Tatlow v. Crawford

174 S.W. 439, 189 Mo. App. 184, 1915 Mo. App. LEXIS 159
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 20, 1915
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 174 S.W. 439 (Tatlow v. Crawford) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tatlow v. Crawford, 174 S.W. 439, 189 Mo. App. 184, 1915 Mo. App. LEXIS 159 (Mo. Ct. App. 1915).

Opinions

ROBERTSON, P. J.

Plaintiff, on August 11, 1913, filed- in the probate court of Green county his claim under a judgment in favor of S. W. McLaughlin and against A. B. Crawford in the circuit court of Christian county dated September 21, 1893, assigned to him August 16, 1898. The claim was allowed in the probate court, the administratrix appealed to the circuit court where upon a jury trial a verdict was returned and judgment entered in favor of plaintiff and the defendant has appealed to this court.

The judgment in Christian county was against A. B. Crawford, John D. Porter and Marion Davis. After the judgment was entered, an appeal was taken to the Supreme Court and an appeal bond executed which was signed by T. A. Miller and others. The judgment was affirmed by the Supreme Court and thereafter suit was brought and judgment obtained in the circuit court of Greene county against said Miller on said bond February 10,1897. On August 16,1898, that judgment was assigned to the plaintiff and in that assignment it is stated that the plaintiff in that judgment did “also assign, transfer and set over the judgment referred to and described in the appeal bond on which this judgment is based, to the said W. D. Tatlow, for value received. ’ ’

Upon the margin of the Greene county judgment, based upon the appeal bond, the following is written and signed by plaintiff: “For value received, I hereby enter full satisfaction of this judgment this, the 12th day of September, 1900.” The uncontradicted testi[190]*190mony is that this satisfaction was entered in consideration of Miller paying plaintiff $1200 solely for his •own release from this judgment, no part of it being paid for Crawford.

June 6,1913, A. B. Crawford died and the defendant, his widow, was thereafter appointed and qualified as his administratrix. The appraisement of the decedent’s estate showed a total of $545.59, consisting solely of personal property which included a bank balance of $285.59. The defendant in her application for letters of administration stated that the probable value of his estate was $400' personal property and no real estate. The annual and final settlements were made on a showing throughout of no other assets.

There was considerable testimony offered by the defendant as to the solvency of Crawford for several years before his death and the plaintiff’s inactivity in his efforts to collect the judgment for the purpose of showing that the judgment had been paid.

At the close of the testimony the court at the request of the plaintiff instructed the jury (la.) that the Christian county judgment was not barred by the Statute of Limitations and that no presumption of the payment arises from such lapse of time but that before it could be found that it was paid it was incumbent upon the defendant to prove that fact and that unless the jury found and believed from the evidence that it had been paid the finding should be for the plaintiff after allowing the conceded credit of $1200; (Ha) that the assignment of the judgment against Crawford was sufficient and did transfer the judgment to the plaintiff and (YI) that the jury should determine this case solely and alone on the evidence presented, disregarding entirely any matter of sentiment, or any preconceived notion as to it being unjust to enforce this claim at that time on account of its age or death of deceased, as the law permits a suit on a judgment rendered before 1895, at any time within twenty years from the [191]*191date it was rendered, and the claim is as valid against the deceased’s estate as it was against him in his lifetime.

The defendant requested and was refused the following instruction (3):

“You are instructed that the payment in full of the judgment in case of S. "W. McLaughlin v. T. A. Miller, if it was made, was full satisfaction of the judgment sued on herein in favor of S. W. McLaughlin against A. B. Crawford, and if you believe the plaintiff herein entered full satisfaction upon the margin of the record of said first-mentioned judgment, such entry is equivalent to a receipt therefor, and is presumptive evidence of full payment, and before the plaintiff can recover in this action, he must prove to your reasonable satisfaction by a preponderance or greater weight of evidence, that the same was not paid in full, and unless he has so shown, your verdict will be for the defendant.”

The court gave the following instruction (12):

“You are instructed that unless you believe from all the facts and circumstances in evidence that the plaintiff has actually been paid the full amount of the judgment sued on, you should find for the plaintiff for whatever you find and believe from the evidence is due and yet unpaid.”

At the request of the defendant the jury was instructed (7) that it might be found from slight circumstances that the Christian county judgment has been paid; that (8) a presumption of payment may arise from a great lapse of time taken with other circumstances and that the presumption strengthens with the age of the judgment up to the statutory limit.

The usual peremptory instructions were requested by defendant at the close of plaintiff’s testimony and again at the close of all the testimony.

The defendant now here contends that the peremptory instructions should have been given because (a) [192]*192there was a fatal variance between the judgment sued on and the one described in the assignment by which defendants claim title; (b) that the Greene county judgment having been entered in 1897, more than ten years having elapsed before this claim was filed, that the act of 1895 creating the conclusive presumption that it was paid, it being ancillary to the judgment which is the basis of this action, that thereby this judgment is discharged; (c) that the form of acknowledgment of satisfaction of the Greene county judgment raised the presumption of full payment which necessarily resulted in a discharge of the judgment involved in this case, consequently instruction (3) requested by defendant should have been given; (d) that instruction number one given in behalf of plaintiff and number twelve by the court improperly limited the jury’s consideration to the judgment sued on and excluded any consideration of the payment of the Greene county judgment: (e) that instruction 6 given in behalf of plaintiff is erroneous because it assumes that plaintiff had a valid and subsisting claim against Crawford while alive and against his estate after his death and that a portion of the instruction which refers to the preconceived notion is equavalent to an instruction to the jury to disregard all evidence tending to show payment.

(a) The appeal bond offered in evidence as the one upon which the Greene county judgment is based did not have the name of A. B. Crawford signed thereto. The record now before us shows the name of C. W. Crawford signed to it, but the body of the bond, in referring to the Christian county judgment, does properly describe it and states that A. B. Crawford is one of the defendants, so that it is clear that the above-quoted portion of the assignment is not in the least confusing when it says that the judgment-which is described in the bond is assigned. The assignment says nothing about how the bond to which reference is made [193]*193for a description of the judgment is signed. The judgment is properly ‘ * described in the appeal bond. ’ ’ This contention of plaintiff is devoid of merit.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Van Houten v. Kansas City Public Service Co.
122 S.W.2d 868 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1938)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
174 S.W. 439, 189 Mo. App. 184, 1915 Mo. App. LEXIS 159, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tatlow-v-crawford-moctapp-1915.