Matson v. Frazer

48 Mo. App. 302, 1892 Mo. App. LEXIS 101
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 23, 1892
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 48 Mo. App. 302 (Matson v. Frazer) 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
Matson v. Frazer, 48 Mo. App. 302, 1892 Mo. App. LEXIS 101 (Mo. Ct. App. 1892).

Opinion

■ Rombauer, P. J.

The plaintiff brings this action, •claiming that he and the defendant borrowed jointly a certain sum from the Ralls County Bank, that the bank ■obtained judgment for the amount against them jointly, .and that he has paid and satisfied this judgment; and he now seeks to recover from the defendant one-half of ■the amount thus expended. Upon the trial of the cause before the court without a jury the plaintiff recovered judgment for $557.10, the court finding that, as to the residue of his claim, the plaintiff had been reimbursed ■out of the assets, of Thomas H. Frazer’s estate. The •defendant asked a number of instructions, which the ■court refused. The court made a special finding of facts. Since the appeal was taken the defendant Frazer •died, and his executrix was substituted as defendant in the case.

The defendant, appealing, assigns for error the .admission of incompetent evidence against him, and the refusal of his instructions. Whether the second error is well assigned depends entirely on the character of the pleadings and evidence, and on the further question whether the special finding of the court covers all the issues presented. It, therefore, becomes necessary to [304]*304give in this' opinion a substance of the pleadings, and to insert the court’s finding in full.

Plaintiff’s petition alleged that he and the defendant, on December 8, 18S0, borrowed from the Ralls County Bank $3,675.50, and executed to said bank their joint note therefor ; that afterwards lie made payments-on said note and a renewal thereof, and on a judgment which had been rendered on said renewal note against-himself and the defendant1 jointly, until he paid the same in full; that defendant paid no part of said note ; that, by reason of his having paid said note and interest, it became the duty of the defendant to repay to him one-half of the amount by him so paid out; and that in consideration of the premises the defendant promised to pay him one-half of each and every amount so. by him paid out, but failed to do so, to his damage in the sum of $3,000, for which he asks judgment.

The answer of defendant says it is true that he and said plaintiff did, on or about the eighth day of December, 1885, execute and deliver to the Ralls County Bank their note for the sum of thirty-seven hundred and fifty dollars ($3,750), but denies that they borrowed on their joint account from said bank the money for which said note was given, but, on the contrary, says that said money was borrowed by said plaintiff for his own use and benefit, and that the plaintiff signed said note for his own use and benefit, and that he, the defendant, signed said note as surety for said plaintiff, and in no other capacity.

Defendant further says'that, so far as he is advised, it is true that plaintiff made payments on said note, as in his said petition stated, and also true that, on the seventh day of June, 1882, he and plaintiff executed to the' Ralls County Bank, in renewal of said first-mentioned note, another note for the sum of thirty-seven hundred and fifty dollars ($3,750), but he says that said plaintiff signed said note as principal, and this defendant [305]*305signed the same as security, and in no other capacity. Defendant further says that he is informed, and believes, that plaintiff made payments on said note, as in his petition stated, and that said Ealls County Bank obtained judgment thereon, and plaintiff paid said judgment, as set forth in his petition; but the defendant denies that it was his duty to pay any part of said note, or the judgment rendered thereon, and denies that he is indebted to the plaintiff in any sum whatever by reason of any payments made by the plaintiff on account of said note or judgment; and he denies that he, at any time, promised to pay plaintiff any sum whatever on account of the payments made by the plaintiff as aforesaid.

“Defendant, further answering, says that heretofore, to-wit, on the twentieth day of February, 1877, the said plaintiff borrowed from the county court of Ealls county the sum of $3,000, which belonged to a fund assessed, levied and collected to pay the interest on what was known as the railroad bonds of said county, and executed his note to said county therefor, with this defendant and Thomas EL Frazer, who was a son of this defendant and a son-in-law of said plaintiff, as sureties thereon ; and also to secure said note gave a mortgage to said county on the following described real estate (describing it).

“That afterwards, to-wit, on the twelfth day of February, 1878, the said plaintiff conveyed the said real estate to said Thomas EL Frazer and his wife, Athalia Frazer, vesting the title in them as joint tenants, subject to the aforesaid mortgage; that after-wards, torwit, on the third day of September, 1878, the said plaintiff, in renewal of said first note to said county, executed another note for the sum of $3,283.40 with this defendant and Thomas EL Frazer sureties 'ihereon, and that to secure said last-mentioned note said Thomas EL Frazer and Athalia Frazer, his wife, [306]*306executed to said county a mortgage on said real estate, hereinbefore described, which real estate was, at all the dates in this answer mentioned, of value largely in excess of the amount of said note to said Ralls county; that, shortly after the execution of said mortgage by said Thomas IT. Frazer and Athalia Frazer, the said Thomas H. Frazer died, and the title to said real estate thereupon vested in said Athalia Frazer, subject to the incumbrance of said mortgage; and that said plaintiff was duly appointed and qualified as administrator of said Thomas H. Frazer’s estate.

“ That afterwards, to-wit, on the-day of --- 18 — , the said plaintiff was summoned as garnishee on a judgment which had been rendered against said Ralls county on said railroad bonds, and such proceedings were had, as resulted in a judgment being rendered by the circuit court of the United States for the eastern district of Missouri against said plaintiff for the sum of $----, and that the plaintiff borrowed said money from said Ralls County Bank for the purpose of paying said judgment, so rendered against him as aforesaid, and did actually use the same for that purpose. “Defendant further says that- the said plaintiff caused said note, so executed to said Ralls county, to be allowed as a claim against the estate of said Thomas H. Frazer, and that the same has been paid to said plaintiff by said estate.

“He further says that he is informed that said plaintiff now claims that said money was borrowed from said Ralls county by said Thomas H. Frazer, and that he, and not plaintiff, was the principal in said note given to said county.

“And defendant says, if that be true, the said plaintiff was, by reason of having paid said judgment of said United States circuit court, subrogated to the rights of said county in said mortgage made by said Thomas H. Frazer and Athalia Frazer, and could have subjected the same to the payment of the amount paid by him, as [307]*307aforesaid, but that, instead of doing so, the said plaintiff caused satisfaction of said mortgage to :be entered by the county court of said county; and that by reason thereof the said plaintiff ought to be estopped from ■asserting any claim against this defendant on account of the payments made by him, as in his petition stated.”

The plaintiff filed a reply denying the facts stated in the answer and stating the true facts as claimed by him. The following new facts stated in the reply are material as bearing upon the issues finally tried:

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Bluebook (online)
48 Mo. App. 302, 1892 Mo. App. LEXIS 101, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/matson-v-frazer-moctapp-1892.