S & C Transport Co., Inc. v. McAlister

528 P.2d 1140
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedNovember 27, 1974
Docket46980
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 528 P.2d 1140 (S & C Transport Co., Inc. v. McAlister) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
S & C Transport Co., Inc. v. McAlister, 528 P.2d 1140 (Okla. Ct. App. 1974).

Opinion

BOX, Presiding Judge:

An appeal from a jury verdict in favor of S & C Transport Co., Inc., plaintiff in the trial court, against Bo McAlister, defendant.

Plaintiff filed its action in the District Court for money judgment on four checks, accepted by plaintiff and signed by defendant, which were returned by the bank because of insufficient funds. Plaintiff sought the total amount of $5,065.66.

Defendant answered, denying all allegations, and further answering that “neither is he indebted to nor is he under any comity of contract to have any business transactions with the plaintiff, that the defendant has never received any products as alleged in plaintiff’s petition for consideration of said negotiable instruments sued on.”

After a trial was had to a jury, a verdict was returned in favor of plaintiff in the amount of $5,065.66.

From the overruling of defendant’s Motion for a New Trial, this appeal was lodged.

The facts revealed by plaintiff’s evidence are as follows: Mr. J. W. Pitts had been engaged in the feed and grocery business since 1936 and in the feed business since 1945 ; that he had known defendant Bo Mc-Alister for a number of years; that Mr. Pitts’ credit rating had become strained and plaintiff would not continue to transport feed to Pitts except on a cash basis. Pitts and defendant entered into a business arrangement testified to as follows by Pitts:

“Q Have you ever had any business dealings with Mr. McAlister ?
A Yes, sir.
Q When did these business dealings start ?
A Well this, on this particular deal we had business off and on all the time, but it started along in August of 69 or 70.
Q Well, you talk about this deal; what was this business arrangement?
A Well, the deal was he furnished the money to buy the feed with; I paid him $7.00 a day and let him have his feed at cost; furnished the man to go out and unload it which would amount to anywhere from Three Hundred to Nine Hundred Dollars a month.
Q And at this time, where were you doing business?
A At the old ice plant building.
Q Whose owned the ice plant building?
A Bo McAlister; he said he had given it to his wife.
Q How long did this financial arrangement go on?
A Well, until along in May of 71.
Q During this period of time, could that have been May of 72, Mr. Pitts ?
A Yes sir, it could or is.
Q What were the mechanics of this financial arrangement?
A I sell the grain, the merchandise in the store, and give Mr. McAlister the money, the checks, and he was aware that he was behind; I told him he was over Fifteen Thousand Dollars behind himself; he said you think it’s that much ?
Q Did Mr. McAlister; what did he do or how were these transactions handled?
*1142 A We would given him the checks and he would; at first he was doing business at the Atoka First National Bank; we would given him the checks and he would deposit them; sometimes he would claim I made a mistake, but I had double checked them, and I had checked them off, and he would say such and such a check wasn’t in there, and I was in no position to argue with him, but it got to the point where I had to.
Q What was given for these checks that was given to Mr. McAlester?
A We would give him the customer’s checks, and sometimes we would get them cashed at Johnny Durbin’s and the cash would be taken down to the bank at Colbert, Oklahoma.
Q Was this deposited in Mr. Mc-Alister’s account?
A Yes sir.
Q Now you sold grain in this manner; how did you purchase it ?
A Well, whatever came along or I would call them and tell them who I was and that he would send his checks; he knew we was doing business with S & C; he was well aware of it.
Q How long did you do business with S & C?
A Approximately two years.
Q And did you give them checks on Bo McAlister ?
A Yes sir .
* * * * * *
Q You say you paid for these loads of grain by checks from Bo McAlister?
A Yes sir.
Q How long did you say this went on, approximately two years ?
A Yes, approximately two years.
Q Now calling your attention to these checks given to S & C, who made the checks out?
A Well, sometimes most of the time I made them out.
Q What condition were they in when they reached you ?
A They had Bo McAlister’s signature; he would come down in the morning; we would give him what mon- ■ ey we had, and he would leave the signed checks.
* * * * * *
Q Do you have any idea the total number of checks in this series of transactions given to you by Mr. Mc-Alister and subsequently negotiated to S & C Transport Co.
A Just off hand I would estimate approximately seventy; that’s a wild guess.”

All checks previously testified to, except the four involved in this controversy, were paid. Notice was properly given by the plaintiff to defendant regarding the dishonoring of the checks in question. At the close of plaintiff’s evidence, defendant’s demurrer was overruled. Defendant declined to put on any evidence.

Defendant alleges error as follows:

“PROPOSITION I. The trial court erred in overruling defendant’s Motion for New Trial where it clearly appears there is not sufficient material and competent evidence to sustain the verdict rendered plaintiff.
“PROPOSITION II. The court erred in giving instructions contrary to the evidence and which obviously influenced the jury against the defendant and in favor of the plaintiff.”

Defendant alleges that as a matter of law and evidence, plaintiff was not a holder in due course. The facts are that no defenses against the position of plaintiff that it was a holder in due course were asserted by way of evidence at the trial.

12A O.S.1971 states the following:

“3-302 Holder in Due Course
“(1) A holder in due course is a holder who takes the instrument

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Related

Trujillo v. Baldonado
621 P.2d 1133 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 1980)
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Bluebook (online)
528 P.2d 1140, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/s-c-transport-co-inc-v-mcalister-oklacivapp-1974.