Glaze v. Ferguson

48 Kan. 157
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedJanuary 15, 1892
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 48 Kan. 157 (Glaze v. Ferguson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Glaze v. Ferguson, 48 Kan. 157 (kan 1892).

Opinion

Opinion by

Simpson, C.:

This action was brought by Charles Y. Ferguson, in the common pleas court of Sedgwick county, against George Morris, Sarah Morris, George P. Glaze, George C. Gardner, H. B. Gardner, and C. L. Andress, to recover on a promissory note, of date March 17, 1887, for $400, with interest from date to maturity at 8 per cent., and, if not paid at maturity, interest at 12 per cent. George Morris and Sarah Morris are charged as makers of the note. George P. Glaze was the payee. The note was given as a part of the purchase-money of lots 1, 3, 5, and 7, in Gardner’s addition to the city of Wichita, and a vendor’s lien was reserved in the deed from Glaze to Morris and wife for the amount of this note. At the time of the commencement of the action, Andress was the owner of the lots. This note was indorsed by Glaze to George C. Gardner and H. B. Gardner, and by them indorsed and delivered to Ferguson before maturity. Ferguson, in his petition, avers that at the [158]*158time the note was indorsed and delivered to him that Glaze, Gardner and Gardner stated to him that the time of the payment thereof had been extended 30 days, and that this extension was granted by their consent, at the request of the makers, and that he (Ferguson) agreed not to present the note for payment to the makers until the expiration of 30 days after maturity, and that H. B. Gardner expressly agreed that if said note was not paid at the expiration of 30 days, he and G. C. Gardner and George P. Glaze would pay the same. George C. Gardner, H. B. Gardner and Glaze -filed answers, each pleading a general denial; and as the case is here only as to these parties, it is not necessary to state the action of the others.

When the case was called for trial, these plaintiffs in error objected to the introduction of any evidence under the petition, because it does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action against them. This objection was overruled, and this raises the controlling question in the case. The jury found for Férguson, and returned a verdict for the amount of the note, with interest, against the defendants, and judgment was rendered on the verdict. As there was no evidence tending to show protest and the service of notice of dishonor on Gardner, Gardner, and Glaze, the verdict of the jury, under the instructions given by the court, was based upon the fact that the time for the payment of the note had been extended for 30 days by these parties, at the request of the maker, and that they had so informed Ferguson at the time of the transfer of the note by them to him. There is some evidence to sustain, the verdict on this theory. This leaves the legal question as to whether or not such an agreement dispenses with notice and protest so far as the indorsers are concerned. And if it does, the objection to the petition was properly overruled. It stated a cause of action against Gardner, Gardner, and Glaze. The plaintiffs in error, both in the court below and here, seek to have the questions determined on a strict construction of the rules of commercial law as to demand and notice, and consequently ignore any theory of the [159]*159case that implies waiver of notice to the indorsers. That the presentment of a note, as well as protest and notice, can be dispensed with by agreement or waiver, is a familiar doctrine of the text-books. The waiver may be either verbally or by writing; it may be expressed in strict terms or inferred from the words or acts of the party. It may result from- any understanding between the parties which is of such a character as to satisfy the mind that a waiver is intended.

“Any. act, course of conduct or language of the drawer or indorser, calculated to induce the holder not to make demand or protest or give notice, or to put him off his guard, or any agreement of the parties to that effect, will dispense with the necessity of taking these steps.” (Daniel, Neg. Inst., § 1103, and authorities cited in foot-notes.) “Where the indorse'rs-agree to an extension of time of payment, it waives demand,, protest, and notice.-” (Id., §1106.)

Ridgway v. Day, 13 Pa. St. 208; Barclay v. Weaver, 19 id. 396; Bank v. Waples, 4 Har. (Del.) 429; Bank v. Moore, 37 N. H. 539, are the cases cited to sustain the text. In the case of Hudson v. Wolcott, 39 Ohio St. 618, the court say:

“At the time of the indorsement the parties thereto were fully informed that the maker could not at that time make payment, nor probably within 30 days, and the inference is clear that the parties, indorser and indorsee, intended to await payment for that period. If so, demand and notice within that period were waived. And clearly, demand and notice,, under the circumstances, were not required at the end of the 30 days by any rule of law, for the reason that the note had long been past due, and no contract had been made with the maker to extend the date of payment to any other time than that named in the note itself; so that neither the rule of law in respect to demand and notice at maturity of commercial paper indorsed before maturity, nor that in respect to indorsement of paper past due, were applicable in this case after the lapse of 30 days from the date of transfer.”

This case is a stronger one than the cited case, because here the indorsers themselves, before the transfer of the note to Ferguson, made an agreement with the maker to extend the time, and, according to the adjudicated facts, so informed the [160]*160defendant in error at the time of the transfer. In a subsequent case, that of McGonigal v. Brown, 45 Ohio St. 499, the decision in Hudson v. Wolcott was affirmed, and the court say:

“It is contended, however, that a new time of payment was fixed by the extension to ‘about the 1st of April, 1877/ and that demand and notice, within a reasonable time after the 1st of April, were necessary in order to make the indorser liable. The extension to about the 1st of April, in our view, designated a time so indefinite as to be calculated to mislead the indorsee, and put him in doubt and off his guard in protecting his rights as against the indorser. It was beyond the power of the indorsee to determine definitely when the note was payable by the terms of the extension. To charge a drawer or indorser, demand should be made on the day of the maturity of the note or bill. If made before the note falls due, it is unavailing; and if made after, it is generally insufficient for the purpose of charging the indorser or drawer. The defendant in error, having contributed toward rendering the holder of the note incapable of definitely determining the day of payment, and of strictly complying with the rules of commercial law in respect to demand and notice, he is to be held as intending to waive such compliance. We have not been able to reach the conclusion that the indorser, after having received a valuable consideration, designed to place his indorsee in a situation of doubt and uncertainty, and afterwards to hold him rigidly to the requirement of demand and notice, in order that he might evade an indorser’s liability.”

This applies with great force to the facts in this case. The case of Boyd v. Bank of Toledo, 32 Ohio St. 526, will be found to be a very instructive case, citing many authorities on the question of waiver, and going far to support the judgment in this case. The case of Taunton Bank v. Richardson, 5 Pick.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
48 Kan. 157, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/glaze-v-ferguson-kan-1892.