National Surety Co. v. American Finance Co.

41 S.W.2d 66, 1931 Tex. App. LEXIS 1282
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 8, 1931
DocketNo. 9565.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 41 S.W.2d 66 (National Surety Co. v. American Finance Co.) 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
National Surety Co. v. American Finance Co., 41 S.W.2d 66, 1931 Tex. App. LEXIS 1282 (Tex. Ct. App. 1931).

Opinion

PLEASANTS, 0. J.

Appellee brought this suit against appellant to recover 80 per cent, of the sum of $1,161 alleged to be due it by appellant upon a fidelity bond| designated on its facé a “Wholesale Automobile Conversion Bond,” issued by appellant to appellee. The petition alleges:

. That by the terms of this bond appellant agrqed and bound itself to indemnify appel-lee against 80 per cent, of any direct loss “(a) Through the wrongful or fraudulent sale, mortgage, pledge, or conversion by a dealer named in the schedule forming part of this bond, of any motor vehicle so placed in the custody and/or possession of such dealer, or the possession of any warehouseman, for such dealer’s account, under a title retaining instrument in which such motor vehicle is described, or through the wrongful or fraudulent conversion by such dealer of the proceeds of any sale of such motor vehicle made by such dealer for the account of the Obligee under the terms of such title.retaining instrument.”

That, in the schedule provided for in said bond and furnished plaintiff as effective -on April 15,1929, the Le Sage Motor Company of San Antonio was designated a dealer in automobiles whos,e fidelity was covered and guaranteed by said bond to the amount of $20,000.

“That prior to April 15, 1929, on said date and thereafter until November 12, 1929, Le Sage Motor Company, being a business conducted by J. H. Le Sage under the assumed name of Le Sage Motor Company, was engaged in a retail automobile sales business in San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas; that on April 15, 1929, and at all times subsequent thereto up to November 12,1929, plaintiff was, by contract with said Le .Sage Motor Company, placing with said Le Sage Motor Company and carrying in said Le Sage Motor Company’s place of business, automobiles un- *67 dei' Trust Receipts which said automobiles, under the terms of the contract or trust receipt, said Le Sage Motor Company was authorized to sell in its retail trade and was required, under the terms of said contract of trust receipt, to make remittances in cáse forthwith to plaintiff upon the sale by it, the said Le Sage Motor Company, of any motor vehicle placed with said Le Sage Motor Company by plaintiff under said contract or trust receipt.

“That defendant was fully informed and advised of the terms, conditions, and provisions of said trust receipt or contract entered into between plaintiff and Le Sage Motor Company, and the bond herein sued 'upon, hereinabove more particularly described, was executed for the specific purpose and intent, among others, to indemnify plaintiff against any direct loss resulting from the failure of the said Le Sage Motor Company to remit to plaintiff any proceeds from the sale of automobile or automobiles covered by trust receipts which, under said trust receipts or contract, it was required to remit.”

That' on or about November 1, 1929, said Le Sage Motor Company wrongfully sold, mortgaged, and converted two automobiles belonging to plaintiff which were held by said motor company under trust receipts given by it to plaintiff which obligated and required said company to forthwith remit to plaintiff the proceeds of the sale of the automobiles so held by it for plaintiff. That the amount dale plaintiff as the value of the automobiles so converted by the motor company was $1,-200, but that said motor company has “failed and refused and still fails and refuses to remit to plaintiff the proceeds of the sale of said automobiles above described or any part thereof save and except the sum of Thirty-nine and No/100 Dollars ($39.00); that plaintiff has properly credited the sum of $39.00 upon said account, and there is now owing plaintiff by Le Sage Motor Company, the sum of Eleven Hundred Sixty-one and No/100 Dollars ($1161.00) from the proceeds of the-sale of the automobiles hereinabove described, which said sum, said Le Sage Motor Company, although obligated to return to plaintiff, has wholly failed and refused to pay to plaintiff, but said Le Sage Motor Company has wrongfully and fraudulently converted to its own use and benefit the proceeds from the sale of said above described automobiles.

“That because of the wrongful or fraudulent conversion by the said Le Sage Motor Company and/or J. H. Le Sage, doing business as Le Sage Motor. Company, of the sum of Eleven Hundred Sixty-one and No/100 ($1161.00) Dollars owing plaintiff out of the proceeds of the sale of the above described two automobiles, or because of wrongful or fraudulent sale or conversion thereof, plaintiff has suffered a direct loss in the sum of Eleven Hundred Sixty-one and No/100 Dollars ($1161.00) and defendant has, by the execution of the bond hereinabove pleaded ¡and described, obligated and bound itself to pay to plaintiff eighty (80%) per cent, of Eleven Hundred Sixty-one and No/100 Dollars ($1161.00) from which obligation a cause of action has arisen in favor of plaintiff against defendant to recover the sum of eighty (80%) per cent, of Eleven Hundred Sixty-one and No/100 Dollars ($1161.00), with interest thereon at the rate of six (6%) per cent per annum from November 1, 1929, until paid; that plaintiff has timely furnished notices and proof of loss to defendant.”

The defendant answered by general demurrer and general denial and special pleas setting up the failure of plaintiff to comply with its obligations stipulated in the bond as conditions precedent to plaintiff’s right of recovery on the bond.

One of these provisions of the bond is pleaded in defense of plaintiff’s suit and is as follows:

“In condition 17 of said bond it is provided:
“ ‘If at any time after the effective date hereof, the Obligee or any of its officers, suspect or become aware of any act, fact or information affecting the moral or business standing of any dealer named in the schedule forming part of this bond, or such evidence as would warrant any prudent person in reducing or withdrawing credit or accommodation ; or in case the Obligee in any other way receives information indicating a probable default hereunder or that any dealer named in such schedule is unreliable or unworthy of confidence; and should any such act, fact or information be not forthwith communicated to the Surety in writing, the surety shall not be liable for any act of any such dealer thereafter committed, nor for any motor vehicle not then delivered to such dealer.’
“In connection with this condition of the bond the defendant respectfully shows to the Court that the plaintiff or its officers had ground to suspect and did suspect and became aware of information affecting the business standing of the said dealer, and that such information as the plaintiff possessed would warrant and would require a prudent person to withdraw credit and accommodation, and the plaintiff receive^ information indicating a probable default by the said dealer, and that such information was not forthwith communicated to the defendant in writing, and in fact was not communicated at all until after the dealer had become insolvent and gone out of business, and that the loss of which the plaintiff complains and for which it sues herein, if sustained at all, was sustained by the plaintiff long after it had acquired such information and failed to communicate same to this defendant, and therefore this defendant under the plain provisions *68

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
41 S.W.2d 66, 1931 Tex. App. LEXIS 1282, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-surety-co-v-american-finance-co-texapp-1931.