Temple Trust Co. v. Stubbs

94 S.W.2d 247, 1936 Tex. App. LEXIS 510
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 27, 1936
DocketNo. 4586.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 94 S.W.2d 247 (Temple Trust Co. v. Stubbs) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Temple Trust Co. v. Stubbs, 94 S.W.2d 247, 1936 Tex. App. LEXIS 510 (Tex. Ct. App. 1936).

Opinion

HALL, Chief Justice.

On or about December 16, 1924, C. F. Stubbs and-wife conveyed to each of their four children 3.41 acres of land in Lubbock county, and the land conveyed to their son, Roger Q. Stubbs, is involved in this suit

*248 In the deed the father retained the vendor’s lien to secure the payment of a note for $2,200, payable to the order of C. F. Stubbs sixty days after date, and signed by Roger Q. Stubbs. Thereafter, about February 10, 1925, the Temple Trust Company loaned Roger Q. Stubbs $1,980, and to evidence the loan Roger Q. Stubbs and wife executed eight notes, aggregating $2,-200, and a deed of trust upon the 3.41 acres which they owned to secure the payment of said notes. Four of the notes were for $150 each, three for $200 each, due March 1, 1926, to 1932, inclusive, and also one note for $1,000 due March 1, 1935, which provided for 7 per cent, interest from date. The first mortgage recites that the notes secured thereby were given in lieu, extension, and renewal of the $2,200 note which Roger Q. Stubbs had executed to his father in part payment for the land, and further provided that the vendor’s lien securing the payment of such note should remain in full force and effect; that the owners and holders of the note secured by the deed of trust should be subrogated to the rights of and remedies of the original owner of the first vendor’s lien note. ,C. F. Stubbs transferred the $2,200 vendor’s lien note to the Temple Trust Company by written transfer.

T. B. Duggan was the vice president of the Temple Trust Company, and its representative in Lubbock, and the trust company issued a check to him in the sum of $1,980, payable to “T. B. Duggan, Agent.” He indorsed the check as follows: “Payable to C. F. Stubbs, T. B. Duggan, Agent.” G. F. Stubbs never indorsed the check, but it was delivered to Roger Q. Stubbs, the appellee, who indorsed it when he deposited it in the bank. It was shown that the loan was negotiated to enable Roger Q. Stubbs to finish paying for improvements he was erecting on the 3.41 acres which his father had given him. It was shown that out of the sum received from the trust company, Roger Q. Stubbs paid the Hig-ginbotham-Bartlett Company $1,496.60.

C. F. S'tubbs had given each of his children, as heretofore stated, 3.41 acres of land, but no deed had been executed conveying the. property to either of them until December 16, 1924. However, Roger Q. Stubbs was in possession of his tract of land, and was building upon it. C. F. Stubbs had nothing to do with the improvements. It was raw land at the time his father gave it to him. It further appears that Roger Q. Stubbs, during the period in which the improvements were being constructed, ran short of funds. Fie then went to Duggan, the vice president, to negotiate a loan, told Duggan that his parents had given him this property and that he had run out of money and wanted about $2,-000. Duggan suggested that a deed be ■ made by the father, and a vendor’s lien given for $2,200, so that the Temple Trust Company could be subrogated to the lien. Duggan, acting for the Temple Trust Company, then prepared, or caused to be prepared, the deed from C. F. Stubbs to Roger Q. Stubbs, the vendor’s lien note, ’the transfer of deeds of trust, etc., in order to consummate the matter. Stubbs applied for and expected $2,000 so Duggan made the note in the sum of $2,200, and said he could get that amount, less 10 per cent., which would leave net to Stubbs $1,980.

The first four notes for $150 each, and the three notes for $200 each, which were due at intervals from March 1, 1926, to 1932, were indorsed by the Temple Trust Company to Joseph Von Tobel, the date of indorsement not being shown. Later the notes were indorsed without recourse by Von Tobel. These seven notes, and all interest thereon, were paid by Roger Q. Stubbs and wife to the Temple Trust Company. The eighth note, in the sum of $1,-000, was indorsed by the Temple Trust Company to Cora L. Hance, one of the appellants herein. This note was not paid.

Roger Q. Stubbs and wife first instituted this suit against the Temple Trust Company and H. C. Glenn, its receiver, to cancel the $1,000 note by having applied thereon all interest theretofore paid on the entire loan, which interest was claimed to be usurious by reason of the fact that the trust company paid only $1,980 for the $2,200 vendor’s lien note. Plaintiffs subsequently learned that Mrs. Hance claimed ownership of the $1,000 note, and they filed an amended petition making her a party defendant. It was further alleged that Stubbs and wife borrowed only $1,980 from the Temple Trust Company and were charged $2,-200, evidenced by a loan which bore interest at the rate of 7 per cent, per annum from date, and in addition thereto $220 was withheld from them at the time the loan was consummated, thus obligating. plaintiffs to pay more than 10 per cent, for 1 any one year for .the use of said $1,980 loan to them.

*249 For the purpose of showing a fraud and scheme whereby it might collect usury, plaintiffs alleged that they owned the above-described lands and premises on and prior to February 15, 1925, although the legal title was in the name of C. F. Stubbs, the father. That the purported purchase from C. F. Stubbs of the tract of land, the execution of the vendor’s lien note for $2,200 payable to C. F. Stubbs, the execution of the warranty deed by C. F. Stubbs and wife to Roger Q. Stubbs, the deed of trust by Roger Q. Stubbs to the Temple Trust Company, and the eight notes aggregating $2,200, and the transfer of the vendor’s lien note from C. F. Stubbs to the Temple Trust Company, all constitute in fact one single transaction, and each and all of such acts were done and performed under the orders of the Temple Trust Company and with its knowledge as a subterfuge to conceal the usury in the loan of $1,980.

It was shown that plaintiffs did not know^ that Mrs. Hancé, or any other person, owned either of the eight notes, or any in-o terest therein, until long after plaintiffs filed their suit and the case had been tried the first time.

The court filed no findings of fact other than the findings recited in the judgment, that the loan was usurious, that plaintiffs had paid $2,098, which was $118 in excess of the amount justly due.

By its first two propositions the appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to show that the contract was usurious.

Duggan, the vice president, did not testify. Roger Q. Stubbs testified that when he applied to Duggan for a $2,000 loan, and explained to him that he had not yet received a deed from his father to the premises, Duggan suggested that Roger Q. Stubbs secure a deed from his father conveying the 3.41 acres, and execute to his father a vendor’s lien note for $2,200, and that the Temple Trust Company would take up this note and be subrogated to the lien. This was done and the note for $2,200 was executed, payable in sixty days. Roger Q. Stubbs further testified that Duggan deducted 10 per cent, of the amount of the loan, i. e., $220, as his commission for securing the loan. This amount, of course, was deducted at the time the check for $1,-980 was delivered to Roger Q. Stubbs. The $1,000 note bore 7 per cent, interest.

The facts unquestionably show a usurious contract. It is held in Temple Trust Co. v.

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Related

Hance v. Stubbs
146 S.W.2d 492 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1940)
Stubbs v. Temple Trust Co.
126 S.W.2d 645 (Texas Supreme Court, 1939)

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Bluebook (online)
94 S.W.2d 247, 1936 Tex. App. LEXIS 510, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/temple-trust-co-v-stubbs-texapp-1936.