Green v. Hoppe

175 S.W. 1117, 1915 Tex. App. LEXIS 479
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 24, 1915
DocketNo. 5462.
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 175 S.W. 1117 (Green v. Hoppe) 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
Green v. Hoppe, 175 S.W. 1117, 1915 Tex. App. LEXIS 479 (Tex. Ct. App. 1915).

Opinion

RICE, J.

Appellee was in the mercantile business at Smithville, and during the months of February, March, and April, 1914, sold to appellant Green certain goods, wares, and merchandise, amounting in the aggregate to the sum of $359.23; and on January 19, 1914, appellant Green borrowed from the First National Bank of Smithville the sum of $306, executing his note therefor, with appellee as surety, payable to the order of said bank within 60 days from date, bearing 10 per cent, interest, and providing for 10 per cent, attorney’s fees, if placed in the hands of an attorney for collection. The note was not paid at maturity, and appellee, as surety, paid same, amounting to $316. Appellant also having failed to pay said account, this suit was brought by appellee on the 3d of May thereafter to enforce collection thereof, as well as for said sum of money so paid on said note, alleging that the merchandise was bought at an agreed price, specified and set forth iri Exhibit A, attached to the petition, which was duly verified; and on the same day caused an attachment to be issued and levied upon 14 head of mules and horses, seven wagons and harness, the property of appellant, which was thereafter, on the 7th of May, duly replevied by him. On the 12th of said month, appellee filed his first amended original petition, setting up the sale of said merchandise by him to appellant, and seeking to recover in the first count for its value at an agreed price, and in the second on a quantum meruit, and also set up the execution of said note to the First National Bank of Smithville by appellant Green as principal and himself as surety, for the sum above mentioned, alleging that he, as surety, had been compelled to pay the same to the *1119 bank, wbo bad indorsed it to him, and prayed for recovery of the amount that he had so paid. Appellant replied by general demurrer, several special exceptions, and further answered by special denial of paragraphs 1 to 8, inclusive, of plaintiff’s petition, but admitted that he had executed the note described therein as principal, with appellee as surety thereon, and likewise admitted that he had purchased a number of the articles of goods, wares, and merchandise, set forth in Exhibit A, attached to plaintiff’s petition, but alleged, however, that he had no information sufficient to enable him to state whether such account was correct or not. He also sought to recover damages in reconvention for the alleged unlawful issuance and levy .of the writ of attachment upon his property. A jury trial resulted in a verdict and judgment in favor of appellee against appellant and the sureties on the replevy bond, with a foreclosure of the attachment lien on the property levied upon by virtue of said writ of attachment, and against appellant on his plea in recon-vention. Appellant moved to quash the writ of attachment on several grounds, chiefly for the reason that the amended petition set up a new and different cause of action from that stated in the original petition. The original petition sought to recover for goods, wares, and merchandise sold to appellant at an agreed price, as set forth in the exhibit attached to said petition, and likewise sought to recover for the money paid by appellee as surety on said note, alleging it to be money procured and furnished by him to appellant; while the first amended petition, so far as the account is concerned, not only sought to recover on an express contract, but also on a quantum meruit. With reference to the money so paid by appellee as surety, said amended petition set up all the facts with reference to the execution and delivery of said note by appellant, as principal and himself as surety, the payment of same by him and its indorsement to him, and prayed to recover the amount paid out by him thereon, and for general and special relief.

[1] We understand the rule to be, as contended for by appellant, that if the amended petition in the instant case set up a new and separate cause of action from that set up in the original petition, this, in and of itself, would be sufficient ground to abate the attachment. See Boyd v. Beville, 91 Tex. 439, 44 S. W. 287; Phœnix Lumber Co. v. Houston, etc., Co., 94 Tex. 463, 61 S. W. 707; Townes’ Texas Pleading, p. 459.

[2] We also understand the rule to be that if the original petition had declared on an express contract, and the amended petition had declared on an implied contract, they would present essentially different causes of action. See Booth v. Houston Packing Co., 105 S. W. 46; S. A. & A. P. R. Co. v. Bracht, 157 S. W. 269; Lynch v. Ortleib & Co., 87 Tex. 590, 30 S. W. 545; Phœnix Lumber Co. v. Houston, etc., Co., supra; Sayles’ Texas Pleading (1st [1906] Supp.) p. 53.

[3] But do said pleadings come within this rule? We think not. As to the suit on the account, the same identical allegation is made in both, and recovery is asked in both for goods sold at a specified and agreed price. It is true that a second count was added, seeking to recover on a quantum meruit, but plaintiff had the right to add as many counts as he desired, and this did not change his right to recover on the first count, which was the same in each petition.

[4] Appellant further contends,' however, that in the amended petition appellee sued to recover upon the note, whereas in the original petition he only sued to recover for money had and received, claiming that in the one he sued upon an express contract, while in the other his suit is based upon an implied contract. In the instant case appellee’s cause of action for the recovery of the money paid by him results from the implied obligation on the part of the principal to reimburse the surety for the money actually paid on his account. See Faires v. Cockerell et al., 88 Tex. 428, 31 S. W. 190, 639, 28 L. R. A. 528; Holliman v. Rogers, 6 Tex. 91, holding that recovery under such circumstances could not be had by the surety upon the note.

[5] We think that both petitions declare upon the same cause of action, that is, upon an implied obligation upon the part of appellant to reimburse appellee for the money paid on said note. It is true that appellee does set out the note and all the facts regarding its execution, delivery and payment by him, and prays for recovery of the money paid by him thereon; still, under the authority of Boyd v. Beville, supra, we think this was a suit by him for indemnity, rather than upon the note. As said before, the petition may be regarded both as a suit upon the note and the implied obligation of appellant to reimburse appellee for the money paid thereon, and we may concede that appellee believed he was suing upon the note, yet he stated facts sufficient to authorize a recovery upon the implied obligation of appellant to reimburse him for the money paid; and, having prayed for whatever relief he might be entitled to thereunder, the court was justified in regarding iti as a suit upon the impied contract, rather than upon the note. Hence we overrule appellant’s contention set out under the first, second, third, and fourth assignments of error, to the effect that the two petitions set up separate and different causes of action.

[6, 7] The fifth assignment complains that the verdict is not supported by the evidence, but is in conflict therewith, in that there is no testimony showing, or tending to show, how much plaintiff paid on said note as surety. We differ with appellant in this contention.

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Bluebook (online)
175 S.W. 1117, 1915 Tex. App. LEXIS 479, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/green-v-hoppe-texapp-1915.