Munn v. Riggs

257 S.W.2d 714, 1953 Tex. App. LEXIS 2361
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 9, 1953
Docket6281
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 257 S.W.2d 714 (Munn v. Riggs) 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
Munn v. Riggs, 257 S.W.2d 714, 1953 Tex. App. LEXIS 2361 (Tex. Ct. App. 1953).

Opinion

PITTS, Chief Justice.

This appeal is from a judgment against the sureties on a fidelity bond contract for the sum of $949.40 together with 6% interest thereon from the date of payment demand. Appellees, Eranklin Life Insurance Company and.K. L. Riggs, West Texas ■'agency manager for the said company, filed suit against Sylvester Munn, the principal on the said bond, and appellants, Gaylord R. Chase, R. L, Curtis, W. E. Sharp and J. D. Amend, sureties on the said bond, alleging liability of the principal and sureties thereon as a result of the expressed good faith conditions set forth in the bond contract ‘ indemnifying appellees against losses for the advancement ■ of money made to the principal and for other money and indebtedness, the principal may owe appellees under the terms therein expressed. Appellants answered with a denial of liability but seek a judgment against Munn for any sum adjudged against them! The case was tried by the court without a jury and judgment was thereafter rendered for appellees against the named principal and sureties on the bond, from which judgment the sureties alone have perfected an appeal, denying liability and charging. error in the amount of the judgment in any event.

It has long been the law in this state that a final judgment rendered in a case such as this must be presumed to be correct upon appeal unléss the contrary affirmatively appears from the record. Baker v. Elliott, Tex.Civ.App., 198 S.W.2d 152. No findings'or conclusions were filed by the trial court or requested in this case. The rule is well established that unless findings are filed by the trial court, the appellate court must presume that the trial court correctly found all fact issues having support in the evidence in favor of its judgment rendered. Bostwick v. Bucklin, Tex.Civ.App., 190 S.W.2d 814, affirmed 144 Tex. 375, 190 S.W.2d 818. It has also been held that in non-jury cases the trial court’s judgment must be affirmed if there is sufficient evidence to support it on any theory. Gray v. Luther, Tex.Civ.App,, 195 S.W.2d 434. To test the sufficiency of the evidence, we must give- credence only to the evidence and circumstances favorable to the presumed findings of the trial,court and disregard all evidence and circumstances to the contrary. Boston Ins. Co. v. Rainwater, Tex.Civ.App., 197 S.W.2d 118, and other authorities there cited.

The record before us reveals that late .in: September of. 1950 Sylvester Munn entered *716 into a contract with appellees to-represent the Franklin Life Insurance Company as its agent in the Amarillo area in the selling of life insurance on an agreed commission basis and in hiring other agents to work for the said company under him. Such agreed agency contemplated the opening of an office and the necessary expenses in connection therewith by Munn for the operation of an insurance business. It was further contemplated that appel-lees, dr either-of them, would, after being satisfactorily secured, advance the necessary money to Munn for the opening of an office and for getting started in the operation of the business and that Munn would collect insurance premiums and other funds belonging to appellees and satisfactorily account to them for the same. In order to satisfactorily' secure appellees,-on October 2, 1950, Munn as principal, together with the previously herein named sureties, executed a fidelity bond, acknowledging themselves, jointly and severally, 'bound to indemnify both appellees against .any losses or liabilities, not to exceed $3,-'000, by reason of monies handled and to he handled by the principal, Munn, belonging to appellees. To be more specific, the dosing language used in the last paragraph in the said bond recites:

«* * * and further conditioned that we shall indemnify said Company and or K. L. Riggs against any loss or liability maintained or incurred by it, by, through or as a result of any act of said Principal as Agent in the amount and up to and including Three Thousand Dollars, I, We, or Either of ■Us, are and will be responsible for any advances, nets or • indebtedness ánd will pay if and when deemed necessary.”

On October 20, 1950, by mutual agreement appellee, K. L. Riggs, advanced $500 in cash to Munn, as the company’s agent, •who executed a promissory note on the same day payable on demand to Riggs, 'bearing 6% interest; thereafter on November 11, 1950, another $500 in cash was advanced by Riggs to Munn in the Same manner and with a similar note executed &y . Munn; thereafter . on December 15, 1950, $125 in cash was advanced to Munn by Riggs with a similar note executed by Munn but for only $125; thus making a total of $1,125 advanced to Munn by Riggs. In the meantime, and as a result of business procured by Munn, he also owed ap-pellees insurance premium nets in the total sum of $68.33. Thereafter on September 4, 1951, Munn sent Riggs his personal check for the sum of $300 drawn on a bank in Dalhart, Texas, to be applied on his incurred indebtedness. Riggs cashed the check and applied it as follows: on total nets $68.33, on total accrued interest at the rate of 6% on the said notes $56.07, on the principal indebtedness the balance of $175.-60 was applied, reducing the indebtedness for total advancements to $949.40, which sum was outstanding and unpaid when Munn terminated his services with the Franklin Life Insurance Company about a year after he began as its agent. Demands were made by appellees upon the principal and sureties on the bond for the payment of the said sum but no part of it had been paid. This suit was thereafter filed on November 29, 1951, for the total sum of $1,148.77, together with interest and $200 attorney fees.

After hearing the pleadings ¿nd the evidence, the trial court took the matter under consideration for a period of nearly three months before rendering judgment. It then apparently approved the manner in which appellee, K. L. Riggs, applied the payment of $300 made personally by Munn to Riggs on Munn’s outstanding obligations and indebtedness to appellees. In its judgment the trial court found that the balance of the advancements made to Munn by Riggs in the sum of $949.40 was indemnified and secured by appellants under the terms- of the fidelity bond. The trial court first rendered judgment for Riggs against Munn for the sum of $1,105.67, together with lawful interest until paid, from which part of the judgment no appeal was perfected by Munn. It likewise rendered judgment for Riggs against appellants, jointly and severally, for the remainder of the advancements in question in the sum of $949.40, together with 6% interest from the date this suit was filed, the same be *717 ing considered as the date demand was made upon appellants for payment of the debt in question. No other interest and no attorney fees were charged against appellants or awarded Riggs as against them. Appellants were awarded judgment against Munn for such sums as they each were required to pay Riggs under the terms of the judgment, together with lawful interest thereon.

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Bluebook (online)
257 S.W.2d 714, 1953 Tex. App. LEXIS 2361, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/munn-v-riggs-texapp-1953.