Lowry v. Tivy
Lowry v. Tivy
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
This was an action on two promissory notes, both made by August J. Schmidt, the deceased member of the firm of Tivy & Schmidt, one dated October 9th, 1893, the other dated January 17th, 1894. Both notes are payable to the order of II. Hall, who is now Hannah Lowry, the plaintiff. Both are endorsed “Tivy & Schmidt.” These notes were made before the new Negotiable Instruments act of 1902 and are governed by the law of this state, as settled in Chaddock v. Vanness, 6 Vroom 517; Building Society v. Leeds, 21 Id. 399; Cadwallader v. Hirshfeld, 33 Id. 747; and as already pointed out in the opinion of this court upon a former writ of error in this case (Lowry v. Tivy). The endorsement itself imports no contract, and it was incumbent upon the plaintiff, therefore, to establish what was the contract, if anjr, evidenced by the endorsement. The endorsement was made by August J. Schmidt upon a note which, on its face, was his individual note, and as there is no suggestion that Schmidt had authority to bind the firm by an endorsement or guaranty of his individual paper, it was incumbent upon the plaintiff also to prove that the money was loaned to the firm of Tivy & Schmidt, and that their contract was the contract of makers of the note. The trial judge held that there was no evidence to go to the jury of such a contract and directed a nonsuit.
The question of the admissibility of Schmidt’s statements in the absence of Tivy has been already disposed of in the opinion of Justice Pitney when the case was here on a former writ of error.
The judgment should be reversed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- HANNAH LOWRY v. PETER TIVY, SURVIVING PARTNER OF TIVY & SCHMIDT
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published