Murchison v. Hardin

69 S.W.2d 189
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 15, 1934
DocketNo. 2926.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 69 S.W.2d 189 (Murchison v. Hardin) 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
Murchison v. Hardin, 69 S.W.2d 189 (Tex. Ct. App. 1934).

Opinions

PBLPHREY, Chief Justice.

On March 9, 1931, a note for $3,000, payable to the First State Bank of Murchison, Tex., was executed by J. T. Hardin. R. E. Saxon’s signature also appears on the note. The note matured on December 31,1931, and, as far as the record here shows, was never renewed. On May 17, 1932, the bank assigned all of its property, both real and personal, to the Henderson County Investment Company, a corporation, it being agreed that the Henderson County Investment Company should pay all the bank’s indebtedness, except $7,300 due the Federal Reserve Bank at Dallas, and $10,000 due the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Listed among the assets of the bank was the ■ above-mentioned note. On the same day the Henderson County Investment Company assigned to appellant here all of its property upon the consideration that he would assume and obligate himself to pay to the individual depositors of the First State Bank of Murchison their individual deposits amounting to $52,872.47, less $9,487 paid to certain depositors for stock in the investment company and $7,395.13 due the Federal Reser-tf'e Bank of Dallas. In this assignment it was agreed that, in the event a sufficient amount of money was collected from the assets to pay Murchison his indebtedness together with the expenses incurred in the handling and collection of such assets, then the remaining portion of the properties was to be returned to the investment company.

January 24, 1933, Murchison filed this suit, upon the note above mentioned, against Hardin and Saxon, seeking to recover the sum of $3,000 principal, $324.17 interest, and $332.-41 attorney’s fees.

Hardin and Saxon,-in answer to the suit, alleged the Henderson County Investment Company to be the owner of the note and that it was a necessary party to the suit to collect same; that Murchison was not the unconditional owner of the note, and that, if [190]*190he had any interest in the note, which was denied, it was only as a lienholder.

Saxon further alleged that he signed the note solely for the accommodation of the First State Bank of Murchison at the request of and with the distinct understanding between him and the active vice president and cashier of the hank that he would never be called' upon to pay it; that no consideration or benefit ever passed or accrued to him or to any other person except the bank; that he signed the same at the request of the bank after it had been executed by Hard'in in payment of a prior debt of .Hardin which had not been created at his instance.

He then alleged the conveyance by the bank of its assets to the Henderson County Investment Company; the assignment thereof to Murchison; that the property so assigned greatly exceeded in value the liabilities of the bank; and that the Henderson County Investment Company was the actual and beneficial owner of the note.

In reply, Murchison generally denied the allegations of Saxon’s answer, specially denied that he was an accommodation maker of the note, and alleged that Hardin had, prior to the execution of the note sued upon, been indebted to the bank; that the bank had refused to renew the note for Hardin without additional security; that thereupon Saxon signed the note with Hardin and by so doing induced the bank to renew the same. •

Murchison also specially pleaded that Saxon had at all times recognized the note as his obligation and by his acts and conduct in dealing with the note and in dealing with the public with reference thereto had estop-ped himself from pleading a lack of consideration therefor. The several facts depended upon as constituting estoppel were pleaded with particularity.

The Hendérson Cbunty Investment Company intervened, adopted the pleadings of Murchison, and prayed that, in case the court should not find for Murchison, judgment be rendered in its favor against appellees.

Saxon by supplemental answer excepted to the pleas of estoppel.

At the conclusion of the testimony the court instructed the jury to return a verdict in favor of Murchison against Hardin, but in favor of Saxon.

From a judgment that Murchison recover $3,656.58, as against Hardin, and take nothing as against Saxon, Murchison has appealed.

Opinion.

The circumstances surrounding the signing of the note by Saxon were detailed by the witness Asher, who was vice president and cashier of the bank as follows:

“Q. Mr. Asher, I will get you to detail what happened with reference to the procuring of the signature on the note that is involved in this suit? A. Well, to the best of my recollection, the note had been criticized by the" Examiner, as being spurious, insufficiently secured, vthe J. T. Hardin note, and I had promised him when we renewed the note we would get some additional security. And so, I had Tom Hardin come in the office, and told him we would have to get it better secured 'if we carried it on our books, if we didn’t we would have to charge it off the books. We discussed how he could secure it, and possibly I suggested he might get Mr. Rube Saxon to indorse the note with him, if he could it would be all right, and either Mr. Hardin or myself ’phoned Mr. Saxon, and later on he came in the Bank. And I don’t know'whether Mr. Hardin did any talking, or I did the talking — It is my recollection that I did. the talking, explained to Mr. Saxon the condition of the note, and if we carried it that it had to be better secured, if we carried it on our books, or we would have to charge it out, Mr. Saxon hesitated about signing the note. I was anxious to get it signed, and I encouraged Mr. Saxon to sign the note, told him I believed it would work out, and would be paid. And in our conversation, my recollection is, I told Mr. Saxon that so long as I had charge of the Bank we wouldn’t press him, or be hard on him, and we would carry the note along and give Mr. Hardin a chance to pay it, and if it should happen that he had the note to pay that I would see he didn’t lose anything, personally. My reason for that was that I knew under conditions, the sentiment in connection with the closing of the Bank up here, and interlocking stock, if we had any kind of confusion it would mean the loss of our depositors and every thing else, and I was willing, if he was forced on the payment of the note, I would make it good as far as my ability.
“Q. Tell what was said, near as you can remember, with reference to the probability that the Bank would be examined in a few days, on account of the Bank here failing, and the connection between' the two? A. Well, I told Mr. Hardin, I am sure I told Mr. Saxon, that the note would have to be secured, or we would have to charge ,it out [191]*191upon examination, because it bad been criti-cised, and if it wasn’t secured properly, it would have to be charged oft.”

Mr. Saxon’s version of the signing was:

“Mr. Asher says: ‘Rube, you know that Athens National Bank closed their doors, they are not opening up this morning, and we being a branch bank of the Athens National Bank, I am expecting the Examiner down here any day, right away, at least, we will have an Examiner down here, and the business of the Bank is not in condition for an Examiner to come down and examine it.’ Of course I didn’t know anything about banking, never had any experience, all I ever knew about a bank was my deposit and checking on it, such as that, never had any experience in the working of a bank, or anything, didn’t know anything about it.

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Related

Murchison v. Saxon
99 S.W.2d 288 (Texas Supreme Court, 1936)
Murchison v. Saxon
99 S.W.2d 288 (Texas Commission of Appeals, 1936)

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69 S.W.2d 189, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/murchison-v-hardin-texapp-1934.