Owens v. Wright
Owens v. Wright
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting: I concur in the conclusion of the Court as to usury, but do not think what occurred on Saturday between the plaintiff and defendant made a new contract. Under the first agreement, which the Court holds to be invalid, the plaintiff was to pay the defendant $1,470 for. the goods and $800 on a note. He failed to get the money, and told the defendant he could not do so. The defendant then said: “I will tell you what I will do: If you will raise $1,880 on this thing, I will try to hold the offer open until 12 o’clock; but you must hurry up.”
Opinion of the Court
1. In respect to the breach of contract in the sale of the goods, the facts are that the Smith Company’s goods were being sold at auction by the receivers; there were other bidders at the sale; all had dropped out except plaintiff and defendant. Plaintiff Owens bid $1,465: Defendant bid $5 more. While this bid was being cried, defendant proposed to plaintiff that, if plaintiff would stop bidding and let defendant have the goods, defendant would sell them to plaintiff at the amount of defendant’s bid, viz., $1,470, on condition that, in addition to said sum, plaintiff should pay defendant $800 on the note here-inbefore mentioned. Plaintiff accepted the proposition and stopped bidding, and the goods were “knocked down” to defendant.
As we understand the case, the plaintiff does not seek to enforce this contract, or to recover damages of defendant for its breach.
Plaintiff could not recover, if nothing else appeared, for two reasons: first, because he failed to comply with the contract himself, and, secondly, because the enforcement of such an agreement, by which bidding at public sales is suppressed, is contra bonos mores, and the law will not assist either party
Tbe plaintiff further testifies that he endeavored to raise the $2,270 in time to pay the defendant the $1,470 for the goods and the $800 on the note, but failed to do so, and then informed the defendant that he could not comply with the agreement.
Whereupon defendant said to plaintiff on* Saturday morning: “I will tell you what I will do: if you will raise $1,880 on this thing, I will try to hold the offer open until 12 o’clock; but you must hurry up.”
Plaintiff further testifies that he accepted the offer and raised the $1,880 and went to defendant before 12 o’clock Saturday to comply with the new agreement; that at 11 or 11:30 a. m. plaintiff saw defendant, who at once said: “You are too late; I have held the thing open as long as I could, and can’t hold it any longer, and think I have sold it.” The defendant had sold the stock between 10 and 12 a. m. that day for $2,600, to other parties.
We think this last proposition made by defendant to the plaintiff was a new proposition, independent of and disconnected with the first agreement made during the auction sale. At the time the defendant made the last proposition the plaintiff had abandoned the first, and the defendant was in the sole and undisputed ownership of the goods.
He then; offered to sell them to plaintiff for $1,880, payable by 12 o’clock, and plaintiff accepted the offer. An offer to buy or sell becomes a binding agreement when the person to whom the offer is made accepts it and communicates his acceptance. 35 Oyc., 52 and 53.
'This last contract has no connection with the first, which was an agreement to suppress bidding and void, and can be enforced without calling in the aid of the first or illegal con- ■ track
“A new contract, founded, on a new consideration, although' in relation to property respecting which there had been unlawful transactions between the parties, is not itself unlawful.” Marshall, C. J., in Armstrong v. Toler, 24 U. S., 257.
2. The plaintiffs Owens and wife, Emma, also aver in their complaint that the $4,000 note hereinbefore described and secured in the deed in trust to Eoushee is usurious, and they pray affirmatively “that the defendant H. A. Foushee, trustee, be restrained and enjoined from selling the house and lot of plaintiff Emma D. Owens on the first day of July, 1911, as he has advertised so to do, until it can be inquired into and determined by the court what amount, if any, is justly due and owing by the plaintiffs on the note secured by said deed of trust or mortgage.”
His Honor seems to have held with plaintiffs that the note contained certain usurious charges, and eliminated them, but in adjusting the matter rested his calculation upon the decision of the Court in Churchill v. Turnage, 122 N. C., 426. To this ruling plaintiffs except and ask us to overrule that case.
The principle settled by that case is, that a debtor seeking the aid of a court of equity will have' the usurious element eliminated from his debt only upon his paying the principal and legal rate of interest, the only forfeiture enforced against the creditor being the excess of the legal rate. This case was subsequently cited and approved in Cheek v. B. and L. Association, 127 N. C., 122.
In Churchill v. Turnage no novel principle was promulgated, for the opinion recognizes that “the precedents are both numerous and uniform.”
The same principle was applied in 1847 -in Ballinger v. Edwards, where it is held in an opinion by Chief Justice Ruffin that “the statute of usury is as -binding in a court of equity'as at law, except in cases where the borrower asks the assistance of a court of equity, and then the court will compel him to do equity by paying the principal and the legal interest.”
To the same effect are the cases of Gore v. Lewis, 109 N. C., 539; Burwell v. Burgwyn, 100 N. C., 389; Purnell v. Vaughan, 82 N. C., 134; Beard v. Bingham, 76 N. C., 285.
In Simonton v. Lanier, 71 N. C., 498, Bynum, J., says: “As the defendants came into this court to ask favors, and this is a court of equity as well as law, they will be required to do equity, that is, to pay the debt and legal interest thereon.”
This principle of equity has been so thoroughly engrafted upon our jurisprudence that we do not feel disposed to disturb it. It applies alike to all classes of persons, married or single, and whether principal or surety.
The statute of 1907, chapter 110, Pell’s Revisal, 3712a, has been called to our attention, but an examination of it shows that if has no bearing whatever upon this case, and does not change the principles of equity declared and enforced, in the numerous cases we have cited, for more than half a century.
This principle which has been enforced so long in this State is universally followed in other jurisdictions. The Supreme Court of the United States, in passing on the National usury law applicable to National banks (a statute almost exactly like ours), has held in a great many cases that, “It is an established principle of equity jurisprudence that he who seeks the aid of equity to be delivered from usury must do equity by paying or offering to pay the principal and Jawful interest upon the money borrowed as a condition of granting the relief asked.” Ency. of Supreme Court U. S., 850. In note 69 will be found collected a large number of cases from that Court recognizing and enforcing that principle.
For the reasons given, we are of opinion upon the question of usury his Honor’s ruling was correct and must be affirmed.
Upon the other cause of action, relating to the breach of contract in the sale of the stock of goods, there must be another trial. .
The costs of this Court will be paid by defendant.
The judgment of nonsuit is set aside and the cause remanded to be proceeded with in accordance with this opinion.
Error.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting in part: I concur in so much of the Court’s opinion as relates to the contract between plaintiff and defendant E. H. "Wright, for the purchase of the goods formerly belonging to Smith Company, and sold by the receivers, as my view is that there was evidence of a breach of that contract entitling plaintiff to his damages for the same; but on the other question, as to the usury and the plaintiff’s rights in that respect, the view which I take of the law compels me to dissent.
I do not deny that there are a few precedents which apparently support the conclusion reached by the Court, but they do not take into account the provisions of our statutes which bear upon the matter. The Eevisal, sec. 1951, declares that “the taking, receiving, reserving, or charging a greater rate of interest than 6 per centum per annum, either before or after the interest may accrue, when knowingly done, shall be a forfeiture of the entire interest which the note or other evidence of debt carries with it,” and “if the greater rate of interest has been paid, the person by whom it has been paid may recover back twice the amount of interest so paid.” Where an action is brought to recover the amount of the note, the payee is allowed by the same section to set up the penalty as a counterclaim. We have held, at this term, that the legal effect of this statute is to make the loan one without interest, where usurious interest was reserved, and of course it becomes so as soon as the note for the loan is executed. Ward v. Sugg, 113 N. C., 489; Ervin v. Bank, ante, 42. In Smith v. B. and L. Association, 119 N. C., 249, it is said: “Where usurious interest is charged, all interest is forfeited, and the legal effect of the contract being simply a loan without interest, all payments, however made, must be credited on the principal, and, in addition, the borrower is entitled to recover, or have credited on the debt, double the amount of payments made as interest within two years prior to action brought.” This being so, when the present suit was brought, plaintiff only owed the defendant Wright the amount of the note less the payments, for, as we have seen, these must be applied to the reduction, of the principal, and, besides, it must be further reduced by the amount of
This is now only a proceeding to determine how the parties will share in the surplus of the fund realized from a sale of the land under the first mortgage, and for that purpose to ascertain how much is due by the plaintiff to the defendant R. II. Wright. Besides, Wright is claiming usury in this suit, that is, the sum of $1,478.44, as of 1 July, 1911, and he prays judgment for this amount in his answer. Upon the admitted facts, there is no calculation authorized by law by which he would be entitled to this amount. The note was for $4,000, and did not carry interest until twelve months after its date. Plaintiff testified — • and his testimony must be taken as true,'as- there was a non-suit — that he paid $2,987.44 on the note, which would leave $1,012.56, without counting any interest, for the note did not bear interest until after its maturity, 31 August, 1911, and the payments were made as follows:
1909. October 6 . December 4 December 10 1910. January 14 April 4 ... 1911. J anuary 17 1909. August 31 . $2,987.44 $ 150.00 100.00 50.00 15.0.00 1,950.00 197.44 390.00
What are the facts of this case? It must be remembered that the court withdrew the case from the jury and decided, upon the testimony, that plaintiff was not entitled to recover anything, and then entered judgment of nonsuit. This entitles plaintiff to have us take the most favorable view of the evidence in his behalf. When this is done, it appears plainly that the
It seems to have been overlooked, that this suit is also for the recovery of the penalty, and the equity rule, as it is called, does not apply. Cheek v. B. and L. Association, 127 N. C., 121. Nor does it apply where the usurer actually seeks a foreclosure or, as in this case, to recover his debt out of the proceeds of a sale made under a prior mortgage, which is practically the same thing., Bennett v. Best, 142 N. C., 168; Moore v. Woodward, 83 N. C., 531; Arrington v. Goodrich, 95 N. C., 462; Gore v. Lewis, 109 N. C., 539. The plaintiffs in this case are not asking for any equity, and, therefore, cannot be required to do equity, and besides, there is no equity to do, unless it can with reason and justice be said that, in order to avail himself of his
If the former decisions apply to this case, they should be overruled, so that a borrower may not be told that as soon as he attempts to enforce his rights be will lose them. I think the new trial should extend to tbe usurious transaction, and the law correctly administered in regard to that branch of the case.
Concurring Opinion
concurring in the dissent of Walker, J.: Ee-visal, 1951, provides that “taking or charging a greater rate of interest than 6 per cent per annum, either before or after the interest may accrue, when knowingly done, shall be a forfeiture of the entire interest which the note or other evidence of debt carries with it, or which has been agreed to be paid thereon. And in case a greater rate of interest has been paid, the person or his legal representatives or corporation by whom it has been paid may recover back twice the amount of interest paid.”
This statute makes no suggestion that the debtor shall not have this remedy when the creditor shall secure his debt by a mortgage and the debtor shall be forced to take action to prevent sale under the mortgage, and tenders the amount legally due according to the statute. Indeed, this Court wrote suclj. exception into the statute in Churchill v. Turnage, 122 N. C., 426, but that case has been cited only once since (and then it was distinguished), in Cheek v. Association, 127 N. C., 122. On the other hand, in Eevisal, 3712a, which has been enacted since Churchill v. Turnage, being chapter 110, Laws 19 07, it is provided that when a mortgage is given on household furniture the penalty is incurred. It was not intended, however, to restrict the remedy to mortgages in such cases, but merely to emphasize the remedy, for Eevisal, 1951, contains no exception of any kind.
I concur with Mr. Justice Walker that the statute .should be followed, and not' the exception engrafted upon it by judicial legislation in Churchill v. Turnage, supra.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- J. E. OWENS and Wife v. R. H. WRIGHT and H. A. FOUSHEE, Trustee
- Cited By
- 26 cases
- Status
- Published