Holmes v. Webb City Building & Loan Ass'n

174 S.W. 122, 189 Mo. App. 95, 1915 Mo. App. LEXIS 148
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 12, 1915
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 174 S.W. 122 (Holmes v. Webb City Building & Loan Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Holmes v. Webb City Building & Loan Ass'n, 174 S.W. 122, 189 Mo. App. 95, 1915 Mo. App. LEXIS 148 (Mo. Ct. App. 1915).

Opinion

STURGIS, J.

The plaintiff is a borrower from the defendant building and loan association and seeks to enjoin a sale of his property covered by a deed of trust given to secure payment of the same. A loan was first made, August 24, 1909, for $750'. The plaintiff at the same time took out and pledged to the defendant thirty-eight shares of its installment stock of the value of $100 each when fully paid up. By his note or bond, secured by the deed of trust, plaintiff contracted to pay “first, the sum of nineteen dollars as monthly dues on said thirty-eight pledged shares, second, the further sum of six and 25-100. . . dollars as monthly interest and premium on said loan; and shall pay all fines, penalties and charges assessed against said share, either until the dues and dividends credited by said Association to each of said pledged shares, in accordance with its by-laws, shall amount to the sum of one hundred dollars, whereupon the sum so loaned shall be repaid by the absolute surrender to, and cancellation by, said Association of said pledged shares, or until said obligor shall repay the sum loaned in accordance with the by-laws of the Association.” The monthly dues on the stock, fifty [99]*99cents per share monthly, is the amount required of all stockholders, whether borrowers or not. The amount of the monthly interest and premium was fixed and determined by the defendant’s by-laws, which provided that in making loans to its stockholders “the-borrower shall pay interest at the rate of eight per cent per annum, and a premium of two per cent per annum, interest and premium payable in equal monthly installments.” Defendant also has a by-law levying, a fine of five cents per share for failure to pay the stock dues on or before the fifth day of each month. The provisions of plaintiff’s note and deed of trust in effect required a monthly payment of one-twelfth of ten per cent of the amount of the loan.

The ground of plaintiff’s complaint is that the premium thus provided for by the by-laws and agreed to be paid by plaintiff is not fixed in the manner provided by section 3389, Eevised Statutes 1909, and is, therefore, not protected by section 3391, Eevised Statutes 1909, from being usurious. This contention is based on the ruling of the Kansas City Court of Appeals in Holmes v. Loan Ass’n, 166 Mo. App. 719, 150 S. W. 1111.

Plaintiff further states in his petition that he has repaid to the said defendant association the said sum of seven hundred and fifty dollars, received by them, together with interest thereon at the rate of eight per cent per annum, being the amount that the plaintiff claims by reason of the premises would be due the said defendant association, except the sum of one hundred and forty dollars, which amount the plaintiff on the--day of February, 1914, duly tendered in lawful money to defendant association and demanded a return to plaintiff of the said obligation and deed of trust; that the defendant refused to receive said sum of money, or to cancel said obligation and surrender said deed of trust, but, arbitrarily and without authority in law, demanded that the plaintiff pay to [100]*100the said defendant the further sum of two hundred and forty-five dollars, being' the sum of one hundred and five dollars in excess of any and all amounts due to the defendant. The plaintiff then alleg’es that defendant is about to, and unless restrained will, sell his property under the.power.of sale in the deed of trust. The prayer for relief is as follows: “Therefore, by reason of the premises plaintiff prays this court that a writ of injunction issue from this court enjoining- and restraining the defendant association from further proceeding to sell said real estate of plaintiff under said notice of sale as aforesaid, and from selling or offering for sale said real estate or any part thereof, at any sale under said deed of trust, and from interfering in any manner with the possession or title to said real estate, and from assessing further fines or penalties against the plaintiff during the pendency of this suit and on final hearing that said injunction be made permanent, and for such other and further relief as to the court shall seem mete and just; and that the court take an accounting between the plaintiff and defendant in reference hereto, and of the amount, if any, the court may find due the defendant upon payment by plaintiff of the amount found due by the court to defendant, or paid into court for its use and benefit, that said deed of trust may be ordered by the court to be canceled of record, and satisfied and the cloud thereby cast upon plaintiff’s title removed, and that plaintiff may recover his costs in the premises and for all other proper relief.”

The defendant’s answer admits making the loan and the execution of the papers evidencing and securing the same; asserts that the interest and premium were fixed according to its by-laws and denies that same is usurious; admits the tender of one hundred and forty dollars and its refusal to accept same in full payment of the loan, and denies that the amount [101]*101tendered is all that is dne thereon. On these issues the case went to trial and the court found for defendant, dismissing plaintiff’s bill.

I. The only evidence in the case as to what plaintiff had paid on the loan was given by the defendant’s secretary, called as a witness for plaintiff, so that the facts are not disputed. Without going into details, it is sufficient to say that the plaintiff paid his dues, interest and premium, amounting to $26.25 per month, irregularly, so that on April 1, 1911, he was in arrears some five or six monthly payments and owed $9.50 for fines. At that time a settlement was made between plaintiff and defendant, by which plaintiff cashed in his shares of stock at their then value, received credit for all delinquencies and $100 on the principal of his loan, and defendant paid him a cash balance of $122.50. The plaintiff then took out forty new shares of stock, making his monthly dues thereon $20, and in effect made a new loan for $650, on which he was charged and paid $5.42 each month for interest and premium. His monthly payments thereafter amounted to $25.42. It will be seen that the interest and premium were fixed in accordance with defendant’s by-laws as above set ont. On this loan the plaintiff’s payments were still more irregular, the last payment being in November, 1913. Though plaintiff was then eight or nine months in arrears and fines amounting to $35 had been assessed against him. This suit was filed February* 25, 1914.

It is evident that the question of usurious interest so far as it might affect the first loan is out of the case. When plaintiff and defendant made the voluntary settlement in April, 1911, the plaintiff cashed in and accepted the profits on his thirty-eight shares of stock which profits arose from his and like ..contracts with other borrowing shareholders. If Ms contract was usurious, so were all the others and the profits re[102]*102ceived by Mm grew out of these usurious contracts. He cannot be permitted to'hold the benefits of this contract and have the court relieve him of its burdens. [State ex rel. v. Stockton, 85 Mo. App. 477, 483; Cover et vir. v. Building & Loan Ass’n, 93 Mo. App. 302, 306.]

II. Under any view of the evidence in this case plaintiff did not tender to defendant the amount actually due. The second loan, with which we alone are concerned, is for $650'.

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Bluebook (online)
174 S.W. 122, 189 Mo. App. 95, 1915 Mo. App. LEXIS 148, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/holmes-v-webb-city-building-loan-assn-moctapp-1915.