Smith v. Traders National Bank

12 S.W. 113, 74 Tex. 457, 1889 Tex. LEXIS 961
CourtTexas Supreme Court
DecidedJune 25, 1889
DocketNo. 6063
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 12 S.W. 113 (Smith v. Traders National Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas 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. Traders National Bank, 12 S.W. 113, 74 Tex. 457, 1889 Tex. LEXIS 961 (Tex. 1889).

Opinion

Hobby, Judge.

The Traders National Bank of Fort Worth, Texas, brought suit on October 2, 1884, against Walker Fore, W. J. Morphy, R. M. Henderson, and appellant J. P. Smith, on a promissory note executed by the parties named for the sum of $7000, to the order of the Texas Investment Company, Limited, with 12 per cent interest from maturity and 10 per cent upon principal and interest if collected by law, and transferred by said Texas Investment Company to appellee.

Fore and Henderson, who were alleged to be a copartnership and whose names as such were signed to the note, pleaded non est factum and denied the authority of any person to sign the same for them.

The pleadings of appellant were extended but presented substantially the following defenses:

That he was an accommodation maker of the note, which fact was known to appellee when it received the same. That appellee when it received the note held'as collateral security for a debt of $12,500. due [459]*459appellee by-the Texas Investment Company 287 shares,' worth about $28,700, in the Hew Mexico Land and Cattle Company, which it agreed Avith appellant to also hold as security for' the note sued on. That subsequently appellee materially altered this agreement by assenting to ■ a transfer of said stock, together Avitli other collaterals then held by appellee belonging to said Investment Company, to Edrington & Lewis' and to J. P. Smith to secure other debts, and authorized said Edrington to sell said collateral securities and apply the proceeds in accordance Avitli said agreement made on August 15, 1884. ' That this change was made in the original contract by appellee Edrington and W. J. Morphy, president of said investment company, Avithout the knowledge of consent of said Smith. That appellee had received several other notes as collateral security for the note sued on from said Investment Company, aud had collected of said notes so received the sum of $12,650 which should have been applied to the payment of the note sued on.

In reply to the above defenses pleaded by Smith appellee alleged that it never took or in any manner held the stock or notes as set forth in appellant’s answer, and also alleged that the note sued on was in renewal of one formerly executed by the same parties. Appellee admitted that at the time of the execution of the note sued upon it held the stock of the Hew Mexico Land and Cattle Company to secure another debt then due it by said investment company for the sum of $12,500, evidenced by a note of June 22, 1884, due thirty days after date. That at the maturity of this note it was renewed by the investment company giving a note dated July 25, 1884, for $12,500, payable thirty days after date, with interest at twelve per cent, etc. That this note was not paid by the investment company or any other person. That after its maturity and the institution of this suit appellee sold said stock at public sale by its cashier, after giving notice, and purchased the same through its president. That it still held said stock and had received no payment of said indebtedness of $12,500 except by the said sale, and offered, if allowed by the court, to deliver said stock to appellant upon his payment of said $12,500.

There was evidence in support of the pleas of non est factum filed by Fore and Henderson and a finding in their favor. There Avas a verdict in favor of appellee against appellant and W. J. Morphy for the sum of $9623 principal and interest. Judgment Avas rendered thereon, from which appellant Smith appeals.

The proof on the trial was substantially as follows: The note as described in the petition being in evidence, appellant J. P. Smith testified that he signed the note sued upon, Avhich was in renewal of' a former note for same amount signed by same parties, dated either'April or May, 1884, being either a sixty or ninety days note; that the former note was. also payable to the Texas Investment Company, Limited; that he signed [460]*460the former note at the request of W. J. Morphy for the accommodation •of the Texas Investment Company, Limited, to raise money upon; that he received no consideration himself for signing said note, and did not know whether the other makers did or not. That this note fell due and the note sued upon was executed in the place of the former to take it up. That at the time of making the note sued upon witness and W. J-. Morphy went to the Traders National Bank and had a talk with II. C. Edrington, the cashier, about it, and that Edrington admitted he knew that the former note was an accommodation note on the part of Smith; that it was there talked between witness, Edrington, and Morphy that the bank held twenty-eight thousand seven hundred dollars of the capital ■stock of the New Mexico Land and Cattle .Company belonging to the Texas Investment Company, Limited, to secure a note of said company to said bank for twelve thousand five hundred dollars, and Edrington agreed to hold said stock to secure the note sued upon as well as the twelve thousand five hundred dollar note.

H. 0. Edrington, the cashier, testified he remembered the transaction when the note sued upon was delivered to plaintiff; that it was a renewal of a former note, and if J. P. Smith or any of the makers were accommodation makers he had no knowledge of the fact at the time the note sued upon was given; when the note was received by the bank defendant Smith was not present; it was received July 22, 1884; that W. J. Morphy brought the note to the bank already signed and endorsed and took up the former note; that there was nothing said at that time about holding the stock as collateral for the note sued upon, as well as the $12,500; that he (witness) did not at said time or at any other time agree on the part of the bank to hold the stock as collateral for the note sued on or for the former note of $7000, and never knew of any such agreement being made by any one representing the bank, and that the bank held no collateral to secure either of said $7000 notes. Witness produced a deposit slip or memorandum made by him at the time of receiving the latter $7000 note, and stated that at the same time he received a note for $3300 signed by Fore, Morphy & Henderson, and both notes were entered on same slip, and he also received a note of Britton for $4000 as collateral for a $3300 note and a balance of another note; that these transactions occurred at the same time and at the cashier’s window, and that Boaz, the president of the bank, was present; that the handwriting filling blanks in note was that of the bookkeeper of Texas Investment Company, Limited; that the first knowledge he had that Smith was accommodation maker of the note was August 15, 1884, when Morphy told him at the time he wrote paper of that date.

W. J. Boaz, the president of plaintiff, testified that he was present when the note was received, and to substantially the same facts stated by Edrington; that he did not know Smith was accommodation maker; [461]*461might have thought so, but there was nothing said about it, and that thestoek was held by the bank alone to secure the $12,500 debt; that a few days after the note fell due he went to defendant Smith and asked payment and Smith asked him to bring suit and said nothing about collateral being held for the note; that it was a year after this before he knew or heard of Smith claiming that note sued upon was secured by the stock.

Such is the testimony in support of and denying the alleged agreement. set up by defendant Smith between appellant and appellee at the time of the delivery of the note-to the latter.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
12 S.W. 113, 74 Tex. 457, 1889 Tex. LEXIS 961, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-traders-national-bank-tex-1889.