Stutsman v. Thomas

39 Ind. 384
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedMay 15, 1872
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 39 Ind. 384 (Stutsman v. Thomas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stutsman v. Thomas, 39 Ind. 384 (Ind. 1872).

Opinion

Downey, J.

The appellee sued the appellant. The complaint has two paragraphs. The first is upon a promissory note for fifty dollars, executed by the defendant to one John H. Vanness, and indorsed by him to the plaintiff; and the second is upon a promissory note-for thirty dollars, made by the defendant to W. A. Thomas & Co., and by them indorsed to the plaintiff. No question is made as to the note set out in the second paragraph of the complaint. The second paragraph of the answer was addressed to the-first paragraph of the complaint, and alleged that the note therein mentioned was executed without any consideration whatever. The third paragraph, which is also to the first paragraph of the complaint, alleges that the note set up in that paragraph was given in consideration that the payee thereof would convey to the defendant and others the right to use and vend H. R. and M. T. Barnes’ patent improvement for sinking tube wells in and for Concord township, Elkhart county, in the State of Indiana, and that the payee thereof would cause to be sunk and made one of the said wells for the said parties, and put the same in good working order, this defendant paying for the pipes, and for no other consideration whatever; that at the time of the execution of said note, and as an inducement thereto, the payee of the same represented and warranted to this defendant that the said II. R. and M. T. Barnes’ improvement, which he was then [386]*386offering to sell, had been patented by the proper authorities; that it was a new and useful improvement, and that he was authorized to sell the same; that upon sinking the same to the proper depth, it would continue a good and lasting well, and would never pump or draw sand; and then and there agreed, in writing on the back of said note, that if it did not so operate, and if his said statements were not true, the said note should be void; which writing has been destroyed, without the consent of the defendant; when in truth and in fact no patent was ever issued upon the said pretended improvement, and the same' was not new and useful, but was then and there of no value whatever, and upon the tube being sunk to the proper depth, it would not constitute a well of any value, but would continually draw sand, and the said payee then and there had no authority to sell and convey the same whatever, and never did so sell and convey the same, and never did so sink and construct the said well; all of which the said payee then and there well knew. In the fourth paragraph of the answer, the defendant says he denies that he executed the note in said first paragraph of the complaint mentioned as- therein described, and as it now exists; and although he says the signature thereto attached is his signature, he says that at the time it was affixed to the said note, and at the time it was executed, it contained on the back thereof, and which composed a part of the said note, a written contract, signed by the payee of the said note, in substance, that if the patent right which was the consideration for the said note did not work successfully and give good satisfaction and perform as represented, the said note should be void; that since the execution of the said note, the same has been altered and changed by the removing and destroying of the said contract on the back of the said note. This paragraph of the answer was verified by the oath of the defendant.

To the second and third paragraphs of the answer, the plaintiff replied, first, the general denial; second, he admits ¡that the note was executed in consideration of a certain in- . [387]*387terest in the patent right in the answer mentioned, which the said defendant purchased, in connection with Samuel Stutsman, Daniel Shupert, Levi Stutsman, George Boop, and Daniel Lutz, and that said persons, in connection with the defendant, purchased the right to use the same jointly, but the plaintiff says that the defendant is estopped from sétting up the matters and things in the said paragraphs mentioned, for the following reasons, to wit: that the plaintiff, a few days after the said note was transferred to him, and whilst the assignor was yet in the town of Goshen, saw the defendant and notified him of the assignment of the said note to him and showed the same to him, and asked him whether the said note was valid and right, and also told the said defendant that if he had any valid defence to said note, to make the same known to him then, before the assignor left the town, so that the said contract of assignment might be rescinded by the plaintiff, as the said assignor had represented the said note as being all right and valid to the plaintiff before and at the time of the assignment, and had guaranteed the consideration to be good and valid, and promised to take the same back and return the money paid for the same to plaintiff if objection thereto was made by the defendant, and the plaintiff says that the defendant, at the time of the notice before named, told the plaintiff that he would not say the said note was all right until he had seen the said assignor; that after a short period of absence from the place above named, where .the above conversation was had, the defendant returned to this plaintiff’s place of business, and said to him that the note was all right, and that he and the assignor had fixed it up, and that this plaintiff should keep the said note, and not rescind the said contract of assignment, that he would pay the note when it became due; and the plaintiff says that at the time of the conversation above recited, the said assignor was in the town of Goshen, in Elkhart county, and that had it not been for the fact that the defendant informed him after consultation with the assignor that the said note was all right and would be paid, he [388]*388could and would have then and there procured a rescission of the said contract of assigment, and received back the .consideration which he paid for said note, but by reason of the conduct of the defendant, he took no steps' to procure a rescission of the said contract; that the said assignor is now a non-resident of the State of Indiana, and is believed to reside in the State of New York; wherefore, etc.

The third paragraph is the same, in substance, as the second, but in addition, it alleges that after the first conversation between the plaintiff and defendant about the note, the defendant received of the assignor property of the value of five dollars, in consideration -of which he returned to the plaintiff, and said that the matter with reference to the note was fixed up, that it was all right, and promised that he would pay it.

In the fourth paragraph, it is alleged that the defendant is estopped to set up the defence, because that ever since the purchase of the said right to use and vend the said patent mentioned, in the place mentioned, the defendant has used and sold said patent in said township, and is still using and selling the same as the patent of the said H. R. and M. T. Barnes; that in the use and sale of said- patent he has made a profit of five hundred dollars and more, which he retains, and also retains and uses the said patent right; wherefore, etc..

To the fourth paragraph of the answer, the plaintiff replied, first, the general denial; and, second, that the defendant is estopped from alleging the defence in said fourth paragraph set up, for the reason that after the said note came into the possession of the said plaintiff, the same was shown to the defendant, and he had full and complete inspection thereof; that after he inspected the same in the presence of the plaintiff, he.

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Related

Hoover v. Kilander
83 Ind. 420 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1882)
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57 Ind. 509 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1877)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
39 Ind. 384, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stutsman-v-thomas-ind-1872.