Litchfield v. Fitzpatrick

224 S.W. 926, 1920 Tex. App. LEXIS 956
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 21, 1920
DocketNo. 1122.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 224 S.W. 926 (Litchfield v. Fitzpatrick) 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
Litchfield v. Fitzpatrick, 224 S.W. 926, 1920 Tex. App. LEXIS 956 (Tex. Ct. App. 1920).

Opinion

HIGGINS, J.

This suit was brought by the appellant, Litchfield, against the appel-lees, W. T. Fitzpatrick, I. D. Walters,'and E. Durham; the last two named parties composing the firm of Walters & Durham. The suit was to recover the title and possession of an automobile and rental thereon for 45 days and for the value of certain personal property, alleged to have been converted by the defendants, which personal property consisted of accessories to the automobile.

Contemporaneously with the filing of the suit Litchfield sued out a writ of sequestration by virtue of which the automobile was sequestered. The defendants having failed to replevy the automobile, the plaintiff re-plevied the same with J. R. Johnson, J. P. Rountree, W. B. Hilgartner, and Joe Dunne as sureties upon his replevin bond. The automobile in question originally belonged to W. T. Fitzpatrick. On October 12, 1918, Walters & Durham, as agents for Fitzpatrick, sold the car to Litchfield for $1,000, $200 of which was paid in cash, and to cover the balance of the purchase price Litch-field gave ten notes for $75 each, and one for $50, all payable to the order of Walters & Durham. The notes were dated October 12, 1918. The first was payable one month after its date, and a note matured on the 12th of each subsequent month. The note for $50 matured last. , The notes bore interest at the rate of 10 per cent, per annum from date, and provided for 10 per cent, attorney’s fee and contained a clause providing that failure to pay any note at maturity would mature the entire series. They were secured by a chattel mortgage upon the automobile. The mortgage provided that failure to pay any one of the notes authorized the mortgagee to declare all of the notes at once due and payable and also authorized the mortgagee to take possession of the property with or without process of law and sell the same at auction for cash, applying the proceeds to the payment of the notes and expenses of sale. Contemporaneously with the sale of the automobile Walters & Durham sold Litchfield certain automobile tires or casings and tubes on credit. The note which matured November 12, 1918, was paid at maturity. The note which matured December 12, 1918, was not paid upon its due date, and on December 17th, Fitzpatrick and Durham went to an automobile stand in the city *927 of El Paso where the automobile was standing and toot possession of same and moved it to the premises of Walters & Durham, where it remained for 45 days, when Litch-field filed this suit and sequestered the car.

The defendants, Fitzpatrick and Walters & Durham, filed a cross-action against Litch-field and the sureties upon his replevin bond; Fitzpatrick seeking a recovery upon his notes with foreclosure of his mortgage lien and Walters & Durham seeking a recovery against Litchfield for the personal property aforesaid, sold by them to Litch-field upon open account. The plaintiff, Litchfield, contended that the action of Fitzpatrick and Durham in taking possession of his car on December 17th was unauthorized because upon December 12, 1918, Walters & Durham, as agents for Fitzpatrick, had orally agreed to extend to December 18th the maturity date of the note which matured December 12th.

Upon trial before a jury the case was submitted upon special issues. The issues submitted and the jury’s findings are as follows:

“Question No. 1: Do yon find from a preponderance of the evidence that the defendants, or one of them, granted the plaintiff, Litchfield, an extension for the payment of the second note due December 12,1918, as alleged by plaintiff, Litchfield? Answer: No.
“Question No. 2: What was the reasonable market value of the automobile described in plaintiff’s petition at the time the same was replevied by plaintiff? Answer: $600.
“Question No. 3: What is the reasonable market value of the automobile at this time? Answer: $300.
“Question No. 4: What was the reasonable rental value per day of said automobile from the time it was first taken by defendants to the time it was sequestrated by the plaintiff? Answer: $12.50.
“Defendants’ special issue No. 5: Who purchased the two casings testified to in evidence, the defendant Walters or the plaintiff, Litch-field, and who paid for them? Answer: Walters & Durham.
“Defendants’ special issue No. 7: Did the defendants take possession of the buckskin gloves? Answer: No.”

Judgment was rendered that Litchfield take nothing, and that Fitzpatrick recover against Litchfield and the sureties on his replevin bond the principal, interest, and attorney’s fees due upon the purchase-money notes, amounting to the sum of $880, with interest from the date of the judgment, and that Walters & Durham recover of Litch-field $78.50, with interest, same being the value of the tires and tubes aforesaid. The judgment provided that Litchfield and his sureties should have the right at any time within ten days to deliver to the sheriff the automobile and receive credit upon the judgment as provided by statute.

From this judgment Litchfield appeals, and first assigns as error that the answer of the jury to question No. 1 is unsupported by the evidence.

Litchfield and his son testified to an extension of time for the payment of the note due December 12, 1918, but they were squarely contradicted by the testimony of both Walters and Durham, who deny making the agreement of extension. The testimony of Walters and Durham abundantly supports the finding of the jury upon issue No. 1.

Under the second assignment the appellant contends that the court erred in denyj ing him a recovery, for the rental value of the car from the date it was taken by Fitzpatrick and Walters and the date it was seized by the sheriff under the sequestration because the defendants were not entitled to the possession of the car, were naked trespassers, and during the time they had such possession made no effort to foreclose the mortgage lien.

In view of the finding of the jury upon issue 1, it appears that the second note was past due when the defendants took possession of the car. Fitzpatrick testified that when he took possession he had exercised his option to mature all of the notes by reason of the failure of Litchfield to pay the second note upon its due date. The entire series of notes being thus due and unpaid, the mortgagee, under the terms of the mortgage, had the right to take possession, and no cause of action arose out of his action in so doing. Harling v. Creech, 88 Tex. 300, 31 S. W. 357; Wedig v. Brewing Association, 25 Tex. Civ. App. 158, 60 S. W. 567. And in this connection it is shown by the testimony of the defendants that their failure to promptly foreclose under the mortgage was due to negotiations initiated by Litchfield for a settlement of his notes.

Under the third assignment it is asserted that the judgment for $880 is excessive. The computation upon which this assignment is predicated is erroneous. The undisputed facts show that the principal amount due upon the notes was $725, and that interest to the date of judgment at the rate of 10 per cent, per annum amounted to $86.30. Adding the further sum of $80.13 as attorney’s fees would take a total sum of $881.-43.

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Bluebook (online)
224 S.W. 926, 1920 Tex. App. LEXIS 956, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/litchfield-v-fitzpatrick-texapp-1920.