Jennings v. Pratt

56 P. 951, 19 Utah 129, 1899 Utah LEXIS 81
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 24, 1899
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 56 P. 951 (Jennings v. Pratt) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jennings v. Pratt, 56 P. 951, 19 Utah 129, 1899 Utah LEXIS 81 (Utah 1899).

Opinion

Baktch, C. J.

This action was brought to recover the amount of a promissory note which the plaintiffs allege was executed by the defendants as an association, known as the “North Salt Lake Association,” to one Lorenzo Pettit, and by him afterward, for a valuable consideration, indorsed, in due course of business, before maturity, to the plaintiffs, who, it is alleged, are now the owners and holders thereof. At the trial, after the plaintiffs rested, on motion of defendants, a judgment of non-suit was entered, and this appeal is from that judgment. The complaint stated a cause of action on the note in common form, but the trial appears to have been conducted on the theory that the plaintiffs claimed to be guarantors and that they had paid the note to the payee in extinguishment of their obligation as such, and therefore were entitled to be subrogated to the rights of the payee. [132]*132Counsel for the respondents insists that the non-suit was properly granted, because the allegations in the complaint were not sufficient to entitle the plaintiffs to recover under the doctrine of subrogation. To this it must be answered that no such objection to the pleadings was made at the trial, nor in the motion for a non-suit, and being thus made for the first time, in this court, it comes too late, and can not be regarded as effective on this appeal. We have noticed no objections in the record to the introduction of evidence at the trial respecting a guaranty and right of subrogation, founded on insufficiency of allegations in the complaint, nor has our attention been called to any. Nor does it appear that in the court below there was any suggestion of variance between the proof and the pleadings. Having failed to raise such questions in the trial court where ample power existed to amend, and having proceeded to trial on the merits, we must assume that the objections to the pleadings were waived. It would be unjust to permit either party to a suit to try the case on the merits without objection to the pleadings, and then after judgment and in the appellate court make the point for the first time that the pleadings were defective.

In Tyng v. Commercial Warehouse Co., 58 N. Y., 308, it was said: “No question appears to have been made during the trial in respect to the production of evidence founded on any notion of variance or insufficiency of allegation on the part of the plaintiff. Had any such objection been made, it might have been obviated by amendment in some form or upon some terms, under the ample powers of amendment conferred by the Code of Procedure. It would, therefore, be highly unjust, as well as unsupported by authority, to shut out from consideration the case, as proved, by reason of defects in the statements of the complaint. Indeed, it is difficult to [133]*133conceive of a case in which, after a trial and decision of the controversy, as appearing on the proofs, when no question has been made during the trial in respect to their relevancy upon the pleadings, it would be the duty of a court, or within its rightful authority to deprive the party of his recovery on the ground of incompleteness or imperfection of the pleadings. ” Wasatch Min. Co. v. Crescent Min. Co., 148 U. S., 293.

We must, therefore, determine the question of non-suit by reference to the proof, regardless of whether or not the pleadings are defective. From the evidence it appears that the defendants, with others, formed the associations in whose name the note in question was executed. Simultaneously with the delivery of the note, a written instrument, purporting on its face to be an agreement for a guaranty, but at the trial having been recognized as a guaranty, was executed to defendant, Hudson Smith, by the plaintiffs, and this was indorsed by Smith as treasurer, he being the treasurer of the association. Respecting this transaction, the witness Jennings, testifying for the plaintiffs, said, “The North Salt Lake Association was raising money to pay for land upon which to locate the copper plant in North Salt Lake; the association was to buy the land and give it to the Copper Company as a site upon which the company was to erect its works. The land was purchased of Lorenzo Pettit, the man to whom the note ran. The Association was short <$950, and they got me to go security for Mr. Pettit, and they agreed to pay me back or pay the note before it was due; Exhibit B, ’ the guaranty was signed and executed in Hudson Smith’s office in the Commercial Block on the 25th day of March, 1893, at which time there were probably twenty persons present; Hudson Smith, O. P. Pratt, L. I). Kinney, and others were present; those who were present said they would pay the note, [134]*134and I would n’t have to pay it. They agreed if I would sign the guaranty they would raise the money, and I would n’t have a dollar of it to pay and it would all be settled; all of them agreed to it,— the whole roomful of them. None of those who were present disagreed. The $950 which I guaranteed was the same $950 which is rep- • resented by the note. I furnished the money and paid the note to Mr. Pettit according to guaranty. I paid $950 and interest.

£ ‘ I did n’t have any connection with the North Salt Lake Association or the location of the copper plant, except I paid $2,500 in cash as a subscription outside of this $950 for the location of the plant; I paid it through the North Salt Lake Association.

‘ ‘ All those who were present (referring to the meeting in Hudson Smith’s office) said that they would pay the $950 that was short on or before it became due, if I would guaranty it for ninety days; the guaranty and the note were delivered together. I wouldn’t have paid the note if I had n’t signed the guaranty. ”

The witness Pratt who signed the note as Secretary of the Association, testified: ££ I am familiar with the note. The signature was written by myself in Hudson Smith’s office on the day when it bears date; there were present Hudson Smith, myself, L. D. Kinney, F. I). Kinney, Thomas W. Jennings, John M. Cannon, Mr. Pettit, and others. The matter under discussion was the getting a deed for the copper plant site from Mr. Pettit. The Association had not raised enough means to pay Mr. Pettit by $950; we could not get the deed from Mr. Pettit until we made some provision for securing him for $950. Those present agreed to meet that amount and make the note good. The note was drawn up, and I was requested by the gentlemen present to sign it. Mr. Smith was one [135]*135of those present. The note was executed in the presence of the meeting; it was handed to Mr. John M. Cannon who represented Mr. Pettit.”

Similar testimony was given by other witnesses. Clearly this evidence, if true, tends to show a guaranty by the appellants and an agreement on the part of the defendants present at the meeting and participating, to hold the appellants harmless because of the guaranty. It also shows payment by the guarantors, assuming, as the evidence indicates, that the instrument signed by the appellants was a guaranty, and a failure to pay by the respondents. The evidence is of such a character that, if true, it is difficult to see how the court could hold that the plaintiffs had failed to make out a prima facie case, and ‘

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
56 P. 951, 19 Utah 129, 1899 Utah LEXIS 81, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jennings-v-pratt-utah-1899.