Musgraves v. First Nat. Bank

1929 OK 486, 284 P. 15, 139 Okla. 259, 1929 Okla. LEXIS 290
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedNovember 12, 1929
Docket18745
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 1929 OK 486 (Musgraves v. First Nat. Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Musgraves v. First Nat. Bank, 1929 OK 486, 284 P. 15, 139 Okla. 259, 1929 Okla. LEXIS 290 (Okla. 1929).

Opinion

HUNT, J.

This action was begun in the district court of Jefferson coiunty by the plaintiff, First National Bank of Addington, Okla., defendant in error here, against the defendant, W. A. Musgraves, plaintiff in error here, to recover judgment on a promissory note and for possession of certain personal property covered by chattel mortgage given to secure said note. For convenience the parties will be referred to here as they appeared in the court below.

Upon the filing of proper affidavit and bond by plaintiff, a writ of replevin was issued covering the property described in the mortgage, and within 24 hours after service of same on defendant he executed a redelivery bond and retained possession of the property. Defendant answered by general denial. Upon trial of the case, after both sides had rested, plaintiff moved the court to withdraw the case from the jury and render judgment for the amount sued for and to .fix the value of the cattle and live stock covered by the mortgage. The court sustained plaintiff’s motion for judgment and rendered judgment for the amount of the note, leaving the only issue to be submitted to the jury the question as toi the value of the property, and then recessed until the following day. When count reconvened, defendant was recalled as a witness and permitted, over the objection of plaintiff, to¡ testify as to certain circumstances surrounding the execution of the note and mortgage and as to whether or not he bad on hand at the time of the execution of the mortgage all the property covered thereby. At the conclusion of this testimony, defendant asked leave to amend his answer to show that the note and mortgage were obtained through fraud and misrepresentation ; that defendant could neither read nor write and did not know what property was described in the mortgage and same was not read over to him, and that the property described in the mortgage had already been sold and ¡the proceeds therefrom paid to the bank, all of which was well known to the plaintiff bank and was not known to defendant until after the evidence had been introduced in this case. Plaintiff objected to this amendment for the reason that the allegation that said alleged facts were not knolwn to defendant until the evidence was introduced in this case was un'.true because defendant had theretofore testified to substantially the same faots upon a hearing had in this case upon a motion filed by the surety on the redeli^ery bond, and for the further reason that both plaintiff and defendant had rested and the ease had been closed op the day before and witnesses of plaintiff had been relieved from further attendance on the court, some of whom lived outside of the county and had left for their homes. The objection of plaintiff was sustained, and the motion of defendant to amend his answer was denied. Whereupon .the court submitted to the jury the question as to the value of the cattle, horses, and other property enumerated in the writ of replevin, with directions to fix the value and to enumerate each article.

The jury returned its verdict fixing the total value of the property at $5,707. Judgment was entered for the plaintiff for the amount due on the note in the sum of $3,098.04, with interest thereon at the rate of 10 per cent, and for attorney fees in the sum of $279.83 and for the return of the property as described in the writ of replevin.

The journal entry of judgment further provided:

“and in the event a return of said property cannot be had that the value thereof be and the same is hereby, upon the answer of the jury, fixed at the sum of $5,707. It is further ordered by the court that if all or any part of the said property is delivered to the plaintiff, that it proceed to advertise and sell the same according to the terms of its mortgage, and apply the proceeds arising from such sale toward the satisfaction of this judgment, and that if the proceeds from such sale are not sufficient to satisfy the judgment rendered herein in favor of plaintiff, then the plaintiff shall have judgment against the defendant for the portion thereof remaining unpaid.”

Motion for new trial was filed in due time and overruled, and from the order and judgment of the court, the defendant prosecutes this appeal.

Some 14 assignments of error are included in the petition filed herein, only nine of which, being 11„ 12, 13, 14, 6, 4, 5, 10, and 1, are argued in the brief of plaintiff in error, in the order named, and while in presenting them in this manner plaintiff has hardly complied with the rules of the court as to submitting same in an orderly manner, we will coinsider each assignment presented and treat Nos. 2, 3, 7,- 8, and 9 as waived.

Summarized, defendant’s contention seems *261 to be that the court committed reversible error in the admission of certain evidence offered on the part of the plaintiff as to the value of the property described in the mortgage and in excluding certain testimony offered by defendant on this point and as to circumstances under which the note and mortgage were executed, which defendant claims amounted to fraud and misrepresentation, and that the court erred in refusing to permit the defendant to amend his answer, and that the value of the property as fixed by the jury is excessive in that same exceeds the value as alleged in the petition and affidavit for replevin.

In presenting these questions defendant seems to proceed on the assumption that the court rendered judgment against him for the return of the property or its value as fixed by the jury, but in this the record does not bear him out.’ The only judgment rendered against the defendant, as disclosed by the record, was for the amount due on the note, to wit, $3,089.04, together with interest and attorney fees, which was the only personal judgment that could have been rendered against the defendant, and is of course the maximum amount the plaintiff could collect from defendant irrespective of the value of the property. Since defendant’s liability was thus fixed by the judgment on the note, plaintiff could proceed to collect same from defendant out of the property covered by the mortgage in the event of its return, and in the event same could not be returned or did not sell for enough to pay the debt, out «}f any other property owned by defendant not exempt from levy and sale, and since possession of the property herein was retained by defendant by the giving of the redelivery bond, the only purpose of determining the value of the property was to fix the liability of the surety on the bond in •the event a return of all or any part of the property could not be had and it should therefore become necessary for plaintiff to proceed under the bond.

Plaintiff contends that the rights of the defendant were not in any wise affected by the value placed on the property, and with this contention we must agree. If all the property should be returned and sold under the judgment of foreclosure, the redelivery bond would be discharged, and if the property should sell for an amount in excess of the judgment, interest, and costs, said excess would belong to the defendant. On the other hand, if a part of the property was not returned. plaintiff could proceed under the bond for the value of same as fixed, but in no event could plaintiff recover any amount in excess of the judgment as rendered on the note, either from defendant or on the bond.

Defendant cites and relies on Gross v. Lincoln, 81 Okla. 87, 196 Pac. 960; Beard v. Herndon, 84 Okla. 142, 203 Pac. 226; Midland, Valley R. R. Co. v. Ezell, 36 Okla.

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Bluebook (online)
1929 OK 486, 284 P. 15, 139 Okla. 259, 1929 Okla. LEXIS 290, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/musgraves-v-first-nat-bank-okla-1929.