Hudnall v. Tyler Bank and Trust Company

458 S.W.2d 183, 13 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 457, 1970 Tex. LEXIS 299
CourtTexas Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 15, 1970
DocketB-1961
StatusPublished
Cited by84 cases

This text of 458 S.W.2d 183 (Hudnall v. Tyler Bank and Trust Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hudnall v. Tyler Bank and Trust Company, 458 S.W.2d 183, 13 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 457, 1970 Tex. LEXIS 299 (Tex. 1970).

Opinion

*184 CALVERT, Chief Justice.

Tyler Bank and Trust Company obtained a summary judgment against J. S. Hud-nall in this suit on Hudnall’s promissory note executed in favor of the hank. Hud-nall appealed, and the Tyler Court of Civil Appeals affirmed. 448 S.W.2d 503. We reverse and remand.

Hudnall responded to the bank’s suit with a general denial, a plea of failure of consideration, and a cross-action. The predicate for the cross-action and the affirmative defense is the same, viz., that the bank allowed the misapplication of the proceeds of the note sued upon, in violation of an express oral agreement to hold the funds for the special purpose of completing construction of the Mother Frances Hospital.

Hudnall’s theory of the transaction is that when he signed and delivered the note and obligated himself to pay it, the bank, in return, (1) furnished the funds representing the amount of the note, and (2) promised to control the use of those funds. In other words, there was only one contract, with two elements of consideration on the bank’s side. In our view, there is in the record neither pleaded facts nor summary judgment evidence supporting Hudnall’s claim of failure of consideration. The agreement upon which the defense is based and which the bank strongly contends never existed, is collateral to the note contract. Cf. E. E. Farrow Co. v. United States Nat. Bank of Omaha, 358 S.W.2d 934 (Tex.Civ.App.—Waco 1962, writ ref’d n. r. e.). And see Southern Pacific Co. v Porter, 160 Tex. 329, 331 S.W.2d 42 (1960); Morris-Buick Co. v. Davis, 127 Tex. 41, 91 S.W.2d 313 (1936). But although collateral, its breach, if proved, would support a cross-action by Hudnall for damages and a set-off of such damages against any amount recovered on the note. See Hubacek v. Ennis State Bank, 159 Tex. 166, 317 S.W.2d 30 (1958). Hudnall does not by his cross-action seek a judgment for damages in an amount greater than the sum due on the note; he seeks recovery of only such an amount as will bar or reduce a recovery on the note.

The summary judgment rendered by the trial court did two things, viz.: (1) it awarded the bank a full recovery on the note, and (2) it directed that Hudnall take nothing by his cross-action. Hudnall has not expressly attacked the judgment in so far as it directs that he take nothing on his cross-action, either in the court of civil appeals or in this court; and yet, the only valid defense to the note he has pleaded and sought to prove is available to him solely by way of his cross-action. However, Hudnall has attacked the summary judgment in favor of the bank on the ground that there is summary judgment evidence to support his claim of breach of the collateral agreement, and we will treat his points of error and argument thereunder as an incidental attack on the summary judgment directing that he take nothing on his cross-action.

The court of civil appeals found from the summary judgment proof that even if there was an agreement as alleged by Hud-nall, it was rescinded when Hudnall later allowed the funds to be deposited to a general account. Hudnall complains of each of the two aspects of this holding in appropriate points of error, 1 asserting that af-firmance of the summary judgment was error because the summary judgment evidence raised genuine issues of material fact both as to the existence of an agreement that the proceeds of the note would be limited and controlled by the bank for use in construction of the Mother Frances Hospital, and as to whether that agreement was ever rescinded.

The record shows that Hudnall is a partner in a petroleum engineering firm, but *185 for over thirty years prior to this suit he had also been a director of the plaintiff Tyler Bank and Trust Company; for a time he was chairman of the bank’s board of directors ; and for many years he had served either as a member of or an advisor to the bank’s Loan and Discount Committee. Hud-nall pleaded that he was induced by J. Harold Stringer, president of the bank, to issue the original of the renewal note sued upon, in order to make $160,000.00 available to Clanahan Construction Company; that the plan was for Hudnall to execute and deliver his unsecured promissory note, bearing interest at 6 percent, to the bank, and at the same time Clanahan through its president, John W. Hardin, would execute and deliver its note for the same amount and at the same rate of interest to Hudnall, with Clanahan paying the interest on both notes; and that the purpose of the plan was to allow Clanahan to show the requisite financial strength to qualify it for a performance bond necessary for undertaking the Mother Frances Hospital project.

Hudnall then pleaded that after he had proceeded with the plan upon an express oral agreement with Stringer that the bank would hold the proceeds of the note for the sole purpose of “guaranteeing” the completion of the hospital job, the bank not only failed to control ■ the proceeds’ disbursement, but also collusively acted with Hardin to effect the immediate and unauthorized use of the funds.

Depositions are in the record containing the testimony of Hudnall, Hardin, Stringer, and Pounds (Chairman of the Board of the bank). The testimony of Hudnall, sharply conflicts with that of the others. If upon a conventional trial of the case the same testimony should be offered, the credibility of all of these persons as witnesses would be in issue. In our review of the summary judgment proofs, however, we must accept the testimony of Hudnall as true, and indulge every reasonable inference in favor of his position. Gulbenkian v. Penn, 151 Tex. 412, 252 S.W.2d 929 (1952). We must apply yet another summary-judgment rule of review owing to Hudnall’s assertion of his cross-action as an affirmative defense. Because the bank showed as a matter of law that it was entitled to recover on the note, Hud-nall, in order to avoid a summary judgment, had the burden of showing that issues of fact existed as to his cross-action. The rule, as stated in Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. McBride, 159 Tex. 442, 322 S.W.2d 492, 500 (1959), is that—

“Where the plaintiff moves for summary judgment in an action in which the defendant has pleaded an affirmative defense, he is entitled to have his summary judgment if he demonstrates by evidence that there is no material factual issue upon the elements of "his claim, unless his opponent comes forward with a showing that there is such a disputed fact issue upon the affirmative defense.”

Hudnall testified that he told Stringer of the use to be made of the proceeds of the note and that the funds put up would be limited to the guaranteeing of the completion of the hospital. According to Hudnall, Stringer assented to the restrictions placed upon the funds.

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Bluebook (online)
458 S.W.2d 183, 13 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 457, 1970 Tex. LEXIS 299, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hudnall-v-tyler-bank-and-trust-company-tex-1970.