Hockaday v. Warmack

182 S.W. 263, 121 Ark. 518, 1916 Ark. LEXIS 531
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJanuary 3, 1916
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 182 S.W. 263 (Hockaday v. Warmack) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hockaday v. Warmack, 182 S.W. 263, 121 Ark. 518, 1916 Ark. LEXIS 531 (Ark. 1916).

Opinion

Wood, J.,

(¡after stating the facts). The evidence is voluminous and we will not undertake to 'set out and discuss in detail all the evidence bearing upon the issues as it ¡could ¡serve no useful purpose and would unnecessarily extend the ¡opinion.

I. (1) The appellant contends that the garnishment proceedings prevented him from complying with his contract to execute the note and mortgage for the hotel property of the appellee, and that he is therefore not liable for the interest on the $5,000 deposited in the bank. It is ia well 'settled rule that a garnishee, after service of the writ upon him must retain possession of all property and effects of the principal debtor in his hands, and if he fails to 'do so he is liable for the value of the same to the plaintiff in the principal action. Such was the holding of this court in Adams v. Penzell, 40 Ark. 531. See also 20 Cyc. 1068-9.

Appellant cites and relies upon the above case. But in that case the garnishee had in his possession funds belonging to the debtor defendant in the original suit which he paid out .after a lien was fixed upon same by the service of a writ of garnishment upon him, and, of course, it was held that he paid at his peril the proceeds belonging to the debtor in the original suit. Bergman v. Sells & Co., 39 Ark. 97-101. But the facts of this record differentiate the case at bar from Adams v. Penzell, supra, and the rule there announced has no application here.

(2) The debt from appellant to appellee, which should have been evidenced by the note and mortgage, under the contract between them, was not due until January 1, 1915. If, therefore, appellant had .answered the garnishment to the effect that he had executed the note to the appellee in accordance with his contract, and that he would be due the appellee on the 1st of January, 1915, the amount evidenced by the note and mortgage, and if judgment had been rendered against the original debtor in favor of the plaintiff and also against the appellant as garnishee, appellant could not have been made to pay the judgment until his note to appellee was due. The record discloses, therefore, that appellant was not, and could not have been, injured by the service of the writ of garnishment. He had no assets in his hands at that time belonging to the appellee. He had paid nothing to the appellee and was not bound to pay him 'anything until January 1, 1915. The service of this writ on appellant was no legal justification for his failure to execute the note and mortgage in accordance with his contract with appellee.

(3) While the $5,000 was deposited in the bank, yet the deposit was made upon certain conditions not bottomed upon the contract between appellee and appellant for the sale of the hotel property. Appellant himself testified, in part, as follows: “I learned before I got home •that I had been garnisheed and I preferred not to execute the note and mortgage, although I had agreed to do so, and I wrote a letter to the bank which is made an exhibit to my deposition, in which letter I made certain requirements iand propositions which were never complied with. Mr. Warmack never did surrender to me the original contract for the purchase of the hotel and I did not turn over to' him any of the money deposited in the bank until June 30,1914, when a new contract was made. The money remained subject to my orders through the bank. The bank had instructions to pay it to him on certain conditions, with which he never complied, and the money remained mine until he complied with those requirements. ’ ’ And the letter to which he referred shows, clearly that appellant, without expressly repudiating the binding force of the contract, did not propose to comply with it, but undertook to make a different contract without the consent of the appellee. In this letter to the bank, giving instructions as to conditions upon which appellee was authorized to draw the $5,000, among other things, he says: “Mr. Warmack desired a mortgage on my hotel property here. I have never given .a mortgage. I have almost unlimited credit, even in New York 'City, without mortgage. My credit would suffer by my signing such a document. In lieu of-this and to provide Warmack with the funds he professes to need at once, I will be willing to pay $5,000 on this at once and the rest, unsecured, on my note until due. ’ ’

It thus appears from appellant’s own testimony that he ignored the obligations of his contract and retained the $5,000, which was a part of the consideration for the purchase price of the hotel .and for which he should have executed his note and the mortgage, and that he had the use of the money on which he should have been paying interest from the 22d day of December, 1913.

The judgment of the court, therefore, awarding to appellee interest on this sum, was correct.

II. Appellant contends that the court erred in denying his claim' for shortage in personal property, amounting to $2,729.40, under the original contract for exchange of properties between him and the appellee.

The-appellee contends that whatever shortage there was in the personal property contemplated in the contract of November 17, 1913, for the exchange of properties between the appellant and the appellee was settled and included as a part of the consideration of $15,000 which appellant was to .give appellee for the hotel under their contract of December 22, 1913.

(4) As to whether or not this shortage in personal property claimed iby appellant was .settled by appellee and included as a part of the consideration of $15,000 which appellant agreed to pay the .appellee for the hotel property is purely one of fact but appellant contends that under the contract (December 22,1913), that fact can not be established by oral testimony.

The contract of December 2.2, 1913, recited as follows : “I hereby sell to Ed Hockaday the Hockaday Hotel for fifteen thousand, $15,000.00, paid with note due Jan. 1, 1915, at 8 per cent interest from date to be secured by mortgage on said Hockaday Hotel.”

In Ward v. Cooper-Searan Grocery Co., 108 Ark. 430, we held that parol evidence was admissible to show that the consideration was not as recited in the instrument, and that in -a controversy as to the lamount due by plaintiff to defendant under the bill of sale it was competent to show by parol evidence how the parties arrived .at the amount. And in McGill Lumber Co. v. Lane-White Lumber Co., 90 Ark. 426, we held that, while the recitals in a bill of sale could not be contradicted by parol evideuce for the purpose of defeating the instrument, it was competent to prove by such evidence that other considerations, not recited, were agreed to be paid when such proof does not contradict the terms of the writing, and that an acknowedgment in a bill of sale of the receipt of the consideration named therein, construed as a receipt for the whole consideration, was, nevertheless, only prima facie evidence of the fact and might be rebutted by parol evidence.

It will be observed that in the memorandum of agreement or contract for the purchase of the hotel by appellant from appellee the consideration is expressed in general terms .and is merely an acknowledgment that the amount named had been paid by a note as the purchase price. No other consideration of a contractual nature in addition to this is .specified.

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Bluebook (online)
182 S.W. 263, 121 Ark. 518, 1916 Ark. LEXIS 531, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hockaday-v-warmack-ark-1916.