Philippi Collieries Co. v. Thompson

163 F. 23, 89 C.C.A. 501, 1908 U.S. App. LEXIS 4527
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedMay 6, 1908
DocketNo. 758
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 163 F. 23 (Philippi Collieries Co. v. Thompson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Philippi Collieries Co. v. Thompson, 163 F. 23, 89 C.C.A. 501, 1908 U.S. App. LEXIS 4527 (4th Cir. 1908).

Opinions

PRITCHARD, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from a decree of the Circuit Court of the United States for the Northern District of West Virginia. On the 22d day of September, 1905, Albert Thompson and wife sold and conveyed to the Philippi Collieries Company certain coal property, with the improvements thereon, in Barbour •county, W. Va. The price which the purchaser agreed to pay was $400,000,, and of that sum $50,000 was paid in cash and the remainder to be paid as follows: Twenty-five thousand dollars, with interest at 6 per cent., on March 1, 1906; $25,000, with interest at 6 per cent, on September 1, 1906; “and the remaining sum of three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) is to be paid in nine (9) equal annual payments of thirty-three thousand three hundred and thirty-three dollars and thirty-three cents ($33,333.33) each, from September 1, 1906, with interest on said annual payments from September 1, 1905, at six per cent. (6 per cent.), payable annually, as evidenced by their negotiable promissory notes for said several sums, bearing even date herewith and payable at the First National Bank of Philippi, Philippi, W. Va., to secure which deferred payments a vendor’s lien is hereby expressly retained upon all the property by this deed conveyed.” On March-1, 1906, the purchaser (appellant) paid the note for $25,000 then due,, with interest at 6 per cent, from September 1, 1905. On September 1, 1906, the purchaser paid the note for $25,000 then due, with interest at 6 per cent, from September 1, 1905. After payment by the purchaser of $100,000 of principal and $2,250 of interest, on account of the price of the property, on September 1, 1906, the vendor (appellee) demanded that, in addition to the payment of the note then due, the purchaser should pay $18,000, the interest claimed from September 1, 1905, to September 1, 1906, one year, on $300,000, the remainder of the purchase money evidenced by the nine negotiable promissory notes above mentioned. The purchaser declined to pay this $18,000 then, on the ground that he was only required to pay the interest each year upon the note becoming due. The vendor claimed that the purchaser-[25]*25was in default by reason of failing to pay the $18,000 above mentioned, and by reason thereof that the entire balance of purchase money, to wit, $300,000, with interest thereon from September 1, 1905, amounting to $18,000 became due and payable.

The important part of the deed, so far as the questions presented by this record are concerned, is to be found on page 47, as follows:

“The residue of said purchase money, to wit, three hundred and fifty thousand dollars (§350,000), is to be paid as follows, to wit: Twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) is to be paid on the 1st day of March, 1906, with interest at •six per cent. (6 per cent.) from September 1, 1905; twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) on September 1, 1906, with interest at six per cent. (0 per cent.) from September 1, 1905. And the remaining sum of three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) is to bo paid in nine (9) equal annual payments, of thirty-three thousand three hundred and thirty-three dollars and thirty-three cents ($33,383.33) each, from September 1, 1906, with interest on said annual payments from September 1, 1905, at six per cent. (6 per cent.), payable annually, as evidenced by their negotiable promissory notes for said several sums, bearing even date herewith and payable at the First National Bank of Philippi, Philippi, W. Va., to secure which deferred payments a vendor’s lien is hereby •expressly retained upon all the property by this deed conveyed. It is expressly understood that in case default be made in the payment of any of said deferred payments of purchase money, or the accrued annual interest when due, then and in that event all remaining unpaid payments shall be due and ■payable,” etc.

The nine notes referred to in the deed as evidence of the payments of principal and interest to be made were uniform and of the following form:

“No.
“$33,338.38/100. Philippi, W. Va., September 22, 1905.
“On the 1st day of September, 1907, after date, with interest at the rate of six per centum per annum from September 1, 1903, until paid, Philippi Collieries Company promises to pay the order of Albert Thompson thirty-three thousand three hundred and thirty-three and 33/100 dollars, for value received, negotiable and payable at the First National Bank of Philippi, West Virginia. This note is one of oleven, two of which are for twenty-live thousand dollars each, and the remaining nine for thirty-three thousand three hundred and thirty-three and one-third dollars each, the first two payable in six and twelve months from September 1, 1905, respectively, and the other nine in two, three, four, live, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten years from said September 1, 1905, respectively, with interest from that date, negotiable and payable at the First National Bank of Philippi, West Virginia, and secured by a vendor’s lien retained in the deed this day executed by Albert Thompson to said Thompson to said corporation, the Philippi Collieries Company, for certain lands, coal and other property situated in Barbour county. West Virginia, and the right is expressly reserved in each and all of said notes to pay the whole number thereof and the amount due thereon at any time upon the maker giving three months’ notice to said ’Thompson, or his assignee of its purpose so to do.
“Philippi Collieries Company,
“By Robert G. Young, Its President.
“Attest: Albert Blackburne, Secretary.”

On January 21, 1907, Albert Thompson filed bis bill against the Philippi Collieries Company in the Circuit Court of the United States for tlie Northern District of West Virginia to enforce the vendor’s lien reserved in his deed to the Philippi Collieries Company, alleging that by reason of the purchaser’s failure to pay the $18,000 of interest ■on the $300,000 of purchase money on September 1, 1906, the entire [26]*26$300,000, with interest from September 1, 1905, became then due and payable. On February 20, 1907, the defendant answered, and, proof having been taken on other points presented by the bill, on the 26th of February, 1907, a decree was entered by the Circuit Court, declaring that by reason of the failure of the purchaser to pay, on the 1st of September, 1906, the $18,000 of interest then accrued on the $300,-000 balance of purchase money, evidenced by the nine notes, payable annually on the 1st day of September, from 1907 to 1915, both inclusive, the entire balance of the purchase money became due and payable on September 1, 1906. The decree required the defendant to pay. to the plaintiff the sum of $326,750, with' interest thereon from February 26, 1907', and, unless the same was paid “within the period of ninety (90) days next following the date of” the decree, the special masters therein appointed were required to sell- the property conveyed to the Philippi Collieries Company by Albert Thompson and apply the proceeds to the discharge of the vendor’s lien aforesaid.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
163 F. 23, 89 C.C.A. 501, 1908 U.S. App. LEXIS 4527, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/philippi-collieries-co-v-thompson-ca4-1908.