Nelson v. Forbes

289 S.W. 10, 172 Ark. 346, 1926 Ark. LEXIS 83
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedDecember 13, 1926
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 289 S.W. 10 (Nelson v. Forbes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nelson v. Forbes, 289 S.W. 10, 172 Ark. 346, 1926 Ark. LEXIS 83 (Ark. 1926).

Opinion

Wood, J.

L. D. Nelson brought this action in the Sebastian Circuit Court against Forbes & Sons to recover twelve bales of cotton which had been mortgaged to him in the State of Oklahoma by one William Bromley. The cotton was brought into Arkansas and sold to Forbes & Sons at Hackett City, Arkansas, by one Z. R. Smith, to whom it had been turned over by Bromley in payment of an alleged rent note upon a farm sold to Bromley by Smith prior to the maturity of the note. Smith had contracted to sell Bromley the land on which the cotton was grown, and, on November 11, 1919, executed a deed to Bromley for the recited consideration of $7,500 cash in hand. This deed was not then delivered, but was placed in escrow until Bromley could raise the cash payment required. Before the delivery of the deed Smith rented the land to Bromley for $1,000 for the year 1920 and took a note for that amount, dated January 27, 1920, due November 15, 1920. Eighteen bales of cotton were grown on the place in 1920, twelve of which were stored in the barn on the place, and, on August 2, 1921, these twelve bales were mortgaged by Bromley to Nelson. The mortgage was duly executed and filed according to the laws of Oklahoma.

The defendants defended the action on two grounds: First, that they were innocent purchasers; and, second, that Smith was Bromley’s landlord, and, as such, had a lien on the cotton for the year 1920 which was superior to appellant’s mortgage, and Smith had a right to sell the cotton to the defendants and to apply the proceeds thereof to the payment of his rent,

This is the second appeal in this case. See Nelson v. Forbes & Sons, 164 Ark. 462, 261 S. W. 912. The issues and facts as above set forth are fully stated in the opinion in the above case. On the former appeal we said: “The mortgage from Bromley to Nelson was dated August 2, 1921, and one of the disputed questions of fact in the case is whether the cotton so stored had been delivered to Smith prior to the execution and delivery of the mortgage, and the conflict in the testimony makes a question for the jury whether there had been a delivery to Smith prior to August 5, the date the mortgage was filed. Had that been done, this, of course, would be decisive in the case, as the title to the cotton would have passed to Smith upon fits delivery to him. It is insisted, however, that the testimony shows that no delivery of the cotton to Smith had ever been made until after the execution of the mortgage, and that Bromley was in possession of it for himself, holding it to be sold when the market price advanced.” On the former appeal the judgment of the trial court was reversed, and the cause was remanded “with directions to submit the case under an instruction to the effect that a verdict should be rendered in favor of the plaintiff, unless the jury finds the fact to be that, before the filing of the mortgage, the cotton had been delivered to Smith.” On the retrial of the cause in the circuit court, witness Bromley testified in part as follows: That the cotton in controversy might have been rolled from the place where he stacked it in his barn shed in 1920 to a different place. He owed Smith $1,000 for rent. The note was due, and Smith came to see witness in regard to collecting same. Witness told Smith that the only thing he could do was to give him the cotton, which he did. .He was asked if he delivered the cotton to Smith at that time, and answered, “Sure, as near as we can call it delivered. I called it delivered, because I never did claim it any more and never thought about selling it after that.” The cotton remained at witness’ place some time after that. Smith left it there because it was under a shed. He had no place to put it. Smith asked witness to let it remain there until the market got higher. To the best of witness’ knowledge, this occurred when the note came due, November 15, 1920. That was the day that witness sold and delivered the cotton to Smith to pay the note and when Smith asked the witness to let the cotton remain there until he got ready to sell it. Witness was asked if Smith moved the cotton from the place where it was when witness turned it over to him, and answered, “It was never moved from that place until it-was taken by Smith to Hackett, Arkansas, and sold to Forbes. The cotton remained in the same place until January, 1922.”

Smith testified concerning the delivery of the cotton as follows: Bromley owed him a debt and paid it with twelve hales of cotton in November, 1920. He held the cotton in Bromley’s shed, and sold it to Forbes in 1921 or 1922. Witness further described the circumstances of the delivery of the cotton as follows: “He owed me, and says, ‘I got twelve bales of cotton, but the price is down. I will deliver it to you, and you can do what you want to with it.’ I said: ‘We will hold it awhile, and, if it brings more, all right.’ ” Witness took charge of the cotton there as his, and went and got it when he got ready to sell it. This witness’ testimony further shows that Bromley paid witness, on January 13, 1922, $742. That was the date witness sold the cotton to Forbes and gave Bromley credit on his note to witness of that date. That was the date on which the cotton was hauled from Bromley’s place to Hackett. This credit was entered in 1922, because they did not know what the cotton would bring until that time. Witness did not know the amount to indorse on the note until the cotton was sold to Forbes. Witness was asked what he did toward exercising actual ownership over the cotton after October 5, 1920, when he claimed the cotton was delivered to him, and stated that he went to Spiro to try to sell the cotton to cotton buyers and Bromley delivered to him the cotton.

The plaintiff asked the court to instruct the jury to return a verdict in his favor. The court refused plaintiff’s request. The court gave, on its own motion, over the objection of the appellant, among other instructions, the following: “The court instructs the jury that a verdict should be rendered for the plaintiff Nelson, unless the jury finds the fact to be that, before the filing of the mortgage, the cotton had been delivered to Smith, and in that event you should find for the defendant Forbes.”

At the request of the defendants, the court instructed the jury that, “to constitute a delivery of personal prop-, erty, it is not necessary that there be an actual removal of the goods, but if, at the time of the alleged delivery, it was the intention of the parties that the title and ownership of the property should pass from one to the other and the property is put in the control of the party to whom it is conveyed, and is done openly and notoriously, this constitutes a delivery.” At the request of the plaintiff the court further instructed the jury as follows:

“The court tells you that, under the laws of the State of Oklahoma, any transfer of title of personal property, to be valid, must be accompanied with immediate, actual, visible and continuous change of possession. Every transfer of personal property, if made by a person having at the time possession or control of the property, is conclusively presumed to be fraudulent and void unless it is accompanied by an immediate delivery of said property and followed by an actual -and continued change of possession of the things transferred.

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Bluebook (online)
289 S.W. 10, 172 Ark. 346, 1926 Ark. LEXIS 83, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nelson-v-forbes-ark-1926.