Wiseman Gin Co. v. Gossett

125 S.W.2d 334
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 9, 1939
DocketNo. 4968.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 125 S.W.2d 334 (Wiseman Gin Co. v. Gossett) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wiseman Gin Co. v. Gossett, 125 S.W.2d 334 (Tex. Ct. App. 1939).

Opinion

FOLLEY, Justice.

This suit was instituted by the appellee Z. Gossett, Banking Commissioner of Texas, as receiver of the Commonwealth Bank & Trust Company of San Antonio, Texas, to recover upon three promissory notes aggregating approximately $16,000 executed by the Wiseman Gin Company, a corporation, payable to the order of the Commonwealth Bank & Trust Company, and pledged to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation as security for money loaned by it to the Commonwealth Bank & Trust Company. The litigation also involved the foreclosure of a deed of trust lien executed by W. R. Wiseman in favor of the Commonwealth Bank & Trust Company upon 792 acres of land owned by Wiseman in Wilson County, Texas, to secure the payment of the three notes. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation intervened in the suit to protect its interest in the litigation. The Wiseman Gin Company and W. R. Wiseman, its president, were defendants in the trial court. There were other defendants in the trial court but due to the disposition made o'f the cause they become immaterial herein.

The cause was tried before the court without a jury, and judgment was rendered in favor of the appellee Z. Gossett, as Banking Commissioner, but only for the benefit of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, for the amount of the debt against the Wiseman Gin Company and for foreclosure of the lien against W. R. Wise-man and others not necessary to mention.

The appellant W. R. Wiseman asserts that the lien herein involved was unenforceable as against him because such lien was given by him merely as an accommodation to the Commonwealth Bank & Trust Company and was unsupported by a consideration. There is no statement of facts in the record. The trial court, however, has filed findings of fact and conclusions of law. In order to determine the merits of the contention made by the appellant it will be necessary to here state such findings and conclusions of the trial court as are pertinent to the issues raised.

From such findings we learn that in October, 1931, the Commonwealth Bank & Trust Company, a Texas corporation, suspended business and its affairs were taken over by the Banking Commissioner of Texas ; that at the time of the closing of such bank the above notes of the Wiseman Gin Company were included in the then unsecured assets of the bank; that also at the time, among the assets of such bank, was the note of J. S. Mitchell Company, and Jess S. Mitchell, individually, in the sum of $10,428.35, secured by the guaranty of one Hugo Kott, father-in-law of Jess S. Mitchell; that in December, 1931 W. R. Wiseman, who' was also president of the Commonwealth Bank & Trust Company, and Hugo Kott, its vice president, at the suggestion of the liquidating agent of the bank, entered into an oral agreement for the purpose of placing the assets of the bank in better condition; that pursuant to such agreement Wiseman undertook to give satisfactory security for the indebtedness of the Wiseman Gin Company and Kott undertook to give satisfactory security for the Mitchell note; that thereupon the bank was reopened and remained a going concern until July 2, 1934, when it was again closed by the Banking Commissioner; that at all times thereafter the assets of the bank remained in the possession of such Banking Commissioner for purpose ■ of liquidation; that all times up to July 2, 1934, the appellant W. R. Wiseman was president of the Commonwealth Bank & Trust Company and the owner of $74,000 par value of its capital stock; that up to the time of the trial Hugo Kott had not tendered any security to the bank for the Mitchell note; that on February 1, 1932, the Wiseman Gin Company executed and delivered to the bank three renewal notes, two for the sum'of $5,175 each and the third for $5,876.52, all payable to the order of the bank on demand; that on April 14, 1932, W. R. Wiseman executed and *336 delivered to the bank his deed of trust in favor of L. B. Wiseman, trustee for the benefit of the bank, covering the 792 acres of land herein involved to secure the payment of the indebtedness of the Wiseman Gin Company as evidenced by the above named three notes; that on September 13, 1932, the Wiseman Gin Company, acting through its president, W. R. Wiseman, executed and delivered to the bank its three promissory notes dated September 1, 1932, each payable to the order of the bank six months after date, the first two in the sum of $5,356.09 and the third for $6,082.18; that contemporaneously with the execution of these notes the Wiseman Gin Company, acting by its president, and W. R. Wiseman individually, executed and delivered to the bank a renewal and extension agreement reciting the execution and delivery of the deed of trust on April 14, 1932, the creation of a valid deed of trust lien upon the property involved, and further reciting the fact that the three notes were then due and unpaid and that the Wiseman Gin Company desired to renew the lien; that the consideration for such extension agreement moving to W. R. Wiseman was the renewal of the three demand notes and the debt represented thereby, the acceptance by the bank of the three renewal notes dated September 1, 1932, and the original agreement with Hugo Kott above set out; that in consideration of the renewal and extension of the Wiseman Gin Company indebtedness by the bank, the appellant W. R. Wiseman in said extension agreement acknowledged that the lien on the real estate in Wilson County was a valid and subsisting lien; that at the time of the extension of the ñotes and lien the appellant W. R. Wise-man knew that Hugo Kott had not performed his oral agreement to secure the Mitchell note, but he was still relying thereon; that the appellant Wiseman made no assertion to the bank, or to any representative of the bank, at the time of the acceptance by it of the extension agreement and the renewal of the debt, that the lien was other than a valid and subsisting lien; that on September 1, 1932 the Wise-man Gin Company owed more than it could pay and was considered a poor credit risk by the appellant W. R. Wiseman, as president of the bank; that the intervener, Reconstruction Finance Corporation, had no notice of any defense to the notes or the lien at the time it accepted such notes as collateral security on December 23, 1932; that on March 28, 1932, the bank made application to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation for a loan of $250,000; that on April 26, 1932 said loan was disbursed to the bank in the amount of $172,843.60, in evidence of which the intervener, Reconstruction Finance Corporation, received the note of the bank, executed by the appellant W. R.

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125 S.W.2d 334, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wiseman-gin-co-v-gossett-texapp-1939.