Knick v. Green

545 S.W.2d 269, 1976 Tex. App. LEXIS 3477
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 23, 1976
Docket5659
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 545 S.W.2d 269 (Knick v. Green) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Knick v. Green, 545 S.W.2d 269, 1976 Tex. App. LEXIS 3477 (Tex. Ct. App. 1976).

Opinion

OPINION

JAMES, Justice.

This is a suit on an unsecured promissory note. Trial was had to a jury. After both sides closed, pursuant to Plaintiff’s motion for instructed verdict, the trial court withdrew the case from the jury and entered judgment for Plaintiff for the face amount of the note plus interest, from which judgment the Defendant appeals. We affirm.

Plaintiff-Appellee Cone B. Green filed this suit against Defendants Hockley County Equipment Co., Inc., (hereinafter called “the Company”), Jerry McMillan and Appellant Sarah P. Knick seeking to recover upon a promissory note in the principal sum of $25,000.00. Said note was payable to Green and executed by Hockley County Equipment Co., Inc. as maker, and signed by Jerry McMillan as president thereof; and thereunder a guaranty agreement was executed by Jerry McMillan and Sarah P. Knick, both individually. The language of the guaranty read: “We, the undersigned, hereby personally guarantee payment of the within stated note,” and then was signed by McMillan and Knick. Summary judgment was rendered in favor of Plaintiff Green against Hockley County Equipment Co., Inc. and McMillan, from which no appeal was taken. As stated, after both Plaintiff Green and Defendant Knick closed, the trial court withdrew the case from the jury and entered a judgment for Plaintiff Green against Defendant Knick for $25,000.00 plus penalty interest as provided in said note at ten percent per annum from July 1, 1974, until the date of judgment, together with interest after judgment at the rate of nine percent per annum, and costs. From this judgment Defendant Knick appeals upon fifteen points of error. We overrule all of Defendant-Appellant’s points of error and affirm the trial court’s judgment.

The note in question is dated August 2, 1971, in the principal amount of $25,000.00, bearing 8V2% interest from date, with past due principal and interest bearing interest at 10% per annum, said note being payable upon demand or five years from date, or upon the death of Green, and providing for attorney’s fees. It is undisputed that at or about the time of execution of said note, Green advanced the company $25,000.00 in money, and that none of the principal of said note has been paid. A short time after the note was executed and the money advanced pursuant thereto, Green transferred and assigned the note to the First National Bank of Levelland, Texas. No money or other consideration passed from the Bank to Green in connection with Green’s assignment of said note to the Bank. The note thereafter remained in the possession of the Bank until February 28,1975, at which time the Bank assigned the note back to Green, after which time Green filed this suit. Likewise, there was no consideration paid in connection with the Bank’s transfer of the note back to Green.

The Company did their principal banking business with the First National Bank of Levelland, and Green was a director of said Bank. The note provided that the interest was payable monthly, and said interest amounted to $177.07 per month. From the time the note was assigned by Green to the Bank, the Bank deducted the monthly interest payments from the Company’s account and credited same to Green’s account, until July 1, 1974. After said last-named date, no more interest was paid upon the note, and none of the principal was ever paid.

During all periods of time pertinent hereto, the primary financing of the Company was handled by the Bank. Some time after execution of the note the Company began to fail financially, and later went completely out of business. The Company owed the Bank two notes, each secured by Deeds of Trust, totalling $270,000.00, one note being for $110,000.00 dated April 8, 1974, and one *271 note for $160,000.00 dated March 8, 1974. The note for $110,000.00 represented a consolidation of all notes previously carried as floor-plan notes, capital notes, and the like; whereas the $160,000.00 note represented a first lien note on the real estate owned by the Company.

Prior to the time the Company went out of business, the Bank took several steps to reduce the corporate debts. Two auction sales were held selling off the Company’s personal property, the proceeds of which were applied upon the note for which the personal property was security, same being the $110,000.00 note hereinabove described. On November 5, 1974, the deed of trust (securing the $160,000.00 note) was foreclosed upon the Company’s real estate. The Bank bought in the Company’s real estate at $133,884.24, which amount when taken with the other prior credits was sufficient to pay off and discharge both the $110,-000.00 and the $160,000.00 notes in full. In other words, earlier deductions had reduced the amount owed on the $160,000.00 note, prior to the foreclosure on the Company’s real estate. No proceeds of any of the sales or payments by the Company or the foreclosure by the Bank was applied to any personal or unsecured debt.

As stated, after the $110,000.00 note and the $160,000.00 note had been satisfied, to wit, on February 28, 1975, the unsecured $25,000.00 note in question was transferred by the Bank back to Green. No money or other consideration was given by Green to the Bank for such transfer. None of the principal had been paid to either the Bank or Green by either the Company, McMillan or Knick.

Appellant’s points one through nine contend the trial court erred in withdrawing the case from the jury and entering judgment for Plaintiff, asserting that Appellant pleaded and raised fact issues in the evidence of affirmative defenses, thereby causing the instructed verdict to be improper. These affirmative defenses upon which Appellant says she offered evidence to raise fact issues are summarized as follows:

(1) Green and the Bank misapplied, mismanaged, and manipulated funds which were collateral or security for the payment of the debt on which Defendant-Appellant Knick is being sued as a guarantor;

(2) Green and the Bank were negligent in that they failed to use ordinary care resulting in a waste or loss of funds, collateral and security for the payment of the note sued upon;

(3) Green and the Bank unjustifiably impaired existing collateral for the note sued upon to the detriment of Defendant-Appellant Knick;

(4) Green and the Bank appropriated and converted a special deposit in which Knick had an interest;

(5) Green and the Bank impaired the sub-rogation rights of Knick against the primary obligor, the Company;

(6) Green and the Bank breached the fiduciary relationship existing between Knick, Green, and the Bank.

(7), (8) and (9) Green and the Bank are estopped because they failed to exercise diligence in efforts to collect the indebtedness from the primary obligor upon the note sued upon; that Green and the Bank failed to give notice that Plaintiff Green was seeking payment on the note sued upon, thereby causing Knick “to take action prejudicial to her”; and that Green and the Bank “are precluded from making any claims against Knick due to laches in seeking payment of the note sued upon.”

A careful examination of the above contentions reveals that they are all without merit.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
545 S.W.2d 269, 1976 Tex. App. LEXIS 3477, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/knick-v-green-texapp-1976.