Duncan v. Williams
Duncan v. Williams
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
By, the terms of the contract made between J. B. Bowman, H. T. Duncan and R. L. Williams1 as agent for his father, dated the 17th of September, 1864, and executed prior to the purchase of the Williams land by Bowman, the appellant expressly agreed1 to pay the claim of General Williams, the appellee. The consideration' for this undertaking was that in the purchase thereafter, to be made by the parties of the land, the appellant was to have and hold in his own right certain sections of tire land more valuable than those to be taken by Bowman.. The contract recites that said Bowman and
Bowman’s testimony is, that the contract was cancelled by the advice of an attorney and that the árrangement then agreed upon was: “That he, Bowman, was to purchase all the land and that Duncan was to purchase a portion of them subsequently to the sale. It was also understood fhat Duncan was to pay off the liability of General Williams as surety of John S. Williams on the guardian’s bond estimated to be about $10,000.
This is all that the witness Bowimian knows of the agreement. This statement of Bowman is of itself conclusive of the rights of the parties to this controversy. The appellants not only get the same land that he was to get by the terms of the written contract, but proceeds to pay off the Holloway judgment. He m'ay have regarded this payment as a purchase of the judgment from Holloway, but the facts appearing in the record sustains no such view of the case. If the appellant purchased the judgment of Holloway and there was no contract binding the appellant to pay it, we can not well see
The written agreement and the parol agreement proven by Bowman both evidence the fact that the appellant was to discharge this judgment by, reason of his obtaining an interest in that Illinois land.
If, however, the written contract was in fact rescinded and the assignment of the Holloway judgment was a purchase by the appellant he fails to show by any proof in this record, how or in what way he had the right to apply the claims garnished in Clark to the payment of the Holloway judgment. In the absence of such an expla-nado we must regard ths appropriation of the monies as confirmatory of the contract relied on by appellee. The appellant in July, 1865, in a letter to the appellee on the subject asks the appellee to send him a copy, of the agreement made 'between Bowman, your son, and myself, so that I can be in position to' settle with Houston. This letter expressly recognizes the existence of the agreement relied on by the appellee and is sought to be made by the appellant the foundation of a settlement with Houston’s attorney for the appellee of the matters in controversy. In a conversation had by the appellat with the attorney, Houston, he (appellant) admitted that he was to apy off this Holloway judgment and only insisted upon his right to the claims garnisheed in Clark. Whilst we are inclined to the opinion that the appellant may have believed that he had the right to be substituted to the rights of General Sam Williams as against his son John S., still the facts upon this record leave no doubt upon the mind of the court but that the appellant was to be entirely exonerated from the payment of the Holloway judgment.
The amended petition, filed by the appellant, alleges “that if the contract was rescinded it was not a bona fide rescission, but made with a view to avoid any illegality in the sale and the parties still agreed to fully carry out said agreement — that the defendant entered into the possession of his land under the agreement and fully ac^ knowledged it verbally and in writing, etc. To this amended petition and the specific allegations therein contained the appellant makes
The defendant, making a statement in his answer to an original petition, that if true, is ¡consistent with the allegations of an amended petition afterwards filed, does not dispense with the necessity of answerig specifically the allegations of the amended petition, especially where these allegations are material and not set forth in the original petition, and therefore an answer to such an amended petition “That the defendant denies all the statements therein contained' inconsistent with his original answer is no such denial of the allegations of the amended petition as required by the code.
The allegations of the amended petition material to the issue in this case stand undenied, and must be taken as true. The appellee is entitled to the relief asked for upon both the pleadings and proof.
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.