Smith v. Brooks

47 N.W.2d 389, 154 Neb. 93, 1951 Neb. LEXIS 57
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 30, 1951
Docket32848
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 47 N.W.2d 389 (Smith v. Brooks) 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
Smith v. Brooks, 47 N.W.2d 389, 154 Neb. 93, 1951 Neb. LEXIS 57 (Neb. 1951).

Opinion

Messmore, J.

The plaintiff, Carl Smith, instituted this action in the district court for Douglas County against John Brooks, defendant, for breach of a written contract by the terms of which the defendant agreed to sell to the plaintiff certain steers. The plaintiff prayed for damages. When the action was filed an order of attachment was entered and garnishment summons was served on the Johnson Commission Company, a copartnership in Omaha, the cattle having been consigned to it by the defendant to be sold on the market. The commission company filed an, answer admitting it received the cattle and sold them on the market, and stated that pursuant to summons in garnishment it had withheld $3,050 out of the proceeds of the sale subject to the order of the court and caused the balance of the proceeds to be forwarded to the Thomas County National Bank for the account of John Brooks; alleged that the said bank had served notice on this answering garnishee that it claimed to be entitled to the sum of $3,050 by reason of a chattel mortgage and that the balance of the indebtedness thereon exceeded that amount; further alleged that for the protection of this answering garnishee an order should be entered setting a time within which the bank might intervene in this action and present to the court its claim to said fund; and prayed that upon compliance with *95 the orders as might be entered by the court it be discharged as garnishee.

The Thomas County National Bank filed a petition in intervention wherein it claimed the proceeds from the sale of the cattle by virtue of a chattel mortgage held by it covering the cattle in question, executed and recorded as required by the laws of Kansas.

The plaintiff filed an answer to the petition in intervention in the form of a general denial, and a denial of priority of the mortgage as pleaded in the petition in intervention; alleged that the intervener consented to the removal of the cattle from the State of Kansas and that the same be sold in the State of Nebraska; and prayed dismissal of the petition in intervention.

Hearing was had to the court. The court entered judgment that the garnishee held the sum of $3,050 as the property of the defendant. It directed the amount be paid to the clerk of the court to be held pending further order of the court, and upon so doing the garnishee be discharged. It dismissed the petition in intervention.

The intervener bank’s motion for new trial was overruled, and the bank appeals.

: For convenience we will hereafter refer to Carl Smith as the plaintiff, to John Brooks as the defendant, to the Thomas County National Bank as the bank, to the Johnson Commission Company, a copartnership, as the commission company, and to the United States National Bank of Omaha as the Omaha bank.

The record discloses that on August 8, 1949, the plaintiff and defendant entered into a written agreement whereby the defendant agreed to sell and deliver to the plaintiff 180 or 181 head of steers on August 11, 1949. One thousand dollars was paid down and payment received. This agreement was signed by the defendant. The plaintiff informed the defendant in writing that he would receive the cattle for loading on the Thursday following. The cattle were not delivered.

*96 The bank, on December 13, 1948, loaned the defendant $25,000 evidenced by a promissory note in the same amount executed and delivered on the same date, due June 13, 1949, renewed June 17, 1949. This note was secured by a chattel mortgage dated December 13, 1948, which was recorded May 7, 1949. This chattel mortgage covered the same steers mentioned in the contract between the plaintiff and defendant. The mortgage provided further that “any future advances of money made while this chattel mortgage is in force and effect by the mortgagee or assignee to the mortgagor, not exceeding in the aggregate the sum of $35,000.00, shall be secured by this mortgage equally to the same extent and with the same priority as the amount originally advanced on the security of this mortgage.”

Between the dates of December 13, 1948, and the due date of the promissory note, the bank advanced to the defendant certain money, taking notes of the defendant with no additional security other than the chattel mortgage heretofore referred to. On August 15, 1949, the defendant was indebted to the bank in the amount of $37,000.

W. D. Ferguson, president of the bank, testified that he and the defendant had a- conversation with reference to .shipping the cattle to the Omaha market for sale, and it was agreed that on completion of the sale the proceeds derived therefrom were to be credited to the account of the bank in payment of the mortgage indebtedness owing by the defendant to the bank, through the bank’s correspondent bank in Omaha, the United States National Bank. On August 19, 1949, the bank received notice of credit from the Omaha bank, indicating that the commission company had passed to the credit of the bank the sum of $29,216.92. Prior to receiving the credit, defendant’s account with the bank was overdrawn $108.

On August 20, 1949, the defendant contacted the bank *97 with reference to making arrangements to take care of the indebtedness owing by him to it. This was done by applying $26,500 on the indebtedness, leaving a balance in the account of the defendant of approximately $2,500, and a balance owing the bank of $12,000.

The bank over a period of 15 years had loaned money to the defendant, a farmer and cattle raiser, so that he could purchase cattle and feed to fatten them, then sell them and pay off the mortgage or mortgages wherein the cattle were given as security with the proceeds of the sales.

Defendant testified that he instructed the commission company to send the proceeds of the sale of the cattle directly to the bank to be applied on the mortgage. Defendant knew that the bank had received the proceeds of the sale, exclusive of the amount attached and garnished, and that the money was credited to his account. For the balance of the indebtedness, after the arrangement for payment of the same was made, he gave the bank a note in the amount of $12,000.,

The bank had no notice or knowledge of the agreement between the defendant and the plaintiff whereby defendant agreed to sell the steers to plaintiff, until defendant informed the bank that the commission company, by garnishee process, withheld the amount of $3,050 from the proceeds of the sale.

Plaintiff testified that he had no knowledge of the mortgage on the steers in question until he was called by counsel in Omaha, and suit was brought in his behalf against defendant.

The plaintiff is a resident of Kansas, and at times resides in Denver, Colorado. He is engaged in farming and the selling of livestock. The defendant is a resident of Kansas, and is engaged in farming and the selling of livestock. The Thomas County National Bank of Colby, Kansas, is a banking corporation doing business in the State of Kansas. The chattel mortgage in question was recorded in the State of Kansas.

*98

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
47 N.W.2d 389, 154 Neb. 93, 1951 Neb. LEXIS 57, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-brooks-neb-1951.