Henrietta Oil & Gas Co. v. W. B. Worsham & Co.

210 S.W. 819, 1919 Tex. App. LEXIS 456
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 26, 1919
DocketNo. 1507
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 210 S.W. 819 (Henrietta Oil & Gas Co. v. W. B. Worsham & Co.) 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
Henrietta Oil & Gas Co. v. W. B. Worsham & Co., 210 S.W. 819, 1919 Tex. App. LEXIS 456 (Tex. Ct. App. 1919).

Opinion

HALL, J.

This suit was brought by W. B. Worsham & Co., bankers, against the appellant, hereinafter styled Gas Company, and S. J. Slade to recover upon a subscription contract the sum of $1,750. Appellees alleged in substance that appellants had subscribed that amount as their part of a bonus payable to I-I. H. Howard, for the erection and operation of a glass plant in the town of Henrietta; that appellees guaranteed, in writing the amount of said subscription at the request of appellants; and that the said Slade agreed to indemnify appellees against loss upon its said guaranty; that appellees took over the subscription contract signed by a number of other subscribers as collateral, to secure them against any payment they might have to make by reason of their guaranty of this and other amounts subscribed to the said Howard, in making up a total bonus of $12,000; that upon the failure of appellants to pay said subscription ap-pellees, as guarantors, paid the same. Ap-pellees sue for themselves and for the use and benefit of the’Henrietta Boosters’ Club, an organization which took charge of and was active in securing the subscriptions. Appellant Slade pleaded the statute of frauds, and the Gas Company alleged that at the time it subscribed the $1,750 it was agreed by and between the Gas Company and the said Howard that its subscription was to be paid in gas to be furnished by appellant Gas Company, to Howard, in operating the glass plant, and that it had so paid said subscription to Howard ; that appellees knew that appellant was paying it in gas; that they did not notify the appellant that they had paid such subscription as guarantors, but stood by and permitted said subscription to be paid by the appellant in gas, and soon after said subscription had been so paid in full the said Howard became insolvent, and that appellees are estopped from recovering from appellant because of their silence in not informing appellant that they had made such payment. In a trial before the court without a jury judgment was rendered in favor of Slade and against the Gas Company for $896.71. Upon request of the parties the court filed the following findings of fact and conclusions of law:

1. The court finds as a fact that on or about the 19th day of December, 1915, the contract introduced in evidence was executed between the Henrietta Boosters’ Club as first party and Harry H. Howard as second party; that by the terms of said contract the Boosters’ Club and its associates undertook to pay to Harry H. Howard the sum of $12,000 and to furnish a building site as a bonus for the building of a glass factory in the town of Henrietta; that the said $12,000 was to be paid as provided in the contract in three equal installments of $4,000 each. The first to be paid when the plant should arrive in the railroad yards at Henrietta, the second when the plant was under roof, and the third when the plant was completed and in operation.

2. For the purpose of raising the funds for the payment of said bonus and the purchase price of said building site the Henrietta Boosters’ Club, first party, procured numerous parties, who agreed to pay various sums set opposite their -names in the several subscription lists introduced in evidence, said subscription lists referring to the contract above referred to between the Henrietta Boosters’ Club and Harry H. Howard, and which provided that the payment should be made in cash; that on the subscription list appeared the subscription of the defendant Henrietta Oil & Gas Company, in the sum of $1,750; that several of the subscriptions on such list as placed there by the subscribers were qualified in this way, at least one bearing the indorsement of the subscriber, “to be paid upon the final completion of the plant,” and otherwise qualified by the subscriber “to be paid in board”; that there was nothing on the subscription list or in the contract with [821]*821reference to the subscription of the defendant Henrietta Oil & Gas Company to indicate or suggest that the same was not to be paid in cash, but it appeared by the subscription list by a dollar mark placed opposite the subscription and from the wording of the contract, to which 'reference was made, that the subscription of the defendant Henrietta Oil & Gas Company was to be paid in cash.

S.As a matter of fact it was the intention of the Henrietta Oil & Gas Company, defendant, to subscribe the sum of $1,750 and to pay the same, not in money, but in gas, and this was understood by the several officers of the Henrietta Boosters’ Club, and was discussed generally by those present at the time the subscription was made by the Henrietta Oil & Gas Company, but was not stated in the subscription contract in any way.

4. Previous to this time, and during the year 1915, the Henrietta Boosters’ Club had undertaken to contract with some other party to locate a glass plant in the city of Henrietta, and had endeavored to raise some similar amount to pay them as a bonus for so locating said plant; that the defendant Henrietta Oil & Gas Company had subscribed to that undertaking also, and its subscription to that contract appeared on the face of it to be qualified “to be paid in gas.” And at the time that Harry H. Howard first entered into negotiations with the Henrietta Boosters’ Club, to secure a bonus for locating his .plant at Henrietta, this former contract was shown to him, and from which he saw that the 'subscription of the Henrietta Oil & Gas Company was to be paid in gas, and from discussion which the said Harry H. Howard had with A. C. Parks, secretary of the Henrietta Boosters’ Club at said time, the court finds that said Harry H. Howard was awaro of the fact that the subscription of the Henrietta Oil & Gas Company to be made was so to be made in gas, or at least the said Harry H. Howard was in possession of facts and notice sufficient to put him upon inquiry as to those facts, and therefore I conclude as a fact that the said Harry H. Howard had notice of the fact that the subscription of the defendant Henrietta Oil & Gas Company was to be made in gas.

5. I find that after the subscription was secured in some sum in an amount of $12,000 the said Harry H. Howard, being absent from Henrietta, was advised that the sum had been secured, and was notified to proceed to ship his plant to Henrietta, Tex., to be located according to the terms of the contract entered into between him and the said Henrietta Boosters’ Club, and that thereupon he advised said Boosters’ Club that he would require said subscriptions to be indorsed and guaranteed by one or both of the banks then doing business in Henrietta, to wit, the plaintiff bank, W. B. Worsham & Co., and the Merchants’ & Planters’ Bank of Henrietta; that thereupon the said Henrietta Boosters’ Club and the defendant S. J. Slade and others began negotiations in substance to induce said bank to guarantee to said Harry H. Howard that the said amount of $12,000 would be paid him in cash by said banks, and that the said banks would then look to the subscribers for reimbursement.

6. I find that said Merchants’ & Planters’ Bank of Henrietta, after looking over the subscription list, agreed and undertook to guarantee to Harry H. Howard a certain amount of $12,000, to wit, the sum of $3,815, and did so by executing a written guaranty to said Harry H. Howard, and agreed with the Henrietta Boosters’ Club, S. J.

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Bluebook (online)
210 S.W. 819, 1919 Tex. App. LEXIS 456, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/henrietta-oil-gas-co-v-w-b-worsham-co-texapp-1919.