Pollard v. Huff

63 N.W. 58, 44 Neb. 892, 1895 Neb. LEXIS 138
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedApril 30, 1895
DocketNo. 6402
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 63 N.W. 58 (Pollard v. Huff) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pollard v. Huff, 63 N.W. 58, 44 Neb. 892, 1895 Neb. LEXIS 138 (Neb. 1895).

Opinion

Post, J.

This is an error proceeding from the district court of Lancaster county. It appears from the transcript filed with the petition in error that two actions were commenced in the court below by the plaintiffs in error as assignees of D. W. Haydoek, insolvent, to recover from the defendants therein, who are also defendants in error, on three promissory notes, bearing date of August 24, 1891, each for $1,407.78, due in three, six, and nine months, and bearing interest at the rate of eight per cent per annum from date. Said causes were by order of the court consolidated for trial, and will, for the purpose of this proceeding, be treated as one action. The transactions out of which the controversy arose are exceedingly complicated, and have required repeated examinations of a voluminous transcript, and also of a bill of exceptions so inartistically prepared as to impose Upon this court much additional labor. The undisputed facts as disclosed by the pleadings and proofs, may be summarized as follows:

1. In the year 1890 the Lawrence Implement Company, a Nebraska corporation, whose place of business was in the city of Lincoln, was indebted to D. TY. Haydoek, of St. Louis, Missouri, for merchandise in the sum of $5,263.

2. September 24, of that year, said corporation, by its president, F. P. Lawrence, one of the defendants, executed in favor of E. S. Hawley, also a defendant, its promissory note for $2,500, payable January 1 after date, with interest at ten per cent, the consideration therefor being the corporate indebtedness aforesaid, to Haydoek. At the same time said note was indorsed by the defendants as follows:

[894]*894“For value received we hereby guaranty payment of the within note at maturity, or at any time thereafter, waiving protest and notice of non-payment.
“F. P. Lawrence.
“E. T. Huff.
“E. S. Hawley.”

3. December 15, following, said company executed its note to the said D. W. Haydock for the sum of $2,622.60, due May 3, 1891, with interest at eight per cent, whichnote was at the same time indorsed by the defendant as follows:

“For value received I hereby guaranty the payment of the withiu note and any renewal of the same, and hereby waive protest and notice of non-payment and suit against the maker, and consent that the payment of this note may be extended from time to time without affecting my liability thereon. Frank P. Lawrence.
“E. T. Huff.
“ E. S. Hawley.”

4. March 3, 1891, said implement company executed its note in.favor of said Haydock for $4,500, due one day after date, and on the 9th day of the same month it executed a note in favor of the same payee for $763.61, due one day after date, without consideration other than the indebtedness above mentioned.

5. March 9, 1891, suit was brought on the note of $4,500, aided by attachment, and on March 11 the implement company, by its president, F. P. Lawrence, answered, admitting all the allegations of the petition, and authorizing judgment against it for the amount claimed, which was rendered accordingly, accompanied by an order for the sale of the property seized under and by virtue of the order of attachment. Judgment was subsequently recovered on the note for $763.71, although nothing lias been realized on either, and both judgments, as well as the original indebtedness, are wholly unsatisfied.

[895]*8956. March 12,1891, action was brought by Haydock, as holder, against these defendants on the note of $2,500, dated September 24, 1890, and an order of attachment procured against Hawley and Huff, on an affidavit charging that they were about to convert their property into money with intent to defraud their creditors, and had assigned, removed, and disposed of their property with like fraudulent intent, and on May 14, following, suit was brought by Haydock on the note of $2,622.60, dated December 15, 1890.

7. April 24, 1891, the attachment last mentioned having been discharged as to Huff on the ground that the statements of the affidavit therefor were untrue, the latter commenced an action against Haydock on the bond given to secure said order.

8. August 24, 1891, the three actions then pending were settled and subsequently dismissed, the order of dismissal in each case being based upon a written stipulation, substantially in the following form, varying only with the titles of the several causes, and the signatures of the parties:

“Daniel W. Haydock v. I Frank P. Lawrence, E. S. [ Hawley, and E. T. Huff.
“ It is understood and agreed that the assignees of Daniel W. Haydock, being H. M. Pollard and John M. Camp, shall, and do, hereby dismiss the above entitled suit and pay the costs of the same for certain valuable considerations.”

The considerations, to which reference is therein made, were first, the allowance by the plaintiffs of a credit in the sum of $1,260, as damage in the suit by Huff on the attachment bond given by Haydock; second, the execution by defendants of the three notes in suit, which represent the amount of Haydock’s claim on the prior notes, less the credit thus allowed.

[896]*8969. On and prior to March 3, 1891, said Haydock and the several defendants were stockholders of, and desirous of promoting the success of, the Lawrence Implement Company, and the notes of September 24 and December 15, 1891, were executed by said defendant as sureties for the accommodation of said corporation.

In addition to the foregoing facts, it is alleged by the defendants that the consideration for the $4,500 note executed by the implement company March 3, 1891, was the express promise and agreement of Haydock, the payee thereof, to surrender the two notes last described. Their contention with respect to the notes in suit will be understood from the following quotation from the separate answer of Huff, which does not differ essentially from the other answers: “That on the said 24th day of August, 1891, this defendant, then not knowing that the said two notes in this answer described were the same notes which the said D. W. Haydock had so promised to return, and for the payment of which he had so taken the note for $4,500, and upon which last note the said D. W. Haydock had taken judgment, the defendant then and there paid to the plaintiffs on the said two notes sued upon the sum of $1,260, and in the further settlement of the said two cases, then and there believing that said two notes sued upou in the said two suits was other and different indebtedness, and founded on other considerations than hereinbefore set forth, under and by reason of the statement of fact herein stated, did execute and deliver the said note sued on in this action.” In a second defense of each answer it is alleged that the defendant, on the 24th day of August, 1891, believing himself liable as guarantor upon the notes therein sued on, paid to plaintiffs the sum of $1,260 in partial satisfaction of said notes. And each prays for judgment in the amount so paid. The $1,260 therein mentioned is, it should be remarked, conceded to be the amount allowed by plaintiffs in settlement and satisfaction of the suit by Huff [897]*897on Haydoek’s attachment bond.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
63 N.W. 58, 44 Neb. 892, 1895 Neb. LEXIS 138, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pollard-v-huff-neb-1895.