General Factors, Inc. v. Beck

402 P.2d 221, 1 Ariz. App. 286
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedMay 20, 1965
DocketNo. 1 CA-CIV 22
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 402 P.2d 221 (General Factors, Inc. v. Beck) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
General Factors, Inc. v. Beck, 402 P.2d 221, 1 Ariz. App. 286 (Ark. Ct. App. 1965).

Opinion

CAMERON, Judge.

The plaintiff below, appellant herein, General Factors, Inc., brought suit against the defendants below, appellees herein, A. Deal Beck and A. Deal Beck Concrete Construction Company.

The complaint alleged that the defendant had purchased from Tempe Sand and Gravel Company, goods and materials and that the plaintiff, an Arizona corporation, had purchased the invoices or accounts receivable and had given due notice to the defendant of this assignment with instructions to make payments directly to the plaintiff. Plaintiff further alleged that defendants did not make the payments as directed, and prayed for judgment in the amount of $4,942.86, together with costs.

Defendant answered by admitting the purchase of the goods and materials from Tempe Sand and Gravel, but denied the assignment, denied the notice of the alleged assignment, and alleged affirmatively that while there was the sum of $1,692.15 pres[287]*287ently owing to the creditor, that defendant had been served with a levy from the U. S. Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service, in the amount of $3,810.11, which would more than off-set the amount due and owing.

The matter was tried before the court without a jury, and at the close of the plaintiff’s case the court granted judgment for the defendant. Plaintiff brought this appeal claiming the trial court erred in various rulings excluding evidence which would have proven the assignment, and that the trial court further erred in not finding that the plaintiff had sustained its burden in showing that the defendant had received actual notice of the alleged assignment.

The facts of the case, so far as they are necessary to determine this matter on appeal, are as follows:

On or about 5 October through 28 October, 1960, defendant purchased from Tempe Sand and Gravel Company certain materials for use by defendant in his construction business. Invoices representing these purchases were then sent to plaintiff, General Factors, Inc., under an alleged assignment and factoring account. There is testimony to indicate that General Factors paid for these invoices, and between the 10th and 31st of October, mailed these invoices to the defendant at his place of business.

The invoices bearing the name of Tempe Sand and Gravel had at the bottom the following statement:

“Accounts due and payable 15th of month following purchase.”

Plaintiff affixed a sticker to each invoice which read as follows:

“Pay only to General Factors, Inc., 3500 North Central Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona. This account and the merchandise covered hereby is assigned •and payable only to said corporation, to which notice must be given of any merchandise returns or claims of any kind.”

And also stamped to the invoice was the following:

“To facilitate our accounts receivable bookkeeping, this invoice has been factored with General Factors, Inc., 3500 North Central Building, Suite 332 in Phoenix, Arizona. Make payment directly to factor.”

The testimony of the defendant is that these invoices were received by his bookkeeper and that the bookkeeper merely opened the letters and checked the amounts on the invoices to determine any set-offs or “charge-backs”. The bookkeeper did not have the authority to draw checks for payment of the invoices or any other accounts, and the testimony of the defendant is that these invoices were not handed to him until sometime between the 7th and 15th of November, 1960.

In the meantime, Tempe Sand and Gravel was experiencing financial difficulties. Defendant, in order to assist Tempe Sand and Gravel and to insure his supply of products, on 2 November, 1960, made a payment to Phoenix Cement Corporation in the amount of $505.70 for and on behalf of Tempe Sand and Gravel. On 4 November, 1960, defendant made a payment to Phoenix Cement Corporation in the amount of $505.88 for and on behalf of Tempe Sand and Gravel, and a payment of $382.50 to Central Arizona Petroleum for and on behalf of Tempe Sand and Gravel. On 5 November, 1960, defendant drew a check payable to Tempe Sand and Gravel in the amount of $3,200 to cover “two weeks payroll that weren’t paid” by said Tempe Sand and Gravel. On 8 November, 1960, the defendant was served with a notice of levy from the U. S. Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service, claiming an amount against the Tempe Sand and Gravel Company of $3,-810.11. By pleading and testimony, the defendant admits holding the amount of $1,-692.50 subject to the levy of the U. S. Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service. The statement of the defendant is-to the effect that at the time he made these [288]*288payments and at the time of the levy by the U. S. Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service, he, the defendant, had no knowledge of the existence of the notices on the invoices directing him to pay the accounts to the plaintiff. There is further testimony to indicate that defendant had made some payments to General Factors in August, September and October. There is also testimony, and it is affirmatively pleaded, that the plaintiff had informed defendant that he would not factor any more of the accounts of defendant, and that plaintiff would have to have a financial statement from defendant before he would factor any of defendant’s accounts. Defendant refused to give plaintiff defendant’s financial statement.

The primary question before us concerns the question of notice of an assignment under the statutes and laws of the State of Arizona. The Arizona Revised Statutes provide as follows, at § 44-805:

“A. If a debtor, without actual notice that an assignment of his account has been made, makes full or partial payment of his debt to the assignor, his debt shall thereby be extinguished or reduced.” (Emphasis supplied.)

It would thus appear that where the debtor has paid the creditor, as in the instant case, that his debt is thereby extinguished or reduced unless he has received “actual notice” before said payment was made. Our Supreme Court had discussed notice as follows:

“[T]hat where a statute does not specify the manner in which a notice is to be given, ‘personal notice’ is required. Assuming but not deciding that ‘personal notice’ permits service by mail, the appellant is still faced with the insurmountable hurdle of the clear language of the statute that appellees were to be given notice on or before March 15, 1957.
“The rule has been laid down that in the absence of custom, statute, or express contract, a notice sought to be served by mail is not effective until it comes into the hands of the one sought to be served. Johnson v. Barreiro, 59 Cal.App.2d 213, 138 P.2d 746; Regan v. Atlantic Refining Co., 304 Mass. 353, 23 N.E.2d 869; George v. Adamson, 184 Okl. 289, 86 P.2d 980.” School District No. 6 of Pima County v. Barber, 85 Ariz. 95 at 96, 332 P.2d 496, 497 (1958).

Appellants cite the case of Cameron v. Shuttleworth, 75 Ariz. 61, 251 P.2d 659 (1952), for the proposition that notice received by the bookkeeper in this case, as an agent, was actual notice to the defendant.

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Related

General Factors, Inc. v. Beck
409 P.2d 40 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1965)

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Bluebook (online)
402 P.2d 221, 1 Ariz. App. 286, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/general-factors-inc-v-beck-arizctapp-1965.