Walker v. McNeal

1928 OK 479, 269 P. 295, 132 Okla. 40, 1928 Okla. LEXIS 678
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJuly 17, 1928
Docket18282
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 1928 OK 479 (Walker v. McNeal) 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
Walker v. McNeal, 1928 OK 479, 269 P. 295, 132 Okla. 40, 1928 Okla. LEXIS 678 (Okla. 1928).

Opinion

REID, C.

The plaintiff, P. A. McNeal, filed his petition in the district court of Tulsa county, on March 1, 1923, to recover judgment against G. C. Stebbins and P.~ G. Walker, Jr., defendants, on their indorsement of 12 negotiable bonds of the Choctaw Portland Cement Company of $1,000 each, draw *41 ing seven per cent, interest from July, 1919. The defendants had guaranteed payment of these bonds, on maturity, by written guarantee on each bond in these words:

“We, the undersigned, for value received, waiving protest and notice of protest and nonpayment, do hereby guarantee payment of the within bond and interest coupon at maturity.
“G. C. Stebbins,
“P. G. Walker, Jr.”

On the 20th of August, 1923, the defendants answered, and among other things set up the defense that there was a suit pending-in the United States court, by the trustee named in the bonds, to foreclose the mortgage securing the entire issue of these bonds, and that the plaintiff’s bonds would be fully paid off and discharged thereby.

The' ease was continued from time to time until the 26th day of June, 1926, when the defendants filed their amended answer, and presented the defenses here urged, by the allegations that since the institution of this suit the cement company was adjudged a bankrupt; that suit was instituted in the United States Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, to foreclose the outstanding bonds of the company, and asking that the property be sold in payment thereof; that the bonds in this suit were included in that ease; that the said court by an order made on the 28th day of December, 1923, directed the assets of said cement company to be sold on the 19th day of February, 1924; that the judgment creditors, and other persons to whom the cement company was indebted, entered into an agreement among themselves whereby the interested bank agreed to furnish $50,000 in cash, and that the bonds, including those involved in this action, were also to be used as part of the purchase price of the plant and property of the bankrupt; that this agreement was carried out, and when the property was sold it was purchased; by George M. Canterbury, as' trustee, for all creditors, who was to hold it. under the agreement, for sale, and when it was sold the proceeds of the sale were to be applied to reimburse the hanks for the $50,-000 cash advanced, and for the payment of said first and second mortgage bonds, and the balance to the unsecured creditors; that the purchase was made, and the United States court approved the sale, ordered the trustee to deposit in the registry of the court the cash received by him to abide the further order of the court, and to deposit all bonds with. coupons attached, received in payment of said property; and that the order of the court was in all things complied with, and that the bonds in this action are now held in the registry of said court, and not by. the plaintiff; that this plaintiff, along with the other bondholders and creditors, is therefore the owner of said property, and not owners of the bonds, and therefore plaintiff cannot maintain this suit, as he has thereby released these guarantors from their obligation.

The answer further alleged that the cement plant was still held by Canterbury, as trustee for the bondholders and unsecured creditors, and that the amount due the plaintiff could not be determined until such trustee has sold the property and distributed the assets among the creditors entitled to participate therein.

Plaintiff replied with a denial of .the material allegations of the amended answer inconsistent with his petition. He also demurred to that part of the answer a.leging the proceedinggs in the United States court The demurrer was overruled.

The case proceeded to trial before the court, and judgment was had against P. G. Walker and Kate C. Stebbins, administra-trix of the estate of G. C. Stebbins, deceased; Stebbins having died since the institution of the suit, and the action being revived as to him. Judgment was had for the plaintiff for the principal amount of his bonds and the interest thereon against each of the defendants. The defendant P. G. Walker alone appeals from the judgment, and the parties will be referred to as they stood in the trial court.

The ground upon which the defendant seeks to avoid liability in this case is based upon the defense set up in the amended answer as heretofore stated.

The guaranty is unconditional, under section 5133, C. O. S. 1921, which is as follows:

“A guaraanty is to be deemed unconditional, unless its terms import some condition precedent to the liability of the guarantor.”

This case was pending at the time the bankruptcy proceedings were begun, and plaintiff asked for personal judgment only against the guarantors.

Section 222, C. O. S. 1921, provides that;

“Persons severally liable upon the same obligation or instrument, including the parties to bills of exchange and promissory notes, and indorsers and guarantors, may all or any of them be included in the same action, at the option of the plaintiff.”

*42 And section 5184, C. O. S. 1921, provides that:

•‘A guarantor of payment or performance is liable to the guarantee immediately upon the default of the principal, and without demand or notice.”

The evidence in this case in sufficient for the trial court to find, as a trier of the facts, that this plaintiff never made any agreement to postpone this action until after the property should be sold by Canterbury, the trustee, and it was determined what amount would be received by him for distribution among the creditors. But an examination .of the evidence does show that the case was postponed for sometime, evidently the plaintiff and all other parties hoping that the assets held by Canterbury would pay the claims, including the amount of these bonds.

The evidence was further sufficient for the court to find that the entire arrangement, by which it was agreed that Canterbury should buy the property and sell it for the benefit of bondholders and other creditors, was made largely at the request of these defendants, and for their protection.

This particular action by plaintiff was in the hands of Mr. West, attorney for the plaintiff, and it was admitted upon the trial of this action that he had never made any agreement that this suit would be postponed until the property was sold by Canterbury. And the judgment in this case recites the presence of the defendant Walker at the trial, and he did not testify in the ease. This suit was pending and had been prior to the beginning of the bankruptcy proceedings.

The defendant in this case calls our attention to section 5140. C. O. S. 1921, which provides:

“A guarantor is exonerated, except so far as he may be indemnified by the principal, if by any act of the creditor, without the consent of the guarantor, the original obligation of the principal is altered in any respect, or the remedies or rights of the creditor against the principal, in respect thereto, in any way impaired or suspended.”

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Bluebook (online)
1928 OK 479, 269 P. 295, 132 Okla. 40, 1928 Okla. LEXIS 678, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/walker-v-mcneal-okla-1928.