Greene County Union Bank v. Miller

75 S.W.2d 49, 18 Tenn. App. 239, 1934 Tenn. App. LEXIS 26
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedApril 28, 1934
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 75 S.W.2d 49 (Greene County Union Bank v. Miller) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Greene County Union Bank v. Miller, 75 S.W.2d 49, 18 Tenn. App. 239, 1934 Tenn. App. LEXIS 26 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1934).

Opinions

DeWITT, J.

This cause on appeal presents a controversy between the complainants, Greene County Union Bank and P. C. Wakefield, and the defendant, Mrs. Frank E. Miller, as to indebtedness claimed against her upon certain promissory notes. Mrs. Miller is the wife of her codefendant R. D. Miller, who was also sued upon all of these notes but one and upon other notes executed by him. He admitted the execution of every note sued on, on which his name appeared either as maker, surety, or indorser, and the chancellor awarded against him a recovery on all of these notes. It appears without dispute that he is insolvent and has no property subject to execution.

The chancellor dismissed a cross-bill filed by Mrs. Miller, overruled her pleas and her exceptions to testimony, and awarded re-[243]*243eoveries against her in favor of tbe Greene County Union Bank as follows:

$2,496.96, including interest and attorney’s fee, upon a note dated April 20, 1931, of which, she was comaker with her husband for $1,994.79, as the balance of a debt secured by their deed of trust of November 26, 1929, to a house and lot in Greeneville. A sale of said property was decreed for the satisfaction of said note. $770.78, including interest and attorney’s fee, as the amount due upon a note dated February 9, 1931, for $617.52, signed by Miller Fuel Company and R. D. Miller and upon which Mrs. Miller was indorser.

The chancellor also awarded a recovery of $242.93, including interest and attorney’s fee, against Mrs. Miller, in favor of the Greene County Union Bank for the use and benefit of P. C. Wake-field, upon a note executed solely by Mrs. Miller dated May 27, 1931, in renewal of a note for $218.92 dated November 27, 1930, secured by pledge of five shares of the capital stock of the Greene County Bank. A payment of $26.26 was made thereon on November 27, 1930, so that the correct balance as of that date was $192.66; and the chancellor also found that this was subject to a credit of $4,38 for usury charged upon said note. After these credits were applied and interest and attorney’s fee added, the amount found to be due was the aforesaid sum of $242.93. The chancellor decreed a sale of the five shares of bank stock for the satisfaction of this recovery so awarded.

All of the notes upon which Mrs. Miller was sued, excepting this last-mentioned one, were made payable to the order of the Greene County- Bank. All of the notes upon which R. D. Miller was separately sued were made payable to the order of the Union Bank !& Trust Company of Greeneville. In June, 1931, these banks were lawfully merged under the name of Greene County Union Bank, and, under said merger, all of these notes became the property of the Greene County Union Bank.

The note of Mrs. Miller, originally for $218.92, was for money borrowed of P. C. Wakefield by her, and was made payable to his order. He is president of the Greene County Union Bank. He sold and transferred this note, indorsing the same, to that bank before the institution of this suit; but thereafter he paid to the bank the amount of the note, upon demand made because the note was long overdue. By amendment to the bill, he was allowed to become a party complainant so as to seek the recovery which was awarded for his use and benefit upon this note as aforesaid.

From the decree of the chancery court, Mrs. Frank B. Miller has appealed and assigned errors. The first assignment is that the chancellor erred in denying to her the right of trial by jury.

[244]*244In ber cross-bill Mrs. Miller demanded a jury to try the issues in the cause. Issues were tendered by her and her husband as cross-complainants, and issues were also tendered by the Greene County Union Bank. Certain of these issues were approved by the chancellor, and others were eliminated as immaterial or not determinative. At this juncture, the complainant bank moved to deny the application or demand for a jury, upon the ground that the cause involved the determination of matters, inherently equitable, complicated accounts, etc., and, after argument, the court sustained said motion and disallowed the demand for trial by jury, refusing to submit the case to a jury. The cause was then continued, remanded to the rules for proof, proof in the form of depositions was taken and filed, and the cause was heard and tried by the chancellor, with the result hereinbefore set forth.

Article 1, section 6, of the Constitution of Tennessee provides that the right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate. However, it is well settled in this state that there is no absolute right to a, trial by jury in a suit of which the chancery court has inherent, equitable jurisdiction, but the submission of facts to a jury in such a case has been a matter within the discretion of the chancellor. This provision of the Constitution as to jury trials refers not to suits brought in chancery, but alone to actions triable at common law. Miller v. Washington County, 143 Tenn., 488, 226 S. W., 199; Exum v. Griffis Newbern Co., 144 Tenn., 239, 230 S. W., 601. The right to a trial by jury in chancery arises under our statute which, as set forth in section 10574 of the Code, is as follows:

“Either party to a suit in chancery is entitled, upon application, to a jury to try and determine any material fact in dispute, save in eases involving complicated accounting, as to such accounting, and those elsewhere excepted by law or by provisions of this Code, and all the issues of fact in any proper case shall be submitted to one jury. ’ ’

The court of chancery has inherent jurisdiction in equity over a suit for accounting, a suit involving claims and counterclaims, where the accounts are too complicated to be dealt with in a court of law. Gibson’s Suits in Chancery, sec. 953; Taylor v. Tompkins, 2 Heisk., 89.

In such case, the question as to the absolute right of a party to a trial by jury is for the chancellor to determine from the pleadings, whether or not the case involves complicated accounting. If it is a case for complicated accounting, such party has no right to demand or have a trial by jury. The foundation of jurisdiction in equity in a case of complicated accounts is based upon the inadequacy of the legal remedy, as where there is an embarrassment in making proof, the necessity for a discovery, or the production [245]*245of books and papers, or wkere it would be difficult, if not impossible, for a jury to unravel the numerous transactions involved, and justice could not be done except by employing the methods of investigation peculiar to courts of equity. It is well settled that where the accounts are complicated this constitutes of itself sufficient ground for the assumption of jurisdiction by a court of equity, and where the account is made up of items for and against each party, or the items are numerous and extend over a long period of time. 1 C. J., 618, 619; Taylor v. Tompkins, supra. No hard and fast rule can be laid down as to what constitutes such a complexity of accounts as to authorize a court of equity to assume jurisdiction; each case seems to stand upon its own facts. 1 C. J., 620, and cases cited.

As has been stated, the suit against Mrs. Miller was brought upon three promissory notes. To the note for $1,994.79, she pleaded non est factum as to all above the sum of $800, averring that she was deceived, defrauded, misled, and imposed upon into signing the note believing that it was merely a renewal of a note for $800. She prayed that said note be reformed.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
75 S.W.2d 49, 18 Tenn. App. 239, 1934 Tenn. App. LEXIS 26, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/greene-county-union-bank-v-miller-tennctapp-1934.