Weston v. Noble

19 F.R.D. 416, 16 Alaska 459, 1956 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4356
CourtDistrict Court, D. Alaska
DecidedOctober 10, 1956
DocketCiv. No. 8886
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 19 F.R.D. 416 (Weston v. Noble) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Alaska primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Weston v. Noble, 19 F.R.D. 416, 16 Alaska 459, 1956 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4356 (D. Alaska 1956).

Opinion

HODGE, District Judge.

The following facts are admitted by the pleadings in this action: On April 5,1955, defendant executed and delivered to plaintiff his promissory note in the [418]*418sura of $250, without interest, due and payable October 5, 1955. On the same date defendant executed and delivered to plaintiff his promissory note in the sum of $4,900, with interest thereon at the rate of 8% per annum, due and payable one year after date. Contemporaneously with the execution of the note for $4,900, and in order to secure the payment thereof, defendant executed and delivered to plaintiff a chattel mortgage covering one Kenworth Semi-Tractor. (Referred to herein as a truck.) At the same time there was executed between the parties a “Memorandum of Agreement” under the terms of which it appears that plaintiff financed the purchase by defendant of such truck upon an agreement that defendant was to operate it by rental to the Alaska Freight Lines at Fairbanks, and the parties agreed to share equally the net profits derived from the rental of said truck for a period of one year, and that defendant would account to and pay over to plaintiff monthly the net rentals earned under such agreement; further that defendant would personally operate the truck but was to receive any salary he derived therefrom, and that he would devote his entire time and attention to the successful operation of said trucking business for the mutual benefit of the parties thereto. It is admitted that the chattel mortgage was given to plaintiff to secure the performance of the terms and conditions of said agreement, as well as the note. Complaint was filed on December 7, 1955. Subsequently by leave of court, plaintiff filed a supplemental complaint under date of June 8, 1956, alleging that since the institution of the action the note for $4,900 has also become due and payable and has not been paid, which is not denied by any answer.

Plaintiff, in three causes of action, seeks (1st) judgment in the sum of $250, plus interest after maturity, on the first mentioned note, which he alleges is past due and unpaid; (2nd) judgment in the sum of $4,900, plus interest, upon the second note, and (3rd) for an accounting for his share of the net rental obtained from the use of the truck, and judgment for the amount found due. In support of the second cause plaintiff alleges default by defendant in complying with the terms and conditions of said agreement in the following particulars: (1) that defendant failed to render monthly accounting to plaintiff as required by said agreement; (2) that he failed to personally operate said truck at all times, but from time to time employed another driver or drivers thereof; (3) that defendant failed to devote his entire time and attention to the trucking business. In support of his third cause plaintiff acknowledges that defendant had on September 5,1955, without an accounting, paid him the sum of $1,000, “purportedly in part payment of net truck rental earned to that date”, and alleges on information and belief that the truck earned in excess of $6,000.

Defendant by his answer denies each of these material allegations except admitting the payment of $1,000, but alleges that said sum represented payment of $250 to be applied on the note for such amount and the sum of $750 to be applied on the note for $4,900.

Plaintiff has filed herein a motion for summary judgment, supported by his own affidavit and the affidavit of Stanley Davis, which recites that he had been employed as accountant for the trucking business conducted by defendant which involved the operation of the truck mentioned, from which it appears that no monthly accounting was rendered to plaintiff relating to the net rentals of said trucking operation and that he was not instructed by defendant to do so; further that other persons were employed by defendant to operate said truck, and that $1,000 is all the money that defendant paid to plaintiff. A statement of account attached to such affidavit reveals a total income to defendant with said truck up until August 25, [419]*4191955, of $13,721.06, total expenses of $8,-555.58, with a net of $5,165.48.

In opposition to the motion defendant filed an affidavit in which he does not deny his failure to account to plaintiff for the rentals earned by the truck but seeks to explain matters covered in the Davis affidavit in effect that he had been unable to report some of his earnings to Davis by reason of being “out on jobs from which he could not report”, including work in the Arctic Circle region, that he did put on an extra or additional driver but not in his place, that his work was held up in November of 1955 by repairs made necessary to the truck and in December, 1955, by the attachment of the truck by the plaintiff in this case, at which time it will be noted that he was eight months in default. He also contends that it was “distinctly understood and agreed” that $250 of the $1,000 payment was to be applied to payment of the note in that amount. He acknowledges that Davis has given to plaintiff a comprehensive account of the operation of the truck for all of 1955, although this appears to have been done after the commencement of the action. He also states that he was to have $600 per month for his personal expenses and wages but acknowledges that there was a balance of $5,165 for his “compensation”.

It appears from the above that there is no dispute or genuine issue of fact as to the principal allegation of plaintiff that defendant had failed to account and pay over to plaintiff one half of the net truck rentals as agreed, and that there was sufficient earnings from the truck according to his own accountant to pay at least $2,582.50 to plaintiff; also that he employed another person to operate the truck. It also definitely appears that there were other earnings not reported to the accountant. The contention of defendant that the attachment of the truck on December 12, 1955, constituted a breach of the agreement on the part of plaintiff, or excused performance on his part, cannot be sustained as a matter of law. Plaintiff was and is entitled to foreclose his mortgage for such breach.

There is possible dispute of fact as to whether or not defendant failed to devote his entire time and attention to the trucking business, but this would appear immaterial in view of the other substantial breaches as to which there is no dispute.

There remains then only the issue of the application of the payment made, or whether or not the debtor directed the payment to be applied to a particular item of indebtedness owing by him, as he has the legal right to do. However, this question becomes moot for the reason that plaintiff’s counsel acknowledged in his final brief that there would be “no obstacle to the entry of summary judgment in the amount of $4,150.00”, with interest and costs, and foreclosure of plaintiff’s mortgage for such amount, which is tantamount to a waiver of this point in dispute and in effect acknowledges that the $1,000 may be applied as contended by defendant. This issue is therefore no longer material. There is certainly no issue to be determined relative to the acknowledged fact that the note is now past due and owing by defendant in this amount.

Rule 56(c), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A., relating to summary judgment, provides that

“The judgment sought shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any

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Related

Territory of Hawaii Ex Rel. Sharpless v. Arneson
354 P.2d 981 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1960)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
19 F.R.D. 416, 16 Alaska 459, 1956 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4356, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/weston-v-noble-akd-1956.