Alabama Machinery & Supply Co. v. Bank of Camden
Alabama Machinery & Supply Co. v. Bank of Camden
Opinion of the Court
The appellant, the plaintiff below, sold and delivered the property sued for in this case to T. J. Jones & Go. The written contract of sale and the notes executed by the purchasers for the unpaid part of the purchase price recited that the title to the property should remain in the appellant until all the purchase-money notes were paid. Before the contract of sale or the notes were filed for record, a mortgage of the same property by Jones & Co. to the appellee, was duly recorded, and the appellee acquired possession of the property under that mortgage. The appellee’s claim to the property must prevail, unless at or before the time the mortgage was taken it was charged with notice of the appellant’s title.
The evidence bearing upon the question of notice consisted of the testimony of T. J. Jones, examined as a witness for the plaintiff, and W. J. Bonner, a witness for the defendant. The testimony of the witness Jones, so far as it relates to this question, was as follows: “I told the bank before this mortgage was executed that I had no right to mortgage the property, as it had not been paid for. I told the bank this before I gave the bank the mortgage. I told the bank the purchase-money notes for this property were not paid. This was before mortgage to the bank was given. The said mortgage was given to the bank after this firm had overdrawn their account; that they were drawing on the bank right along before and after the same was given. * * * I told them (the bank) there-were some outstanding notes that were unpaid. I am certain that- I told Mr. W. J. Bonner that I had no right to mortgage this property, for I told him that I had not paid for it, and
This evidence falls short of tending to show that the appellee had notice of the appellant’s title, or was chargeable with such notice by any fact brought to its attention. The testimony -does not go farther than to show that the bank was fully informed that the property mortgaged to it had not been fully paid for. That property having thus been sold and delivered to the
As there was no evidence in the case warranting a finding by the jury that the defendant had actual or constructive notice of the plaintiff’s title to the property sued for, the general affirmative charge in favor of the defendant might have been given. This being true, the appellant could not have been prejudiced by
There being no evidence to sutain plaintiff’s special replication to the fifth plea, it was not error to give charge 1 requested by the defendant.
If it was error to give the written charge 3 requested by the defendant, for the reason-that the evidence was such as merely to warrant the jury in inferring that W. J. Bonner was an officer of the bank, and was not such as to justify the court in assuming that fact to be proved, yet the error was without injury to the plaintiff, as it could not maintain its claim to the property sued for without proof of notice, actual or constructive, to the bank, when the mortgage was taken, of plaintiff’s title to the mortgaged property, and there was no such evidence.
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.