Vincent v. Russell

201 P. 432, 101 Or. 672, 20 A.L.R. 417, 1921 Ore. LEXIS 198
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 25, 1921
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 201 P. 432 (Vincent v. Russell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vincent v. Russell, 201 P. 432, 101 Or. 672, 20 A.L.R. 417, 1921 Ore. LEXIS 198 (Or. 1921).

Opinion

BEAN, J.

Plaintiff appeals from a judgment in favor of defendant rendered upon the verdict of a jury. The complaint is based upon a promissory note [673]*673for the sum of $5,000, dated at Prineville, Oregon, April 18, 1918, due November 5th, after date, payable to the order of A. A. Piper in the usual form, signed by J. H. Russell, indorsed to Paxton Brothers, a corporation, May 15, 1918, and on the same date indorsed to Baker & Boyer National Bank, and on March 18, 1919, indorsed to plaintiff, Henry H. Vincent. Each indorsement is alleged to be for value received in due course of business.

Defendant answered denying the allegations of the complaint, and further pleaded an entire want of consideration for the note; that the note was not intended for a promissory note, but merely as a memorandum of the money that would be payable to Piper and Paxton upon the completion of a certain sale contract, and therefore no stamp, tax, or internal revenue stamp was placed thereon or canceled as required by law; that the note is irregular on its face; and that the holders thereof took the note subject to all defenses existing between defendant and the original payee. The answer set forth all the details of the transaction. The reply put in issue the new matter of the answer.

The circumstances relating to the note, as shown by the record, are substantially as follows: On March 5, 1918, defendant arranged with A. A. Piper and J. A. Paxton of Walla Walla, Washington, to sell his ranch, livestock, and certain personal property for the sum of $276,900, for a commission of $5,000. Piper and Paxton represented that they had a buyer for the property, one Claud M. Stewart, and requested defendant to name a price of $286,900 to Stewart and pay the added sum of $10,000 to Piper and Paxton as additional compensation. Stewart was [674]*674to pay $40,000 as an initial payment, and $46,900 on November 1,1918, and the balance on terms. Defendant was to pay Piper and Paxton the additional compensation of $10,000 npon payment to the defendant of the second installment of $46,900, dne November 1, 1918, and not otherwise. The deal was made npon those terms. The first payment of $40,000 was made April 18, 1918, and the commission of $5,000 paid. Piper and Paxton asked of defendant an evidence in writing that they would be entitled to receive the additional $10,000 upon payment of the $46,900 due upon the purchase price November 1, 1918. Defendant agreed to give them such an instrument in writing with the promise that no moneys would be due to Piper and Paxton unless Stewart paid the next installment. Thereupon Piper drew up two promissory notes, each for the sum of $5,000, one of which is set out in the complaint. The notes were to mature November 5, 1918. Piper represented to the defendant that the notes would not be transferred, negotiated or assigned, and would not become due or payable unless Claud M. Stewart made his next payment of $46,900 on November 1, 1918. Stewart failed to make the payment of $46,900, and abandoned the contract. J. P. Paxton is one of the stockholders and managing officers of the Paxton Brothers Company, and knew the circumstances in regard to the deal, and was interested therein. The indorsement to Baker and Boyer National Bank was made for collection, and the indorsement to Harry H. Vincent, plaintiff, was not made for value or in due course of business.

Upon the trial defendant Bussell testified in his own behalf in regard to the note sued on, in part as follows:

[675]*675“Q. Just tell the jury now, Mr. Russell, what that note represents and the circumstances under which it was given.
“A. This note was given for a half of $10,000 that was to be paid by me to Piper & Paxton on the 5th day of November, 1918, after Stewart Bros, paid me $46,900 and six months’ interest.”

Counsel for plaintiff moved to strike out this testimony, and saved an exception to the overruling of the motion. Russell further testified, over the objection of defendant, thus:

“Q. Referring again, Mr. Russell, to this particular note and the circumstances under which it was executed, may I ask you this, whether or not the money represented by this note was commissions to be paid to Piper and Paxton on this real estate deal, or did it represent some other item of consideration?
“A. It represented some other consideration.
“Q. Well, what was it?
“A. That the money, this $10,000 came from Stewart Bros. I merely handling this to get them their $10,000, so that it did not fall on Piper and Paxton at Walla Walla.
“Q. That $10,000, as I understand, was money they were charging their clients for making this deal, and not taking it out of you?
“A. Yes, sir, that is it.
“Q. And you were to pay it into them when the money was paid in through your hands on the deal?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. Was that $10,000 ever paid you by Stewart Bros.? A. No, sir.
“Q. Was any part of the $46,900.00 ever paid you by Stewart Bros.? A. No, sir.
“Q. Or by Claude M. Stewart? A. No, sir.”

Russell also testified that when Piper and Paxton brought the party over to buy the ranch the first thing they told Russell was:

[676]*676“Now, we have this party, but don’t you say anything about the price. You make that $285,000.00 and you can hold us out our $10,000. We don’t want them to know it and we don’t want them to know your price.”

Bussell also stated that:

“Then when Stewarts threw up the ranch in November, Mr. Piper came down here, and I asked him, ‘What are you going to do about this note,’ right in front of Michel’s store. He said, ‘We will just let that go, you will not need to pay that note. ’ ’ ’

At the close of the case counsel for plaintiff requested the court to direct a verdict in favor of plaintiff, which was refused and an exception reserved. The objections and motion to strike out the main portion of defendant’s testimony, and the request for a verdict in favor of plaintiff raise the question as to the right of defendant to make the defense offered to the note. The motion to strike was based upon the grounds that the note “is a direct promise to pay on its face without any contingency annexed whatever. It is not made payable upon the happening or non-happening of any event, to happen in the future. It is payable on a specific date,” and any evidence that the note was only to be paid upon the contingency of Stewart paying Bussell a certain sum of money was incompetent.

1, 2. We think the testimony challenged was admissible. It tended to show that the note was manually delivered to Piper, the payee, but was not to become a binding obligation unless Stewart paid to Bussell the $10,000, which was added to the price of the ranch, for the benefit of Paxton and Piper, and which Bussell was only to handle for them. The testimony objected to also indicated that there was an [677]*677entire want of consideration for the note.

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Bluebook (online)
201 P. 432, 101 Or. 672, 20 A.L.R. 417, 1921 Ore. LEXIS 198, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vincent-v-russell-or-1921.