Preston v. Putnam County Banking Co.
Preston v. Putnam County Banking Co.
Opinion of the Court
This was a suit on a promissory note, brought by the Putnam County Banking Company against J. W. Preston & Company, a partnership composed of J. W. Preston and E. M. Brown. Preston answered individually, admitting the execution of the note and assuming the burden of proving that he was not liable thereon. At the trial he introduced in evidence a contract of dissolution of the partnership between him and Brown, dated subsequently to the execution of the note sued on, by the terms of which Preston transferred to Brown all his interest in the assets
We find no. error in the ruling of the trial court. As before stated, there is nothing in the record to indicate that the bank had any notice of the existence of the contract of dissolution, much less that it acquiesced therein or received any benefit therefrom. The portion of the defendant’s plea which set up this contract as a defense to the action was plainly open to demurrer; and the fact that no demurrer was filed by the plaintiff does not render admissible evidence to sustain its contentions. See Patterson v. Ramspeck, 81 Ga. 808 (4). It is obvious, of course, that the contract between the plaintiff and the defendant could not be affected
In the plea filed by the defendant it was alleged that Brown, the defendant’s erstwhile partner, was the cashier of the plaintiff bank; and presumably it was intended to set up that in the transactions between the firm and the bank he was acting in his capacity as representative of the bank. Regardless of the validity of this defense, it is sufficient to say that the evidence sent up in the record discloses no relationship between Brown and the bank. Leaving this out of the question, however, the agreement dated February 23,1898, was clearly not admissible to affect the note sued on, which was executed nearly three years later, and which* was not shown to have had any connection with the note to which that agreement related. In the answer it was averred that the note sued on was a renewal of the note to which the agreement related; but there was no evidence to support this averment. The note sued on was for a different amount, was. payable to a different party, and was in every respect a different contract from the one referred to in the agreement. ¡These two papers being the only evidence offered by the defendant, and both of them being properly excluded from consideration by the jury, no course was left open for the court except to direct a verdict for the plaintiff.
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.