwest one-quarter of section No. 26. On receipt of this money by Gill, he released the bank liens, etc., thus causing the loan from Kirby to Easley to be secured by a first lien on that quarter section of land. This $3,-000 was applied by Easley on his personal note to Gill for $5,645.62, leaving an unpaid balance of $2,645.62.

June 5, 1925, Easley borrowed from O. D. Uindley $3,330 cash and executed his personal note therefor and secured its payment by some of Fraser’s vendor’s lien notes on the southeast one-quarter of section 26. With this Easley paid off his $1,500 note to Gill, and, by agreement -with Gill, $1,830 was utilized by Easley for operating expenses. Gill thereupon released liens against this quarter section of land making Lindley the holder of the first lien thereon.

In a second deal with Lindley, Easley borrowed $2,700 executing his personal note therefor of date June 20, 1925. Fraser’s vendor’s lien notes against the west one-half of said fractional section were put up as collateral.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Sud v. Morris
492 S.W.2d 335 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1973)
Jenkins v. Abilene Building & Loan Ass'n
98 S.W.2d 228 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1936)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
77 S.W.2d 268, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/easley-v-gill-texapp-1934.