Gruenemeier v. Commonwealth Company

131 N.W.2d 713, 178 Neb. 66, 1964 Neb. LEXIS 41
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 18, 1964
Docket35753
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 131 N.W.2d 713 (Gruenemeier v. Commonwealth Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gruenemeier v. Commonwealth Company, 131 N.W.2d 713, 178 Neb. 66, 1964 Neb. LEXIS 41 (Neb. 1964).

Opinion

White, C. J.

On May 19, 1959, plaintiff Victor Gruenemeier executed a note to the defendant for $17,700 at 9 percent interest payable in 30 days. Expected funds to' pay this note not being available, the plaintiffs, on June 10, 1959, executed two new notes and mortgages to pay this original note. The first was a note for $11,700 payable in 36 months at $385 per month, the interest rate being 1% percent per month on the first $1,000, 1 percent per month on that part in excess of $1,000 up to $3,000, and *68 % of 1 percent (9 percent per annum) on the amount in excess of $3,000. At the same time, the plaintiffs executed another note for $6,000 at 9 percent interest.payable in 6 months on December 10, 1959. The record shows numerous subsequent transactions with respect to payments on the notes of June 10, 1959, and notes for additional loans. No question arises as to the validity of these transactions providing the transactions of June 10, 1959, were not tainted with usury, and so they will not be considered in this opinion.

The plaintiffs brought this action to declare the notes of June 10, 1959, invalid and recover back all payments with interest. The defendant cross-petitioned for judgment on the notes and foreclosure of the mortgages securing them. The trial court found for the defendant, entered judgment on the notes for the balance due, and granted foreclosure. The plaintiffs appeal.

The plaintiffs contend that the obligation of $17,700 was split into two separate notes at the same time, on June 10, 1959, for the purpose of obtaining a higher rate of interest, and that the notes were therefore void. Did the defendant have the power to execute each of these loans? The power to make the installment loan of $11,700 is expressly granted by section 8-418, R. R. S. 1943, of the Industrial Loan and Investment Company Act. The defendant is an industrial loan and investment-company organized under the provisions of this act. The exactions of interest and the inclusion of an amount at 9 percent per annum above $3,000 is expressly authorized by the statute. Turning to- the $6,000 loan at a rate of interest of 9 percent per annum executed at the same time, plaintiffs seem to contend that there is no authorization or power in the defendant to execute this note. First, we note that nothing in the whole act, sections 8-401 to 8-433, R. R. S. 1943, limits the amount of money that can be loaned at a rate of interest of 9 percent per annum. Even the installment loan section, section 8-418, R. R. S. 1943, puts no limits bn install *69 ment loans of amounts above $3,000 .but provides that any such amounts may draw only an interest rate of 9 percent per annum. Does the installment loan provision of the act, section 8-418, R. R. S. 1943, limit the power to make independent loans at a rate of interest of 9 percent per annum? We think not. The original Industrial Loan and Investment Company Act was enacted in 1941. Section 8-407, R. R. S. 1943 (Laws 1941, c. 13, § 6, p. 89), confers the general powers of corporations. upon the defendant except those by the act specifically limited. We can find nothing in this act that places any limitation on the powers of industrial loan and investment companies to make single payment 9 percent per annum loans, or any number of them. There was no regulation of installment loans or grant of powers to collect interest charges beyond 9 percent per annum in the original act of 1941.

Were these powers changed or limited by the enactment of sections 8-418 to 8-433, R. R. S. 1943, regulating installment loans by such companies and providing for the right to make additional charges on the first $3,000 of money loaned? We think not. The purpose of this act, it appears to us, 'was plain. The inception of these provisions, sections 8-418 to 8-433, R. R. S. 1943, was in Laws 1943, chapter 18, page 96. The title to this act expressly provided that it was: “* * * to prescribe regulations for the making of installment loans.” Nothing contained in the title or in the other provisions of the act mentions or inhibits any powers with reference to single payment 9 percent per annum loans. It is clear that the purpose of sections 8-418 to 8-433, R. R. S. 1943 (Laws 1943, chapter 18, page 96), was to grant additional powers to collect interest charges in excess of 9 percent per annum on the first $3,000 of a loan and providing that if such excess charges were enacted, that the loan had to be repaid in 36 months and in approximately equal payments (section 8-429, R. R. S. 1943). There is nothing in the substance of the act or the de *70 dared purpose of the act as expressed in the title to warrant any inference that there was any intention to interfere with or to regulate other types of loans than installment loans made for the purpose of collecting excess charges on the first $3,000 of the loan. Nor do we find any subsequent legislative history, after the 1943 grant embodied in this act, that would indicate any attempt to comprehensively regulate or control all loans made by the industrial loan and investment company. Confusion arises because of the construction placed upon similar inhibitory provisions in the Installment Loan Act. But, the Installment Loan Act, sections 45-114 to 45-158, R. R. S. 1943, comprehensively regulates and limits all loans made by such a licensee to small borrowers. Constructions and interpretations under that act are not applicable to the precise situation as to industrial loans and investment companies. Similar inhibitory provisions cannot be applied beyond their express purpose and intent in their inclusion in the act regulating installment loans of industrial loan and investment companies. The legislative prohibition or regulation cannot be extended beyond the evils intended to be prevented by the Legislature. So, we come to the conclusion that both of the loans made here can be made independently and are valid loans; and that there is nothing in the Industrial Loan and Investment Company Act which prohibits making single payment 9 percent per annum loans, as well as exercising the power to make installment loans for the purpose of exacting excess charges above a rate Of interest of 9 percent per annum up to $3,000.

Plaintiffs next contend that the making of the two loans or multiple loans at the same time was in violation of the statute. We find nothing in the statutes or the law that prohibits multiple loans at the same time, except where they are used as a devise to cloak usury. The only prohibition that the statute, section 8-419, R. R. S. 1943, makes on the splitting of loans is “for the *71 purpose of obtaining a higher rate of charge,” than if the loans were consolidated as one. No other purpose is included in this statute. From this statute, we gather no intent to prohibit the parties from splitting a loan so that one portion of it could be an installment loan, subject to the provisions of the statute in that respect, and another for a fixed amount for a fixed period at a rate of interest of 9 percent per annum. We cannot read into the statute a prohibition that was not expressly declared therein. The splitting statute was directed alone at the evil therein intended to be prevented, namely, the exaction of a higher rate of charge. All of this is made clear in Jourdon v. Commonwealth Co., 170 Neb. 919, 104 N. W. 2d 681, which involved a series of loans bearing interest at the maximum rate.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

McCaul v. American Savings Co.
331 N.W.2d 795 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1983)
Albers v. OVERLAND NATIONAL BANK
324 N.W.2d 396 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1982)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
131 N.W.2d 713, 178 Neb. 66, 1964 Neb. LEXIS 41, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gruenemeier-v-commonwealth-company-neb-1964.