Lee's Admr. v. Thompson

116 S.W. 775, 132 Ky. 608, 1909 Ky. LEXIS 132
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedMarch 9, 1909
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 116 S.W. 775 (Lee's Admr. v. Thompson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lee's Admr. v. Thompson, 116 S.W. 775, 132 Ky. 608, 1909 Ky. LEXIS 132 (Ky. Ct. App. 1909).

Opinion

[609]*609Opinion op the Court by

Wm. Rogers Clay, Commissioner.

On the 11th day of March, 1894, W. H. Thomas & Son, a firm composed of W. H. and Percy Thomas, and Chinn & Morgan, a firm composed of J. P. Chinn and George H. Morgan, executed to John B. Thompson their promissory note for $3,000, payable four months after date at the Farmers’ National Bank, Danville, Ky. Upon the execution of the note, it was turned over to E. W. Lee, and before its maturity was indorsed by him and discounted at the Farmers’ National Bank. Suit was brought on this note in the Boyle circuit court against the makers thereof, the payee, Thompson, and the indorser, E. W. Lee. Judgment was finally obtained against all these parties. The note on which the judgment was finally rendered was a renewal of other notes which had been executed by Thomas & Son to J. B. Thompson, and transferred from Thompson to Chinn & Morgan to secure a debt owing by Thompson or Thomas & Son to Chinn & Morgan. This note was transferred by Chinn & Morgan to. Lee, to pay a debt due by them to Lee. The name of Lee nowhere appears on either of the notes, except as indorser to the bank that discounted the note. Various executions were issued on the judgment obtained by the bank, and' all returned “no property found.” On August 17,1897, the judgment was paid off by E. W. Lee and assigned in writing by the bank to Lee. On March 5, 1907, E. W. Lee’s administrators caused execution to issue on said' judgment. Thereupon J. B. Thompson, after due notice given to said administrators, filed a motion [610]*610in the Boyle circuit court to quash this execution. The proceedings on this motion are contained in the record of ease No. 240. Thompson set forth 1.2 grounds, in 12 distinct paragraphs, for quashing the execution. Lee’s administrators demurred to each of these grounds. The court overruled the demurrer to paragraphs 1, 2, and 10, and sustained the demurrer to all the other paragraphs, and ordered the execution quashed. Prom that judgment Lee’s administrators prosecute this appeal. No cross-appeal is prosecuted, so it will he unnecessary to consider the grounds other than those contained in paragraphs 1, 2, and 10.

Paragraph 1 is as follows: “Because said execution was issued without authority of law and is. null and void.” This paragraph was subsequently amended as follows: “The defendant, John B. Thompson, comes and by leave of the court amends the ■ first ground of his motion herein as set out in said motion, and says that said execution was issued without authority of the law, and was null and void, in this, that the clerk of said court, before and at the time he issued said execution to the sheriff of Mercer county, did not require, before issuing sáme, F. N. Lee and George Lee, administrators of E. W. Lee, deceased, or either of them, who claim a right to said execution, to file an affidavit showing their right to do so, nor did said clerk require them or either of them to file a copy, properly certified, of their ap^pointment as such by a competent tribunal in the United States. He states that at the time1 said clerk issued said execution, and at the time he made the indorsements thereon, neither of said administrators had filed any affidavit with him ■ showing their right [611]*611to said execution, or to said judgment under which said execution issued, and there was no assignment to either of them or to E. W. Lee, in the records of his office, of said judgment upon which said execution issued. ’ ’ The court properly overruled the demurrer to the foregoing’ paragraph. While section 402 of the Civil Code of Practice gave the right to obtain the execution in question, the facts set out in the above paragraph show that the requirements of seetion 404 were not complied with. That being the case, the judgment quashing the execution in question was proper upon the ground set out in paragraph 1 of the motion to quash.

Paragraph 2 of the motion to quash is as follows: “Because said execution shows upon its face that the judgment upon which it is based had been1 paid and satisfied. ” While it does not appear that the judgment was paid, it was paid by E. W. Lee and immediately assigned to him by the bank. It was not paid by J. B. Thompson, or paid by Lee for him. Only in the event that the judgment was paid by Thompson, or paid by some one else for him, would the payment and satisfaction of the judgment inure to his benefit. The payment by Lee was not a payment in satisfaction of the judgment so far as. J. B. Thompson was concerned. It is manifest therefore that paragraph 2 contained no ground that justified the court in quashing the execution in question. It was error therefore to overrule the demurrer to' this paragraph.

Paragraph 10 of the motion to quash is as follows: “Because said "E. W. Lee,.in his lifetime, for more than five years after he claims to have paid and satisfied said judgment rendered in favor of the Farm[612]*612ers’ National Bank, failed to assert any claim against the undersigned for and on account of the said debt by him, and any and all claims against the undersigned for and on account of payment of said debt are barred by the statute of limitations in such cases made and provided, upon which the undersigned relies as a full and complete bar against any. judgment, execution, or claim against him. ’ ’ It has been held by this court that, in cases where the surety pays a judgment and takes no assignment within five years after he pays it off, then the five-year statute of limitations applies, for the reason that he relies entirely upon an implied promise to pay, and not upon a written assignment of the judgment. Joyce v. Joyce’s Adm’r, 1 Bush, 474; Duke v. Pigman, 110 Ky. 756, 62 S. W. 867. The facts of this case, however, do not bring it within the rule announced by those cases. Here E. W. Lee paid off the judgment, and at the same time took a written assignment thereof from the bank. He thereby acquired all the rights of the judgment creditor in the judgment assigned, and the five-year statute of limitations has no bearing whatever upon the case. It follows then that the court erred in overruling the demurrer to paragraph 10. It is manifest from the foregoing that so much of the judgment as overruled the demurrer to the first paragraph of the motion to quash, and so much of the judgment as actually quashed the execution in question, was proper; but so much of the judgment as overruled the demurrer to paragraphs 2 and 10 of the motion to quash was erroneous.

We shall next consider the questions raised by the record of case No. 241. After the execution of March 5, 1907, was quashed, Lee’s administrators [613]*613filed with the clerk of the Boyle circuit court the affidavit required by section 404 of the Code, and also the certificate of the clerk of the Boyle circuit court showing their due qualification as administrators of E. W. Lee, deceased. After filing said affidavit and certificate, the administrators of E. W. Lee also caused the Farmers’ National Bank, of Danville, Ky., in whose name the judgment had originally been entered, to file and note on the record of said judgment the following: “This judgment in favor of the Farmers’ National Bank of Danville,. Kentucky, against W. H. Thomas, Percy Thomas, J. B. Thompson, and E. W. Lee, having been paid by E. W. Lee, August 17, 1897, was on said day duly assigned and transferred in writing duly executed and signed by said bank, to said E. W. Lee, to be controlled by him and for his benefit. Witness our hand this August 7, 1907. The Farmers’ National Bank of Danville, Ky., by J. C.

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Bluebook (online)
116 S.W. 775, 132 Ky. 608, 1909 Ky. LEXIS 132, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lees-admr-v-thompson-kyctapp-1909.