Swearingen v. Moore

1929 OK 119, 280 P. 295, 138 Okla. 24, 1929 Okla. LEXIS 468
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 12, 1929
Docket18479
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 1929 OK 119 (Swearingen v. Moore) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Swearingen v. Moore, 1929 OK 119, 280 P. 295, 138 Okla. 24, 1929 Okla. LEXIS 468 (Okla. 1929).

Opinion

DIFFENDAFFER, O.

The parties appear here as in the trial court. Plaintiff filed her action in the district court of Craig county to recover judgment on a promissory note in the sum of $900 dated March 6, 1916, executed by defendants to the Security Land Credit Company, a corporation, due March 1, 1926, and to foreclose a mortgage on 80 acres of land in Craig county, giv'en to secure the payment of said note. The note and mortgage were assigned to plaintiff on the 13th day of March, 1916.

Defendants admit the execution of the note and mortgage, and that plaintiff is the owner thereof. They allege, in substance, that John V. Heilman of Galena, Ill., and Joseph V. Nack of Galena, Ill., were successively the agents and representatives of plaintiff and acted for plaintiff in the collection of all interest and principal payments made on said notes and mortgage; that plaintiff had purchased the note and mortgage with the understanding and agreement that all interest and principal payments thereon should be collected by plaintiff by and through whatever arrangements, agency, or methods and customs of business of making such collections on loans handled by them, including the note; interest coupons and mortgage-sued upon; that the Security Land Credit. Company was the agency and means used by them in making such collections on the note and mortgage, all of which was well known to, agreed and assented to by plaintiff.

Payment of all interest coupons down to- and including the interest coupon due September 1, 1926, and also payment of $300-of the principal February 28, 1920, and $600' of the principal on February 28, 1923, to th'e Security Land Credit Company as agent of plaintiff was pleaded. They then alleged' tender of the balance alleged to be due, viz., $109, and deposited same with the court clerk.

Plaintiff replied by general denial, and specifically denied that the Security Land' Credit Company was her agent, and particularly denied that she had at any time or in any manner appointed or designated the-Security Land Credit Company or any of its officers or employees as her agent, and alleged that she had .at all times had and held' the actual physical possession of the note and mortgage, and that no person was authorized to collect any part of the principal' of said note before its maturity.

Upon the issues thus joined, the cause was tried to a jury, resulting in a verdict and judgment in favor of defendants. From-this judgment, after unsuccessful motion for new trial, plaintiff brings this appeal. .

There are 19 assignments of error, but plaintiff in her brief says:

“The only questions of real issue in the case were (a) whether the plaintiff, either directly or through an agent, authorized the defendants to make the payments on the principal note, and at the time such payments were attempted to be made; (b) whether or not the Security Land Credit Company had authority to receive and collect the payments attempted to be made, on-the principal note, and thus bind the plaintiff.”

We think this true, and that the only question to be determined is whether there is any competent evidence of agency tending to-support the verdict of the jury. This is substantially the only question involved. There is no question as to the payments having *26 been made by defendants. In fact, tlie record discloses canceled cheeks showing each payment as alleged by defendants, and the record clearly shows these payments to have been made by defendants to the Security Land Credit Company. The record further shows that plaintiff received payment in full for all interest coupons, save and exceed the one due March 1, 1926. The $800 paid on the principal was kept by the Security Land ■Credit Company. The only question then is: Of whom was the Security Land Credit Company the agent, and, if the agent of plaintiff, did it have authority to collecct any part of the principal of the note before its maturity?

Plaintiff contends that th'e Security Land Credit Company was the agent of defendants by reason of, and that they were bound by, a certain agency contract, hereinafter set out in part, which plaintiff claims made the cr'edit company defendants’ agent.

On March 6, 1916, defendants executed a paper designated “Loan Contract,” which is in part as follows:

“'Security Land Credit Company,
“Vinita, Okla.
“I hereby appoint you as my agent ir-. revocable to negotiate for me, either in your ■own name, or that of any one you may choose, a loan of $900 for a term of 101 years from March 1, 1916, said loan to draw interest at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum, payable semi-annually on the first day of September and March in each year, and to be secured by first mortgage on land herein described. Note and mortgage to be payable ■to anyone the lender may desire, that th'e principal ,may be payable wherever the lender may designate, and on such blanks, i. e. notes,' mortgages and other forms as the lender may furnish. * * * I agree to pay you the sum of $180 as compensation for your services in negotiating this loan, for inspecting the securities offered by me for the same, for guaranteeing to the purchaser of said mortgage the truthfulness of all statements made by me in my application for said loans, for advising me relative to my title to said land, for preparing the necessary instruments to perfect th'e said title in me according to the opinions of your title examiner, * * * for collecting the interest and principal •on said loan at maturity from anyone to whom I may sell the said security, without incurring any obligation or liability on your part, because of your failure or inability to do so; for remitting the interest and prin-cipal to the owner of said mortgage in New York Exchange and for making an annual investigation as to whether or not the. taxes are paid on said land and for reporting the same to the holder of the mortgage, the said consideration, to be paid, as follows. * * *”

There also appears in the record an undated, unsigned application for farm loan, the original of which defendants admit they signed; and which, in part, reads:

“Application for First Mortgage Farm Loan.
"I, the undersigned, Annie M. Mo.ore, nee Coats, of Bluejacket, P. O. county of Craig, state of Oklahoma, do hereby appoint the Security Land Credit Company (a corporation) my agents to procure or make a loan for me of $900 for the term of ten years.
“Privilege is reserved to pay $100 or any multiple thereof or the whole amount at the maturity of any coupon on or after one year by giving 60 days’ notice, at six per cent, per annum, interest to be paid semi-annually on the first day of September and March, principal and interest payable at such place as the lender may direct, and secured by first mortgage of approved form, on real estate hereinbefore described. * * * And I hereby constitute and appoint the Security Land Cr'edit Company my attorneys irrevocable for and in my name, place and stead, to procure this loan from any person or persons or corporations and to forward to the holders of notes for principal and interest, the interest money as the same becomes due from time to time, and the principal whenever it may, from any cause, become due and payable, hereby ratifying and confirming all that my said attorneys may do in the premises as fully as if done myself.”

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Bluebook (online)
1929 OK 119, 280 P. 295, 138 Okla. 24, 1929 Okla. LEXIS 468, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/swearingen-v-moore-okla-1929.