General Merchandise Exchange, Inc. v. Goldman
General Merchandise Exchange, Inc. v. Goldman
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal from a judgment rendered in favor of the defendant, in the Bayonne District Court, the trial judge sitting without a jury.
The plaintiff’s action was based upon a promissory note made and given by the defendant to the plaintiff for the sum of $405.18, dated New York, April 7th, 1915, and payable one month after date at defendant’s office, 495 Broadway, Bayonne. The note was in due form.
The plaintiff’s action was instituted on April 28th, 1921, within a few daj’S of five years from the time the note ma: tured. The state of the case discloses that on or about January 4th, 1916, a petition in bankruptcy was filed against the defendant, in which proceeding the plaintiff was scheduled as one of the defendant’s creditors for the sum of $22.50; that on or about the 3d of March, 1916, the defendant filed a petition for composition with his creditors, which was successful, and the composition was confirmed on June 16th,
That the defendant was under the impression that the plaintiff signed the composition agreement is made clear from his testimony. That he might have been honestly mistaken as to that fact, after a lapse of five years, is easily conceivable.
The trial judge found, and we think properly, that at the time the note was given there ivas due and owing to the plaintiff only $22.50, which would have been wiped out, and was wiped out, by the approval of-the composition agreement; that the testimony of the defendant stands unrelated as to the fact that at the time the note was executed, that no business transactions had taken place between the plaintiff and the defendant.
The plaintiff did not see fit to establish that there was any consideration given by it to the defendant for the note, but relied on provisions of the Negotiable Instruments act, one of which provides that every negotiable instrument is to be deemed prima facie, to have been issued for a.valuable con sideration, and the other that absence or failure of consideration is a matter of defense as against any person not holding in due course, &c.
Of course, the presumption that there was consideration is open to its being rebutted, and when there is testimony tending to establish that there was no consideration, an issue of fact is presented for the trial judge to determine, and his finding on a question of fact, supported by testimony, is not reviewable here.
The fact that the burden of establishing the lack of consideration is upon the defendant, who asserts it, does not abrogate the legal rule that where there is any testimony tending to support the finding of a trial judge on a question of fact, such finding is not properly reviewable.
"We think that the finding of the trial judge that the note sued upon was without consideration is supported by testimony, and therefore the judgment of the District Court is affirmed, with costs.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- GENERAL MERCHANDISE EXCHANGE, INCORPORATED v. JOSEPH GOLDMAN
- Status
- Published