Nokes v. Wade

55 N.W.2d 187, 243 Iowa 1288, 1952 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 430
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedOctober 14, 1952
DocketNo. 48149
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 55 N.W.2d 187 (Nokes v. Wade) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nokes v. Wade, 55 N.W.2d 187, 243 Iowa 1288, 1952 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 430 (iowa 1952).

Opinion

Mantz, J.

Plaintiff, R. E. Nokes, on February 10, 1951, filed a petition at law against R. W. Wade, Mapleton Implement Company and Joe Slota to recover a money judgment for $912.83 on a cheek given plaintiff by R. W. Wade and the Mapleton Implement Company in payment of an account due and owing plaintiff, which check was not paid due to insufficient funds. His petition alleged that shortly after the check was given Joe Slota purchased the business in bulk from the Mapleton Implement Company and that neither the buyer nor the seller complied with the Bulk Sales law, and prayed that Slota be decreed to be a receiver of the property so purchased in favor of plaintiff as creditor by reason of said unpaid cheek. The defendants named and others interpleaded, made answer denying such claim, and Joe Slota by answer and cross-petition admitted in substance that there was no compliance with the provisions of the Bulk Sales law but alleged that such failure had been waived by the plaintiff, that he acquiesced in the sale and was now estopped to assert such claims. R. W. Wade and K. S. Wade alleged that [1290]*1290the Mapleton Implement Company was a corporation and denied that in the sale of part of the business of said company it had acted illegally or in violation of its corporate powers.

The issues were transferred to equity and the court granted plaintiff a judgment against the Mapleton Implement Company for the sum of $912.83 and interest; also holding that Joe Slota be held to be a receiver for the stock and fixtures purchased of said implement company from the date of the purchase for the benefit of the creditors of the corporation, including the plaintiff. It further'gave judgment to Joe Slota against R. W. Wade and K. S. Wade for all sums which he pays or is required to pay on the judgment entered, together with interest and costs, and provided that execution issue to Joe Slota for any sums so paid on the property of R. W. Wade and K. S. Wade. Defendants, cross-petitioner-Joe Slota, and parties impleaded have appealed.

I. Before setting forth the specific matters involved’ in this appeal we think it advisable to briefly outline some of the proceedings had and the situation which led to this controversy and appeal.

The suit was started at law but due to various pleadings and claims made was transferred to equity and was decided in that forum. Some of the defendants came in by interpleader upon motion of other parties. Some of those interpleaders; are here as cross-appellants. The pleadings were long, somewhat involved and in some respects confusing. However, in essence the principal question involves a sale of parts of an implement stock located at Mapleton, Iowa, by the Mapleton Implement Company, a corporation, early in November 1950 to Joe Slota. Both seller' and purchaser are parties herein. For some months the implement company had been a debtor of plaintiff,' a jobber in farm implements.- In October 1950 said account amounted to $912.83. Plaintiff had dealt with the implement' company for some months and stated that it was slow in making payments. In order to raise funds to take care of this account the implement company, in October 1950, made a sale of a part of its stock to Joe Slota and gave him a bill of sale' to the parts sold and Slota paid to the president of the implement company, R. W. Wade, $3256.29, for which a receipt was Set forth in the bill of [1291]*1291sale. Tbe sum paid was deposited to tbe account of tbe implement company in tbe Mapleton Trust & Savings Bank and was later, in part at least, withdrawn therefrom by K. S. Wade, a stockholder in tbe implement company.

During negotiations between tbe implement company and Slota, R. W. Wade, president of tbe corporation, made a trip to Des Moines and contacted plaintiff and took up the matter of account then existing between them. Tbe evidence as to what was said and done between them at that time is a matter in dispute, some of which will later be set forth in this opinion. The date of this meeting was late in October or early in November 1950. At that time the Mapleton Implement Company and R. W. Wade made and delivered to plaintiff the check sued upon and in return plaintiff gave to the maker a receipt showing payment of the account.

It can be fairly inferred from the record that at that time the deal of the sale to Joe Slota was in the making. The cheek was postdated to November 27, 1950.

It stands without dispute that the sale from the implement company to Slota, as between the parties, was valid and for valuable consideration. Upon inquiry Slota was informed by the seller that the parts sold were clear and free from claims of creditors. Slota stated both in pleading and as a witness that he acted in good faith.

Neither the seller nor the buyer attempted to comply with the terms of the Bulk Sales law (chapter 555, Code, 1950) by giving the notice set forth therein to creditors.

Plaintiff’s pleading sought to hold Slota as a receiver for the goods purchased from the implement company and after the hearing the court so held.

Sometime about November 27, 1950, plaintiff, through his local bank, sent the $912.83 check to. the Mapleton bank upon which it was drawn. That bank, on December 4, 1950, returned said check unpaid to the plaintiff with the report of “insufficient funds.” After that plaintiff phoned the implement company and the check was again sent out but was not paid. Plaintiff, went to Mapleton to see the maker of the check but it was not paid and he thereupon turned it over to a Justice of the Peace [1292]*1292for collection. Later, and on February 10, 1951, this action was commenced. *

One of the main issues in the case grows out of the failure of the seller and the buyer of the part-of the implement company to comply with the Bulk Sales law. It is conceded that there was no such compliance. Plaintiff argues that such noncomplianee on the part of the seller and buyer rendered the sale void as to creditors. The court held that there was no completed sale to Slota when the check was given; that the failure to give the statutory notice to the creditor, plaintiff, made the sale invalid as far as the plaintiff was concerned and decreed that Slota was a receiver for the benefit of the creditors of the implement company.

We will consider this matter before taking up the claims of the cross-appellants.

Slota admits that no notice of the sale was given. However, he pleads that in October and November 1950 plaintiff was advised that the implement company and Slota were contemplating a sale in order to pay the amount owing plaintiff, and with this knowledge in advance he accepted a post-dated check and thereby waived his right to rely upon the Bulk Sales law and by accepting said check he acquiesced in said sale and relied upon the assurances of the seller that the post-dated check would be paid from the proceeds of such sale and that he thereby estopped himself' to assert any claim arising out of such check against defendant Slota.

Regarding plaintiff’s claim that the sale from the implement company to Slota was void, we find that this court in many cases has construed the term “void” to mean “voidable.” In the recent case of Evans v. Herbranson, 241 Iowa 268, 275, 41 N.W.2d 113, 118, 15 A. L. R.2d 925, the writer, Justice Bliss, discussed-this matter at length and cited in support of such construction Carnall v. Kramer, 194 Iowa 359, 189 N.W. 755; Pratt Paper Co. v.

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Bluebook (online)
55 N.W.2d 187, 243 Iowa 1288, 1952 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 430, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nokes-v-wade-iowa-1952.