Koenig v. Hubbard

1945 OK 308, 163 P.2d 536, 196 Okla. 149, 1945 Okla. LEXIS 517
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedNovember 20, 1945
DocketNo. 31775.
StatusPublished

This text of 1945 OK 308 (Koenig v. Hubbard) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Koenig v. Hubbard, 1945 OK 308, 163 P.2d 536, 196 Okla. 149, 1945 Okla. LEXIS 517 (Okla. 1945).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

This is an action brought in the district court of Rogers county by Millie Hubbard against Janie Koenig to recover on three promissory notes. Each of the notes bore 5 per cent interest from date and provided for 10 per cent attorney fees. Various interest payments have been made on the notes and also several payments on the principal. Plaintiff also alleged in her petition that at the time of filing the suit she was indebted to defendant in various amounts; that by mutual agreement the parties computed the amount which defendant owed plaintiff and the amount plaintiff owed defendant, that the amount owed by defendant was then credited on plaintiff’s notes and there remained a balance due of $3,717.50; that the agreement was made August 8, 1938, and defendant at that time paid plaintiff the sum of $1,500, which left a balance due of $2,217.50, and that the parties executed an agreement to this effect, which plaintiff pleads and attaches to her petition as an exhibit. Plaintiff asks judgment on this amount with 5 per cent interest and 10 per cent attorney fees.

Defendant in her answer pleads as an offset that plaintiff was indebted to her on three promissory notes aggregating $1,800, together with 10 per cent interest and 10 per cent attorney fees. She admits that the amount due plaintiff was computed and that she signed the instrument agreeing that on August 8, 1938, she owed plaintiff, after payment of $1,500, the sum of $2,-217.50, but in her answer denies that her notes were taken into consideration in the computation.

Plaintiff testified that she and defendant computed the amount on her notes and the amount due on defendant’s notes and agreed that the balance due was as alleged in her petition; that on that date defendant paid her $1,500, leaving a balance due of $2,-217.50, and that the parties then signed the following agreement.

“August 8, 1938
Up to date Mrs. Koenig owes me
3,717.50
1,500.00 paid Aug. 8, 1938
$2,217.50
Mrs. Hubbard
Janie Koenig
Figured Inst. Aug. 1st, 1938.”

Mr. Aikin testified that he computed the amount due on both sets of notes, and that after allowing credit on plaintiff’s notes for the amount due on defendant’s notes there remained a balance due plaintiff in the sum of $3,-704.88; that after allowing credit for the payment of $1,500 left a balance due in favor of plaintiff of $2,204.88, which makes the balance due the plaintiff of $12.26 less than under plaintiff’s computation. Both plaintiff and Mr. Aikin testified that in making this computation they figured interest on defendant’s notes at 5 per cent; the notes on their face bear interest at the rate of 10 per cent. We will later discuss this proposition.

Defendant in her testimony admits *151 that she signed the agreement above noted, but that in making the computation upon which the agreement is based her notes were not taken into consideration, and further testified that it was understood at the time that the notes held by her would offset the balance due plaintiff under the computation. Defendant further testified that she made a $500 payment which was not credited on the notes, and that such amount was not taken into consideration in the computation, and that the balance due plaintiff should be further reduced by this amount.

Mr. Holtzendorff testified that he calculated the amount due on plaintiff’s notes and the amount due on defendant’s notes; that after allowing plaintiff credit for the amount due on defendant’s notes there remained due a balance in plaintiff’s favor in the sum of $3,182.42; that after allowing credit of the $1,500 paid under the agreement August 8, 1938, and the $500 additional payment claimed by defendant would leave a balance due in favor of plaintiff in the sum of $1,-172.42. This is in substance the evidence offered in the case.

The jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff in the sum of $2,806.77. The court in its instructions to the jury, after stating that it was the contention of the plaintiff that she and defendant figured the indebtedness of both parties and after giving due credit to Mrs. Koenig they arrived at the approximate sum of $3,700 due in favor of the plaintiff, and that they made a memorandum of the balance due the plaintiff and both signed the same and that at the time the. defendant paid the plaintiff the sum of $1,500, reducing the amount due on the three notes sued on by plaintiff to the sum of $2,-217.50. The court then charged the jury:

“If you find from a preponderance of the evidence that this was done, then your verdict should be for the plaintiff for the sum sued for, unless on that basis you figure the indebtedness against the plaintiff to be either more or less

The instructions then proceed:

“If you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the notes owing by the defendant were not considered in the settlement of figures between the two at the time testified about, and that the plaintiff still owes said notes, and the defendant is due another five hundred dollar credit on the notes which has not been given, then it would be your duty to determine the correct amount and render your verdict accordingly.”

This instruction was excepted to by the defendant.' lb is her contention that plaintiff’s suit was based on the notes and not on the alleged agreement of August 8, 1938, and that the instruction is given on the theory that the suit was on the memorandum and not on the notes. We do not so construe the instruction. Plaintiff does not contend that her suit was on the written memorandum but insists that it is based on the notes. Plaintiff certainly had the right in a suit on the notes to plead and prove by mutual agreement that the amount due on her notes and on defendant’s notes was computed and that defendant was given a credit on plaintiff’s notes for the amount found due on her notes in discharge and in payment of defendant’s notes. She was entitled to have this issue submitted to the jury. In our opinion, while the emphasized paragraph thereof is probably subject to criticism, the instruction as a whole fully and fairly submits this issue to the jury. The instruction leaves the jury free to recalculate the amount due on the various notes of the' respective parties and return their verdict accordingly. The defendant requested no other or more definite instruction.

Defendant further contends that the verdict shows upon its face that it could not have been based on the notes. Under defendant’s theory of the case, after computing the amount due on the notes held by plaintiff and the *152 notes held by defendant there remained due in favor of plaintiff the sum of $3,182.42. Eliminating the additional credit of $500 claimed by defendant, which we are obliged to do under the verdict of the jury, and allowing her the credit of $1,500 paid on the date the memorandum was signed, would leave a balance due in favor of plaintiff of $1,682.42.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Investors Royalty Co. v. Lewis
1939 OK 290 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1939)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1945 OK 308, 163 P.2d 536, 196 Okla. 149, 1945 Okla. LEXIS 517, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/koenig-v-hubbard-okla-1945.