Owsley v. Boles
Owsley v. Boles
Opinion of the Court
Opinion of the Court by
Affirming.
In the year 1889 appellant W. F. Owsley instituted an action in the Barren circuit court against S. EL Boles and wife, upon a note for $6,248.53, with several credits indorsed thereon. The defendants made no defense* and judgment was rendered against them. A few years afterwards Boles and wife filed a petition asking that the judgment be vacated, for the reasons that Mrs. Boles was a married woman and she did not owe the debt or any part of it, and the judgment was void. He alleged that the balance of the note sued on was composed entirely of usury, and that he had overpaid the debt due Owsley. A demurrer was sustained to this petition, and Boles and wife were given leave to amend. They filed an amendment and a demurrer was again filed. About this time Boles became paralyzed and the case was continued from time to time until Boles died in 1902. His son, Sid L. Boles, administered on his estate. He brought this action to settle his estate, making the heirs, Owsley, and other creditors defendants. By an order of the court this case and the cases of W. F. Owsley v. Boles and Wife and Boles and Wife v. Owsley were consolidated. Owsley sought to have his judgment declared valid. The administrator and heirs endeavored to and did defeat it, and Owsley has appealed.
There was no oral evidence introduced with reference to this claim; the appellees contending in the court below and here that the whole claim was composed of usury, and that no part of it was just. Owsley denied this, and his counsel contend that under the
Owsley’s counsel contends that he had the judgment for this debt, and the appellees cannot now defend on the ground of usury, and should be compelled to pay it, and, if it contains usury, they could then sue to recover it. In .the case of Hemphill’s Adm’r v. Millmore, 1 Ky. Law Rep., 331, this court passed upon this question contrary to appellant’s views, using the following language: “If there was usurious interest allowed in the judgment rendered, the cross-appellant, by an express provision of the statute in regard to the settlement of estates, was under obligation to purge it of the usury. While a judgment at law may embrace usury, the debtor cannot ordinarily resort to
In this action by appellees to settle the estate of S. H. Boles, one J. H. Boles, as administrator of J. M. Boles, filed his answer and counterclaim, and sued on a writing in words and figures as follows: “This day received of J. M. Boles thirty-nine hundred and fifty dollars which he borrowed for me of W. F. Owsley and W. Gr. Hunter at 10 per cent, interest at 12 months and which I am to pay. June 8, 1876. S. IT. Boles.” Appellees filed a reply, pleading payment and the statute of limitations. The proof was taken, and on the trial the court found that the writing sued on had been satisfied by S. IT. Boles in his lifetime; and the administrator of J. M. Boles appeals.
The appellant J. M. Boles and his sister, Mrs. Botts, gave their depositions in the case and testified with regard to verbal statements of and transactions with the deceased, S. H. Boles. They were distributees of J. M. Boles estate and -interested in the claims sued on. Under subsection 2 of section 606 of the Civil Code of Practice they were not competent to testify with reference to such transactions,
For these reasons, the judgments on both appeals are affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.