Leeper v. Paschal

70 Mo. App. 117, 1897 Mo. App. LEXIS 255
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 5, 1897
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 70 Mo. App. 117 (Leeper v. Paschal) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Leeper v. Paschal, 70 Mo. App. 117, 1897 Mo. App. LEXIS 255 (Mo. Ct. App. 1897).

Opinion

Smith, P. J.

pleabings The allegations of the plaintiff’s petition are: First, that on July 25, 1889, Brown borrowed of Noyes $2,000, for which the former gave the latter his promissory note payable on January 1, 1890; second, that plaintiff with [122]*122defendant and Leeper signed said note as sureties thereon; and, third, that by reason of the insolvency of Brown, plaintiff was compelled to pay said note at the maturity thereof. Judgment was demanded against defendant for one third of the amount so paid by plaintiff.

The answer was a general denial to which was subjoined these allegations, viz: First, that plaintiff and Brown were partners and on January 25, 1889, jointly borrowed of said Noyes $2,000 for six months, giving therefor their joint note; second, that afterward, when said note fell due, they gave a new note therefor which was the same described in plaintiff’s petition; third, that plaintiff requested defendant to sign said new note as surety for him (plaintiff), representing that he was borrowing the amount thereof for his own use, and that accordingly defendant signed said note as surety for plaintiff; and, fourth, if plaintiff paid off said note he paid off his own debt so far as defendant was concerned, etc. No replication.

There was a trial resulting in judgment for defendant, from which the plaintiff has appealed. The errors assigned relate to the action of the trial court in the giving of instructions for defendant. The court, by appropriate instructions, submitted the caseto the jury upon the theory outlined by the plaintiff’s petition.

The first instruction given for defendant told the jury that if the note referred to in the plaintiff’s petition was signed by defendant on the representations of plaintiff that it was for his accommodation, then the verdict should be for defendant, although the money procured by the note, as between plaintiff and Brown, was used by the latter, and for his exclusive benefit. The second declared that if plaintiff and Brown on January 25, 1889, borrowed of Noyes $2,000, and gave [123]*123their joint note therefor and that when said note became due they gave a new note in its stead and that defendant signed the latter note at the request of plaintiff and on the representation that it was a favor and accommodation to him, then plaintiff could not recover, although plaintiff discharged the same. And the third declared that the sole question in the case was whether defendant signed said note as surety for Brown alone, or whether he signed it at the request and for the accommodation of plaintiff, and that before they (the jury) could find for plaintiff they must find by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant signed the said note as surety for Brown alone and not as surety for plaintiff nor for plaintiff and Brown jointly.,

Psm'etyP:Aé'via-nd dsncc xnstrucIt will be seen by reference to the pleadings already referred to that the defendant’s second instruction submitted to the jury a distinct issue tendered by the answer. It will not do to gay was n0 evidence adduced tending to sustain the facts hypothesized by that instruction. The defendant’s evidence tended to prove that plaintiff and Brown borrowed of Noyes the $2,000, for which they gave their joint note, and that the note which defendant signed for a like amount was in renewal of the former. The declarations of the plaintiff, as shown by the evidence, were to the effect that Brown needed $2,000 and that he could not procure a loan of that amount on his own credit so that the plaintiff united in a note with him to Noyes to enable him to raise the same. The instruction does not therefore erroneously assume the joint obligation of the plaintiff and Brown to Noyes as the plaintiff contends.

[124]*124of*parties?cok? [123]*123The evidence was ample to justify the submission of the case to the jury on the theory that the note which defendant signed was given in renewal of the joint note [124]*124of plaintiff and Brown. It was competent to show by parol evidence the actual relation oi the parties to one another and especially so when, as here, the note itself was silent. Randolph on Lien Paper, sec. 908; Oldham v. Brown, 280 Ohio, 41; Paul v. Bery, 78 Ill. 158; Barry v. Ransom, 12 N. Y. 464; Blake v. Cole, 22 Pick. 97; Summerhill v. Topp, 52 Ala. 227; Mansfield v, Edwards, 136 Mass. 15, and numerous cases cited in defendant’s brief. If plaintiff and Brown were joint makers of the note to Noyes for which that signed by defendant with the others was' a renewal, that was a fact, along with the other facts, which the evidence tended to prove, from which the jury were authorized to infer whether or not the relation of principal and surety or that of cosurety existed between the plaintiff and the defendant. It is quite true, as the plaintiff insists, that the renewal note discharged the original for which it was given, but the liabilities of the parties to the renewal note inter se depended upon the capacity in which they signed the same. If the relation of principal and surety existed between the plaintiff and defendant there was ho liability of the latter to the former, but if they sustained the relation of cosureties then they were, by the common law, bound- by an implied promise from each other to contribute in case of unequal payment. Brownlow v. Wollard, 66 Mo. App. 636; Van Patton v. Richardson, 68 Mo. 379; Jeffries v. Ferguson, 87 Mo. 245; Baylies’ Sur. & Guar. 318; 2 Dan’l Negot. Inst., sec. 1341.

_: relation ofFng?ksuiecad_ tl0ns' Plaintiff further objects that the defendant’s third instruction is erroneous because it declared that the sole question for the jury to determine was whether the defendant signed the note as surety for Brown or for plaintiff. In view of the issues made by the pleadings it is quite difficult [125]*125to see wherein this declaration was erroneous. The plaintiff sought to recover on the theory that he and defendant were cosureties for Brown, while the defense interposed by the answer was that the defendant was surety for plaintiff. If the former’s theory was established by the evidence the defendant was liable, and if the defense was established there was no liability.

Nlruafoníbmdeñ Plaintiff further objects that the defendant’s said third instruction “casts the burden upon the plaintiff to disprove by preponderance of the evidence, t]ie allegations of defendant based upon an alleged verbal contract which was in derogation of the written contract signed by defendant.” This objection no doubt results from a misconception of the scope and meaning of the instruction. It only required the plaintiff to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant signed the renewal note as surety for Brown and not for plaintiff, or plaintiff and Brown jointly. Manifestly the plaintiff could not recover unless he made the proof required by this instruction, which asserted but the converse of plaintiff’s second. The. instruction made the plaintiff’s right of recovery to depend upon whether the defendant was the surety of Brown. In Smith v. Sheldon, 35 Mich.

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

Related

Frew v. Scoular
162 N.W. 496 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1917)
Bragg v. Metropolitan Street Railway Co.
91 S.W. 527 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1905)
Franklin v. Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Co.
71 S.W. 540 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1903)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
70 Mo. App. 117, 1897 Mo. App. LEXIS 255, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/leeper-v-paschal-moctapp-1897.