Waechter v. General Mills, Inc.

181 So. 2d 204, 1965 Fla. App. LEXIS 3630
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedDecember 16, 1965
DocketNo. G-337
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 181 So. 2d 204 (Waechter v. General Mills, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Waechter v. General Mills, Inc., 181 So. 2d 204, 1965 Fla. App. LEXIS 3630 (Fla. Ct. App. 1965).

Opinion

STURGIS, Judge.

Appeal by Julia M. Waechter, sole surviving defendant, from a final decree of foreclosure in favor of appellee, General Mills, Inc., plaintiff below, holding: (1) that the indebtedness secured was that of Carroll W. Waechter, appellant’s deceased husband and co-defendant, who died while the cause was pending in the lower court; (2) that the mortgage in suit was executed according to the law respecting conveyances of chattels by a married woman and therefore constituted such consent of Julia M. Waechter as to render her separate statutory property liable for her husband’s said debt; (3) that because the chattels described in the mortgage had been disposed of, “the Court is justified in entering a money judgment herein,” citing Edwards v. Meyer, 100 Fla. 235, 130 So. 57 (1930); and (4) that the appellant wife is indebted to plaintiff for the sum of $50,000 principal, $12,-500 interest, and $10,000 attorney’s fees. The trial court thereupon granted a motion of plaintiff-appellee to strike certain defenses to the amended complaint herein, granted plaintiff’s motion for final judgment, and entered judgment in favor of plaintiff against defendant Julia M. Waech-ter in the sum of $72,500, hence this appeal.

On October 4, 1962, plaintiff brought this suit to foreclose a combined real estate and chattel mortgage dated September 21, 1959, purporting to encumber certain real prop[205]*205erty in Clay County, Florida, and poultry located thereon “together with such other and additional poultry as may be added to the aforesaid and together with all progeny or offspring of said poultry.”

At a hearing before the chancellor on plaintiff’s application for the appointment of a receiver, plaintiff’s credit manager, Eikenberry, in testifying as to the transactions giving rise to the indebtedness in suit, repeatedly referred to the indebtedness as “Mr. Waechter’s indebtedness” and not once as the joint obligation of Mr. and Mrs. Waechter. In describing the indebtedness he said, inter alia:

“ * * * we made a payment for some indebtedness that Mr. Waechter had at the time we started doing business with him and that was charged into one of these accounts, I am not certain which one, but that was not feed that we advanced. It was feed that another company had advanced that he owed them, and we paid that company the amount of his indebtedness, and then there were some started pullets that were purchased as young birds, not mature birds, probably maybe eighteen, twenty weeks of age, but were raised elsewhere than on his farm. They were purchased as young birds, and the cost of that was included in his accounts. Then, from then on, it was feed purchases.”

Receivership was denied and plaintiff was granted leave to amend the complaint.

Plaintiff’s amended complaint charged that the mortgage was given by defendants to secure an existing indebtedness and future advances. It listed items of principal totaling $50,000, the maximum amount secured, and prayed for foreclosure and sale, that the proceeds be applied in payment of the amounts due plaintiff, and that if a deficiency occurred, the plaintiff be granted a decree therefor against such of the defendants as might “be found liable or responsible for the mortgage debt.”

The subject mortgage contained the signature of but one person, Edwin B. Davis, as a subscribing witness to the signatures of Mr. and Mrs. Waechter. This witness, as a notary public, also certified that Mr. and Mrs. Waechter personally appeared before him on September 21, 1959, at “General Mills, Inc.” and acknowledged the execution of the mortgage.

On December 6, 1962, plaintiff took the depositions of the defendants, Mr. and Mrs. Waechter. Mr. Waechter testified that he was engaged in the business of producing eggs for sale in two retail stores located in Jacksonville, Florida; that his wife had no interest in the egg farm business; that the real property upon which it was located was owned by them j ointly; that when the mortgage was executed the title to the chickens was in his name alone; that he procured his wife’s signature to the mortgage at plaintiff’s request; that as of the date of the deposition there were approximately 20,000 birds on the farm varying in age from 8 to 19 months. Mrs. Waechter testified that she signed the promissory notes and mortgage voluntarily; that she did not take any part in the operation of the egg farm; that she never had any conversations with any of plaintiff’s employees or representatives, and had no personal knowledge of her husband’s dealings with plaintiff.

The defendants by their answers admitted they were owners of the real property described in the mortgage, denied that they jointly owned the poultry located on the property, admitted that Mr. Waechter owned the poultry located on the real property, and as a special defense asserted that the mortgage was invalid because it was not witnessed and also because it was not acknowledged before a notary public as required by law.

On January 30, 1963, defendants took the deposition of plaintiff’s credit manager who handled the mortgage transactions on behalf of plaintiff. He testified that he could not recall having met the appellant, Mrs. [206]*206Waechter, prior to the receivership hearing in October 1962; that he never had any conversation with her about plaintiffs claim; that the note and mortgage in suit were the only transactions between plaintiff and Mrs. Waechter, the appellee; that plaintiff’s ledger sheets and other account records were headed “Carroll W. Waech-ter” ; that he never had any correspondence with Mrs. Waechter and knew of no letter to her from any other officer of plaintiff; and that certain monies paid by plaintiff to Floridandee Feeds, Inc., incident to the indebtedness in suit were charged to “Mr. Waechter’s accounts” with plaintiff.

On February 4, 1963, Mr. and Mrs. Waechter filed their amended third defense to the effect that at the time of the signing of the subject note and mortgage, defendant Julia M. Waechter was the wife of defendant Carroll W. Waechter, that she was not at that time and never had been indebted to plaintiff, and that said note and mortgage were given to evidence and secure only the debt of Carroll W. Waechter, and that said mortgage was not executed in the manner required by Article XI of the Constitution of Florida, F.S.A., and consequently did not operate to bind defendant Julia W. Waech-ter or the real estate owned by her and her husband jointly as an estate by the entirety. Plaintiff’s motion to strike this defense was denied.

On May 22, 1964, defendants took the deposition of Edwin R. Carter, branch manager of plaintiff’s Jacksonville plant, who on plaintiff’s application for a receiver had testified that he was not present when the mortgage was signed by the Waechters. On this deposition he testified that he never had any conversation with Mrs. Waech-ter, knew of no conversation between her and any other officer or employee of the plaintiff, could not recall that she ever came into plaintiff’s office, and he identified Edwin B. Davis (the notary) as a salesman in plaintiff’s employ.

Defendants filed a motion for summary final decree and further supported same by their affidavits to the effect that Mrs. Waechter was never indebted to plaintiff in any amount, had never had any business connections with the plaintiff, that the real property in suit was owned by Mr. and Mrs.

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Related

DeLong v. Larkin
208 So. 2d 830 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1968)
American National Bank of Jacksonville v. Brantley
204 So. 2d 251 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1967)
General Mills, Inc. v. McGriff
198 So. 2d 887 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1967)
General Mills, Inc. v. Waechter
188 So. 2d 815 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1966)
General Mills, Inc. v. Waechter
181 So. 2d 211 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1965)

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Bluebook (online)
181 So. 2d 204, 1965 Fla. App. LEXIS 3630, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/waechter-v-general-mills-inc-fladistctapp-1965.