Williamson v. Majors

169 F. 754, 95 C.C.A. 186, 1909 U.S. App. LEXIS 4630
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedMay 10, 1909
DocketNo. 1,772
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 169 F. 754 (Williamson v. Majors) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Williamson v. Majors, 169 F. 754, 95 C.C.A. 186, 1909 U.S. App. LEXIS 4630 (5th Cir. 1909).

Opinion

PARDEE, Circuit Judge.

The original bill in this cause was exhibited by the appellant, H. C. Williamson, in the chancery court of Bolivar county, Miss., in January, 1905, and the cause was removed by the defendant to the Circuit Court of the United States, in which court the defendant answered the bill and also filed a cross-bill for a foreclosure of the deed of trust. On final hearing, the court dismissed the original bill, and granted the relief prayed for by the cross-bill.

The complainant in his original bill averred that the defendant, Bettis Majors, was in the city of Memphis engaged in keeping a house for dealing in futures, as the professional representative of Hayward, Vick & Co., and afterwards of T. J. Majors & Co.; that the complainant [756]*756began to speculate in the purchase of futures in cotton with the said Hayward, Vick & Co., and afterwards with the firm of T. J. Majors & Co.; that it was not the intention of any of the parties that any of the commodities purchased should be actually delivered in kind and the price paid; that it was the intention of the parties to speculate only on the rise and fall of the market. The bill states that after the complainant had lost $5,700 in cash,, which he had put up as margins, complainant notified Bettis Majors that he would not furnish any more money or deal further in such future contracts; that the defendant Majors insisted that complainant should continue to speculate by the purchase and sale of futures, and exhibited to complainant telegrams from his father instructing him to advise his customers to buy cotton, as the price of same would advance to 20 cents per pound; that Bettis Majors agreed, if the plaintiff would execute a mortgage on his Bolivar county plantation, that he would carry his future contracts until the United States Bureau Report should come out; that thereupon, upon the 6th day of February, 1904, complainant executed a deed of trust whereby he conveyed to A. T. Ball, trustee, the plantation in Bolivar county, Miss., to secure a promissory note for $30,295, dated that day, due on January 1, 1905, payable to the said Bettis Majors at his office in Memphis, Tenn. The consideration for the note was the margins on such future- contracts as the complainant then had or might thereafter purchase; that as soon as Majors got this security, in violation of his promises to carry such future contracts until the Bureau Report came out, without consulting the complainant, he closed out his future contracts, involving complainant in a great loss; that, after such violation of his agreement by the said Bettis Majors, complainant learned that T. J. Majors and Bettis Majors, by reason of the telegrams and representations as to what the future price of cotton would be, were inducing the public to buy through them as brokers, and were, as a matter of fact, secretly unloading their own purchases upon the public and were “bucketing” the sales of their customers. 'Complainant also averred that after Majors got the note and deed of trust, knowing that the complainant was engaged in the business which required him to meet and deal with a number of business men in transactions of importance, he annoyed, harassed, and vexed complainant in reference to said margins claimed to have been lost by him, and has endeavored to embarrass complainant in the transaction of his business, and to injure his credit and financial standing; that he had sent letters to complainant with repeated demands that he should pay said losses so fraudulently claimed against complainant; that he endeavored to sell the note, and was claiming that the same was a correct and valid transaction; that, in conversation in the presence of others, Majors admitted that said obligations were not legal obligations and were not enforceable. The bill further avers that, under the laws both of Tennessee and Mississippi, said note and deed of trust were illegal, void, and not enforceable, and the. prayer of the bill was that the same might be delivered up and canceled..

The defendant Bettis Majors by his answer denies that the firm of Hayward, Vick & Co. were keepers of a bucket shop, but conducting a [757]*757legitimate business in the city of Memphis in the purchase and sale of cotton, grain, provisions, etc. He denies that the contracts referred to in the bill were made without the intent of the parties to the contract that the commodity bought and sold should be delivered in kind and the price paid. The defendant denies all invitations and inducements on his part to the complainant to engage in the purchase or sale of cotton futures, and denies that any representations were made as to what the future price of cotton would be. He denies that he made any promises to carry for complainant said contracts until the Bureau Report should come out. He denies that he ever violated any agreement with the complainant. He denies all fraudulent dealings charged in the bill. He denies that he ever presented any fraudulent claim to the complainant. He denies that imder the laws of the states of Tennessee and of Mississippi the said note and deed of trust are void or unenforceable. He denies that the same were given in any gambling transaction. The answer then proceeds to state that Hayward, Vick & Co., and T. J. Majors & Co., successors to the first firm, were members of the New Orleans and New York Exchanges. That all contracts for the purchase of cotton were made upon one or the other of said exchanges, same having been bought in New York by J. H. Parker and Co., or in New Orleans by Hayward, Vick & Co., who were correspondents of T. J. Majors & Co. Defendant avers that no orders were given to buy or sell cotton in Memphis, but that all orders were given to be executed in New York or New Orleans. That all said contracts contemplated the actual delivery of the property bought or sold. That on Eebruary 6th there was a difference in price of cotton which the complainant bought, by reason of which the complainant was indebted $30,295, and being unwilling to sell his ^.cotton sought to borrow the money from'capitalists in Memphis, and, being unable to do so, requested the defendant to pay to Hayward, Vick & Co. and J. H. Parker & Co. the said sum of $30,295, and, to secure complainant, executed the deed of trust and note described in the bill. That in consideration thereof the defendant agreed to advance complainant the further sum of $10,000. That complainant, being unwilling to put up further margins, Hayward, Vick & Co., under the rules of the respective exchanges, sold the cotton, entailing a loss of $40,-991.75. That for said amount T. J. Majors & Co. were liable to Hayward, Vick & Co. and J. H. Parker & Co., and that the defendant, at the request of the complainant, advanced his own money to settle such claim; thereupon complainant executed his note for $40,991.75, and delivered the same to the defendant. That said note was actually executed after the defendant had paid to Hayward, Vick & Co. and J. H. Parker & Co. the amount thereof, and that complainant voluntarily dated the note back as of the 6th day of February, 1904, and voluntarily inserted in said note the stipulation that it was secured by the said deed of trust which had been executed on the 6th day of February, 1904. The answer sets up the statutes of Tennessee, and claims that the same are void, as violative of certain provisions of the federal Constitution.

The defendants also filed a cross-bill by which, in effect, they aver that complainant owed Majors $30,295 on the 6th day of Eebruary, [758]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Alex Hyman & Co. v. Hay
277 F. 898 (Fifth Circuit, 1922)
James v. Clement
223 F. 385 (Fifth Circuit, 1915)
Lawton v. Carpenter
195 F. 362 (Fourth Circuit, 1912)
Haven v. James
172 F. 250 (U.S. Circuit Court for the Northern District of Georgia, 1909)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
169 F. 754, 95 C.C.A. 186, 1909 U.S. App. LEXIS 4630, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williamson-v-majors-ca5-1909.