Johnson v. Franklin Bank

73 S.W. 191, 173 Mo. 171, 1903 Mo. LEXIS 244
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedMarch 18, 1903
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 73 S.W. 191 (Johnson v. Franklin Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Johnson v. Franklin Bank, 73 S.W. 191, 173 Mo. 171, 1903 Mo. LEXIS 244 (Mo. 1903).

Opinion

MARSHALL, J.

This is a hill in equity to cancel a deed of trust, dated March 10, 1896, covering lot 13 of block 25, of Gamble’s second subdivision of Rose Hill, in city block 3825, city of St. Louis, the same being the plaintiff’s separate property, securing a note of the same date, for $5,000, made by her husband, payable at one year, to the order of J. L. Hauk, who was a clerk for the defendant bank, and acting for it in the transaction, and to enjoin the sale, assignment or pledge of said note and deed of trust and the foreclosure of the deed of trust.

The gravamen of the plaintiff’s case is that- her separate property was surety for the payment of her husband’s note, and that she and her property have become released and discharged by reason of the bank’s [176]*176giving time to the husband to pay the debt. - There is no controversy in the case as to the facts, the only differences are as to the legal effect of the acts of the parties.

The case made is this: The plaintiff’s husband, 'Moses P. Johnson, desired to'borrow five thousand dollars from the bank. He executed a note for that amount payable, at one year, to the order of J. L. Hank, who had no interest in the matter, and simply acted for the bank. To secure that note the plaintiff executed the deed of trust in question. The only thing that was asked her by the officers of the bank, when she went there fi> execute the deed of trust, was whether she was willing to give the deed of trust to secure her husband’s said note, to which she replied in the affirmative, and thereupon executed the deed of trust, and left the bank. This was on March 10, 1896, and it is conceded that she had no knowledge or information about what was done by her husband and the bank thereafter, until June or July, 1900.

Instead of simply discounting the note that was secured by the deed of trust, the bank caused the hus- • band to make his note for five thousand dollars, payable at ninety days, to the bank, and to pledge the note and deed of trust aforesaid a.s collateral security for the ninety-day note. " The bank says this was a mere matter of form and convenience, and so as to enable the husband to pay the debt before the maturity of Ms note secured by the deed of trust, and that the note secured by the deed of trust was the primary liability of the.' husband, and that the taking of the ninety-day note and pledging the note and deed of trust aforesMd as collateral therefor did not have the effect of giving time to the principal nor of releasing the surety, for that, there was no extension of time. On the other hand the plaintiff claims that the ninety-day note was the primary obligation of the husband; that the money was loaned upon that note, and the note and deed of trust aforesaid were only pledged as collateral security and that the debt, therefore, matured in ninety days.

[177]*177At the maturity of the ninety-day note on June li, 1896, a new note for ninety days was given, and the note and deed of trust aforesaid were again pledged as collateral security therefor, and the first ninety-day note was marked paid and surrendered. Upon the maturity of the second ninety-day note on September 11, another ninety-day note was given, and the same arrangement pledging the note and deed of trust aforesaid, was made. On October 15, and December 17, 1896, the same arrangement was made, except the note made payable at sixty days. On February 25,1897,- the husband paid six hundred dollars on the note, and a new note was. made to the bank for $4,400, payable one day after date, and maturing March 1, 1897, and the note and deed of trust aforesaid were pledged as collateral security. At all said times the husband paid the interest then accrued on the loan. Thus the matter stood until February 8,1899, when the husband gave the bank a new note for $4,400 dated February 1,1899, and payable one day after date, and pledged the note and deed of trust aforesaid as collateral security therefor, and the bank surrendered to him the note dated February 25, 1897. The husband at that time paid the interest up to February 1, 1899, and thereafter he paid the interest on the last note aforesaid until October 10,1900, when he failed. In the meantime, however, the bank obtained from him an agreement that it should have a right to hold any collateral pledged to it for the payment of any indebtedness due by him to the bank.

In June or July, 1900, Mrs. Johnson, desiring to make a loan at a lesser rate of interest, went to the bank to learn the status of the note for which she had given the deed of trust as security, and was informed that the bank held the note and^ deed of trust as collateral security for whatever sum her husband owed the bank, whether it arose out of the original transaction of [178]*178March 10, 1896, or not. On November 26, 1900, the bank addressed the following notice to the plaintiff:

“Mrs. Mary Johnson,
‘ ‘ 5863 Plymouth Ave., City:
“Madam: Please take notice that we will, in conformity with the collateral agreement of Mr. Moses P., Johnson to his note we hold, proceed to sell on Wednesday, the 28th day of this month, at ten o ’clock a. m., at our office, the $5,000 note (balance due $4,400 and interest from October 1, 1900) made by you and secured by D. T. to the highest bidder for cash, and in case we have to purchase the note ourselves, we will then proceed immediately to have the trustee in said D. T. advertise and sell the property under said D. T.
“Very respectfully,
“Franklin Bank,
“Louis Schmidt, Cashier.”

Thereupon Mrs. Johnson instituted this suit.

The position taken by the plaintiff both here and in the lower court is “that the original ninety-day note was the primary obligation of Johnson to the bank; that Mrs., Johnson’s real estate stood as surety for the payment of that note and was discharged by the extension of the time of payment of said note without her knowledge or consent.” This position concedes that the husband had the power to pledge the original note secured by the deed of trust as collateral security for the first ninety-day note.

The defendant bank has now expressly abandoned any right to hold the deed of trust as security for any indebtedness of the husband to the bank except the original $5,000 note.- And the theory and contention of the bank is that the original $5,000 note secured by the deed of trust is.the primary obligation of the husband to the bank, and that the several collateral notes given by the husband to the bank were mere matters of form and convenience and in no manner affected the surety, for that, all of those notes matured before the original note [179]*179secured by the deed of trust, and therefore they did not extend the time for the payment of the debt; and that as to the last collateral note, it was dated February 1, 1899, and was payable one day after date, and was not delivered to the bank until February 8, 1899, at which time it was past due, and, hence,' it amounted only to the exchange of the overdue collateral note of’February 27,1897, for the overdue collateral note of February 1, 1899, and, therefore, there was no extension of time given the husband for .the payment of the debt. The bank further contends that Mrs. Johnson knew nothing whatever about any of these collateral-note transactions, was not a party to them, and, hence, she is not bound thereby, and therefore not released, by virtue of these dealings, and acts.

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Bluebook (online)
73 S.W. 191, 173 Mo. 171, 1903 Mo. LEXIS 244, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/johnson-v-franklin-bank-mo-1903.