Havlin v. Continental National Bank

161 S.W. 741, 253 Mo. 292, 1913 Mo. LEXIS 257
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedDecember 9, 1913
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 161 S.W. 741 (Havlin v. Continental National Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Havlin v. Continental National Bank, 161 S.W. 741, 253 Mo. 292, 1913 Mo. LEXIS 257 (Mo. 1913).

Opinion

WALKER, J.

John H. Havlin, the respondent, brought suit in equity against the Continental National Bank, hereinafter designated as “the bank,” appellant, in the circuit court of the city of St. Louis, to recover seven thousand, two hundred dollars paid by him to the bank as an endorser on two notes of one O. L. Hagan, which subsequent to Havlin’s payment were again paid in full by Hagan in a settlement with the bank, which thereafter refused to repay Havlin. Upon a trial a judgment was rendered in favor of Havlin, from which the bank appeals.

The material facts are as follows:

O. L. Hagan was indebted to the bank in the sum of $23,203.15. This debt was represented by three promissory notes executed by Hagan to the bank, one for $5000, another for $1500', and the balance by a third note.- The respondent Havlin, who then resided and. now resides in" Cincinnati, Ohio, indorsed the first two notes for the accommodation of Hagan, the bank having knowledge of the character of the indorsement. As further security for the payment of said debt, Hagan had deposited with the bank as collateral 770 shares of the capital stock of the Hagan Opera House Company-[297]*297under a contract in which said stock was valued at $89,-000, and the hank was given power to sell same at public or private sale in default of the payment of the indebtedness.

Oh the 22nd day of June, 1897, all of said debt was past due and unpaid and the bank, claiming to act under the power of sale conferred by the contract, sold said stock at a so-called public sale on the floor of the Merchants Exchange during a session of said body, -in the city of St. Louis, when it was bought by one Finis E. Marshall, cashier of the bank, for $5000', he being the only bidder. About a week after the sale the bank, claiming to be the absolute owner of the stock, sold it at private sale to J. C. Jannopoulo for $30',000, receiving a part of the purchase price in cash and taking Jannopoulo ’s notes for the balance. On the same day, or the day after the sale to Jannopoulo, said Marshall, representing the bank, called upon Havlin, who happened to be in St. Louis, for the payment of the two notes of $5000 and $1500 respectively. Havlin protested that he ought not to pay them, that the so-called public sale of the collateral made by the bank -on the floor of the. Merchants Exchange was invalid, and that the bank should apply the proceéds of the sale of the stock to Jannopoulo to the payment of the notes. The bank through Marshall insisted that the sale on the Merchants Exhange floor for $5000' was valid; that it had applied this sum to the payment of the third note upon which Havlin was not an indorser; that upon the purchase of the stock by Marshall it became the property of the bank, and that the proceeds of the sale of the stock to Jannopoulo were the bank’s individual property, and that the notes indorsed by Havlin were still wholly unpaid. After much discussion, Havlin, upon the repeated declarations made by Marshall, that the bank would look to him (Havlin) for payment, finally took up the two notes upon which he was indorser, and gave his individual notes for their full amount. The [298]*298original notes were then indorsed over to him, without recourse, and the individual notes he subsequently paid in full to the bank.

A few weeks after the payment of the notes to the bank by Havlin, who thereupon returned to Cincinnati, to-wit, on August 9, 1897, Hagan brought suit against the bank to redeem the 770 shares of the Hagan Opera House Company stock, pledged by him to the bank as aforesaid, or for an accounting as to its value. In this suit Hagan contended that the bank had improperly exercised its power to sell the stock at public sale under the pledge made by him to it; that the so-called public sale was invalid, and that he was, therefore, entitled to redeem the stock, or if it had been sold, to have an accounting for its value.

The trial court sustained this view, rendered a decree setting aside the sale made on the floor of the Merchants Exchange as unfair and found that the bank had subsequently “effectually sold at private sale to J. C. Jannopoulo, for the sum of $30,000, the 770 shares of the capital stock of the Hagan Opera House Company, but that said Jannopoulo was an innocent purchaser for value and without notice, and that the bank must account to plaintiff for that amount of money.” This judgment was, upon appeal, affirmed by this court in Hagan v. Continental National Bank, 182 Mo. 319. In this suit Hagan alleged that he was indebted to the bank in the sum of $23,340, that being the full amount of his indebtedness, inclusive of the two notes for $6500 indorsed by Havlin as aforesaid, and which had been paid by the latter. There is no evidence that Hagan knew that Havlin, his indorser, had previously paid the two notes to the bank. At the time of the trial Hagan was dead.

The bank in its answer admitted that Hagan’s indebtedness was $23,340, together with interest thereon, which necessarily included the two notes indorsed and which had been paid by Havlin, there being no other [299]*299indebtedness of Hagan to the bank. The answer did not mention the fact that Havlin bad paid the notes indorsed by him, and that said notes upon being paid bad been assigned to him. The decree rendered in favor of Hagan in that suit was upon the theory that be was still indebted to the bank in the full amount of all notes held by it against him on June 22, 1897, or prior to Havlin’s payment. The court, therefore, gave the bank credit for the full amount of these notes and rendered judgment over in Hagan’s favor for the sum of $6796.85, being the difference between tbe sum of $30,-000, for which tbe court decreed that tbe bank was accountable, and tbe amount of all of tbe notes Hagan bad given tbe bank. In this decree, therefore, tbe bank received and accepted credit for tbe amount of tbe notes which bad been previously paid by Havlin and as a consequence was twice paid tbe notes of Hagan on which Havlin was indorser.

Upon the presentation of the foregoing facts and submission of the cause, the St. Louis Circuit Court at the June term, 1909, rendered the following judgment in the case at bar:

“Now at this day the court being fully advised of and concerning this cause heretofore submitted, doth find that the defendant [the bank] is indebted tó the plaintiff [Havlin] in the sum of $7200', with interest at the rate of six per cent per annum from October 2, 1906, to date. It is, therefore, considered and adjudged by the court that the plaintiff recover of the defendant the sum aforesaid as found, together with interest thereon, and also bis costs and charges herein expended and that execution issue therefor.”

It is from this judgment that the bank appeals.

Appellant’s contentions are:

First. That the money paid by respondent to the bank was paid by him with knowledge of all the facts and in settlement of a dispute as to bis liability to the bank; and that bis mistake, if there was a mistake, in [300]*300paying money to the bank, was a mistake of law which will prevent his recovery in this case.

Second. Even if respondent’s mistake in paying the money can be regarded as a mistake of fact in that he was ignorant of the manner in which the sale of the stock had been conducted on the floor of the Merchants Exchange, he nevertheless cannot recover because he was not induced to pay the money because of such alleged mistake of fact, but to avoid annoyance and expense of litigation with the bank.

Third.

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Bluebook (online)
161 S.W. 741, 253 Mo. 292, 1913 Mo. LEXIS 257, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/havlin-v-continental-national-bank-mo-1913.