Gibson v. First National Bank

123 S.E. 606, 158 Ga. 350, 1924 Ga. LEXIS 153
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedMay 15, 1924
DocketNo. 4212
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 123 S.E. 606 (Gibson v. First National Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gibson v. First National Bank, 123 S.E. 606, 158 Ga. 350, 1924 Ga. LEXIS 153 (Ga. 1924).

Opinion

Beck, P. J.

The First National Bank of Marietta brought its suit to the November term, 1922, of Cobb, superior court, against George W. Gibson and Mrs. M. L. Gibson, on a promissory note for the principal sum of $5,050, dated October 21, 1920, and due on demand. It was alleged that no part of -the note had been paid, but interest had been paid thereon to December 30, 1921. The prayers of the petition were, for judgment against G. W. Gibson for the principal, interest, and attorney’s fees, and for the recovery of a special verdict and judgment against certain described personal property. There was also a prayer that certain deeds executed by G. W. Gibson to Mrs. M. L. Gibson be declared fraudulent and void, and that they be cancelled. Answers were filed by, G. W. Gibson and by Mrs. M. L. Gibson. Demurrers to the answers were filed, some of which were sustained and some overruled. The trial proceeded, and at the conclusion of the evidence the court [352]*352directed a verdict for the plaintiff. The defendants made a motion for new trial, which was overruled.

Mrs. M. L. Gibson was made a joint defendant in the case, because she was a necessary party inasmuch as equitable relief was sought against her, the plaintiff in its petition having attacked as fraudulent and void certain deeds executed by G. "W. Gibson to Mrs. M. L. Gibson. But before argument began, the issue made under the allegations of fraud in the execution of the deeds and the denial of the fraud was eliminated by certain admissions made by the defendants; and it is not necessary to consider the questions made in regard to the deeds, nor any of the questions made by the answer of Mrs. Gibson. Under the issues left after the elimination of those relating to the attack made upon the deeds, it is only necessary to consider and determine the questions made by the answer of the other defendant and the demurrers thereto. He, after filing his original answer, submitted various amendments. There were demurrers to his answer and to the. amendments submitted, each of them containing several grounds. It is not necessary to set out the petition and the answer in extenso. The answer to the petition and the demurrers to the answer and the amendments make two questions relating to the vital issues of the case: In the first place, the defendant, in the answer filed, set up the defense that he was induced by the plaintiff, through its cashier D. R. Little, to execute the note sued on, “with the distinct understanding and agreement between the defendant and Little and one Brown [whose relation to the case will be indicated later on] that the execution of a bill of sale to the bank by Brown would operate as payment of the note.” Upon demurrer, the part of the answer setting up this defense was stricken; and to the judgment of the court striking the defense just stated the defendant excepted.

The court did not err in sustaining the demurrer to that part of the answer of the defendant setting up the defense thus stricken. In the first place, this part of the answer was an attempt to contradict and vary an unconditional written promise to pay a certain sum of money, by setting up a contemporaneous parol agreement contrary to the writing. And parol evidence is inadmissible to add to, take from, or vary a written contract. Civil Code, § 4268 (1). In the case of Dendy v. Gamble, 59 Ga. 434, which was a suit against principal and surety on a note, this court said: “The [353]*353note, however, is absolute and unconditional. It is an express contract, on the part of both principal and surety, to pay a sum of money on or before a given day, less than a month after its date. When a man’s real contract is not to pay, what sense or reason is there in signing a written contract that he will pay? To allow such a defense as this to be effective would be to overthrow the most trustworthy monuments of the engagements of men to men. What security would the most solemn writings any longer afford? In striking the plea, on demurrer, the court made the only proper disposition of it.” In the case of Haymans v. Bennett, 29 Ga. App. 265 (114 S. E. 923), it was said: “No defense to the note sued on was made by the plea in which the defendant, who was sued as surety, set up that there was no consideration for his signing this note or the note of which it was a renewal; that he'signed as an accommodation indorser at the request of the president of the bank to which it was payable, the president stating that he, for the bank, would guarantee that the defendant would not be called upon to pay it; and that at the time of his signing the original note the president represented to him that the maker was able to pay it, but this representation was untrue and was made with intent to deceive and did deceive him, and that without such statement he would not have signed the note.” In Hirsch v. Oliver, 91 Ga. 554 (18 S. E. 354), it was held: “To an action against the maker on his negotiable promissory notes, a plea that he executed them with the understanding that he was not to be bound, and for a purpose wholly at variance with their plain tenor and import, is no defense, there being no denial that the notes were made and delivered,' and no suggestion in the plea that the understanding and purpose alleged were evidenced by any writing, or that they were omitted from the notes by fraud, accident, or mistake.” In Dyar v. Walton, 79 Ga. 466 (7 S. E. 220), it was ruled: “Parol evidence (especially of the debtor himself) that a settlement closed up by absolute notes and mortgages was, by oral agreement of the parties, to be revised by the debtor, and the notes and mortgages reduced by crediting down all errors, contradicts the writings, and is inadmissible.” “Parol negotiations eventuating in an unambiguous written contract are merged in the writing, and are ineffectual to vary or contradict the writing.” Capps v. Edwards, 130 Ga. 146 (60 S. E. 455). “Before parol evidence can be admitted to show [354]*354a collateral agreement, it must appear, either from the contract itself or from the attendant circumstances,, that the contract is incomplete, and that what is sought to be shown as a collateral agreement does not in any way conflict with or contradict what is contained'in the writing.” Brosseau v. Jacobs, 147 Ga. 185 (93 S. E. 293). Citations of authorities to the same effect might be multiplied endlessly.

In an amendment to the answer George W. Gibson set up the defense that there was an agreement made between plaintiff, through its cashier, and L. H. Brown and the defendant, which was in substance an agreement that upon the execution of the note sued on the plaintiff would advance the amount of the principal, the price of certain tractors, and that L. II. Brown should execute and deliver to plaintiff a bill of sale to the tractors, and that said bill of sale should be received by plaintiff, in payment of the note; and further, that the bill of sale referred to was in fact accepted by the bank subsequently to the execution of the note and at the time the bill of sale was executed in payment of the note.

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Bluebook (online)
123 S.E. 606, 158 Ga. 350, 1924 Ga. LEXIS 153, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gibson-v-first-national-bank-ga-1924.