Norton v. Lumpkin
Norton v. Lumpkin
Opinion of the Court
The defendant Lumpkin, for several years prior to January, 1888, owned and carried on at
It is claimed by the plaintiff, in effect and substance, that the alleged sale from Lumpkin to Weller was not in good faith, but was fraudulent; that, before payment for the property was made, Weller had actual
Weller was treasurer of Webster county during the term of. two years, which ended in January,. 1888; and Blanden, the president, and Scott, the cashier, of intervener, were sureties on his official bond. During the year 1887, Lumpkin had borrowed of Weller various sums of money, and in the latter part of December of that year, and until the bill of sale and notes in controversy were given, in 1888, otved him seventeen hundred dollars. Both Weller and Lumpkin were insolvent at the time. Weller could not make his final settlement with the board of supervisors without the money which Lumpkin was owing him, and he made frequent demands for it, but Lumpkin was unable to pay it. At length it was arranged that Lumpkin .should sell the lumber yard to Weller, and that the latter should give his notes therefor; that one of the notes should be for the sum of seventeen hundred •dollars, and the other for the sum of twenty-three hundred dollars; but that an invoice of stock should be taken, and, if its value was found to be less than four thousand dollars, then that a credit for the deficiency should be given on the large note. The sale was made
Weller testifies positively that he had no knowledge whatever of the mortgage to the plaintiff until after he had purchased the lumber yard, taken possession of it, ■and given his notes for it. He is corroborated in that by Lumpkin. It is insisted by the appellant that Weller must have known that Lumpkin was financially embarrassed when the bill of sale was made, for the reason that they had been intimately acquainted for years, were members of the same church, and of the same ■association of Odd Fellows. We do not think such a presumption arises from the facts disclosed by the record. The testimony is direct that Weller had very little knowledge of Lumpkin’s financial affairs.
It is said that the purchase was made with undue haste, and without the precautions which a man of ordinary business prudence would have taken; but it is ■apparent that Weller at the time was chiefly concerned to raise the money required in his settlement with the board of supervisors, and that he was willing to incur the risk of some loss of money to procure it. But he -cannot be said to have been imprudent in making the purchase. It is true, he did not know the value of the property at the time, and that he gave his notes for .several hundred dollars more than its value, as shown by the invoice which was afterwards taken; but it was necessary for him to have the money before an invoice ■could be taken, and the agreement of purchase provided
The appellant places much stress upon certain dealings between the parties which occurred after the sale of the lumber yard was concluded, but they were not connected with that sale, and cannot be considered in determining its character. It is said that Lumpkin retained possession of the yard after the sale was made, and that he afterwards gave prices on at least one bill of lumber in his own name; also, that he made statements to different persons showing that he had fully disclosed to "Weller the fact that the plaintiff held a mortgage on the property before the sale was completed. Lumpkin remained ,in the yard after the sale, but he did so for the purpose of assisting Weller in the business. His acts in offering to furnish a bill of lumber in his own name, and stating to others that Weller knew of the plaintiff’s mortgage when he purchased, — if such statements were made, — were not with the knowledge nor consent of Weller, and would not affect his interests. It satisfactorily appears that Weller took possession of the property included in the bill of sale when it was delivered. Blanden at one time knew of the plaintiff ’s claim, but the evidence fails to show that he remembered it when the sale was made. Scott did know of it at that time, although he was told the plaintiff had waived it to allow the sale to be made. He and Blanden interested themselves to have the sale effected, Scott going to the office of the attorneys interested with the matter to see that the bill of sale was properly drawn; but what he and Blanden did in regard to it
It is said that, even if Weller did not know of the plaintiff’s mortgage when he gave his notes and took the bill of sale, he acquired that knowledge before the notes were paid. The sale to Weller was valid, and could not have been defeated. He took the property without notice of any kind that the plaintiff held a claim against it, and gave his notes for the purchase price. He immediately paid the smaller of the two notes by giving another to the intervener. The other note was negotiable, and after a credit of five hundred and sixty-three dollars and thirteen cents, for deficiency in value of lumber, was indorsed thereon, and before it was due, it was transferred to intervener, and credit therefor given to Lumpkin on the amount he was owing intervener. The indebtedness of seventeen hundred dollars from Lumpkin to Weller had been canceled. Under these circumstances the liability of Weller on the notes given for the lumber yard was fixed, and he is entitled to protection as an innocent purchaser to the full amount of the consideration given, and the intervener acquired title to the note which is not subject to defense on the part of Weller, and cannot be defeated by the plaintiff.
We have not found it practicable to review at length each point discussed by counsel for the appellant. What we have said disposes of the controlling questions of the case. There were some circumstances well calculated to cast suspicion upon the good faith of the parties connected with the transactions in controversy, but the claims made by the appellees tare reasonable,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- H. Norton v. Wilson Lumpkin
- Status
- Published