Hezel v. Schatz
Hezel v. Schatz
Opinion of the Court
On October 1, 1897, one Christian Wentz, being the owner of 14 head of cows, placed them with the dei féñdant, Schatz, under a contract in writing, by the terms of Wíhich Scla'atz was to keep the cows'for a term of three years, at the end-of which time he was to réturn the original cows and one-half of the natural increase therefrom, and was to retain the other Onó-h'alf as' -his compensation for feeding and caring for the same. On October 6, 1898, about a year after the making of the contract, the said Wentz sold and assigned to the plaintiff his interest in the contract, by a written assignment thereon, and on the samó day made a chattel mortgage on the cattle to the plaintiff; both the mortgage and the assignment of the contract being to secure the payment of 28 promissory notes executed by said Wentz, and payable to the plaintiff,' amounting, in the,.aggregate -to $.600. In .the early .summer
A.t the close of all the evidence the plaintiff and appellant moved the court .to direct a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, which motion was denied. The appellant contends that having shown on the trial that he was the assignee of the said contract, and that the defendant refused to deliver the possession of the cows and one half of the increase to him, he was clearly entitled to recover in this action the value of the said stock,- and that the fact that the defendant, Schatz, had delivered the same to Wolf, the general agent of the brewing company, by direction of Wentz, constituted no defense to the action. It is insisted, however, by the defendant, (1) that the plaintiff, being simply the pledgee of the contract, could not maintain this action in his own name without proof that he had foreclosed the contract of pledge, or sold the contract, in the manner provided by the statute for the sale of pledged, property; and (2) if he could maintain the action in his own name, he could only recover the amount actually due, and secured by the pledged property, and that it was clearly shown by the evidence in this case that the plaintiff had never paid any consideration to Wentz on account of the security, and had not legally obligated himself to pay any amount on account of Wentz.
While the notes, on their face, prima facie imported a consideration, it was clearly shown, as will be seen, that no consideration, in fact, passed from the plaintiff to Wentz. The plaintiff, therefore, haid no special interest in this property, for which he would be entitled to a judgment in this action. Having sustained no detriment by the acts of the defendant, Schatz, in turning over the property to Wentz, or to'Wolf, as the agent of the brewing company, under the direction of Wentz, he could not, under any event, recover in this action. The verdict and judgment are therefore clearly right, and the court properly denied the motion of the plaintiff to direct a verdict, and the motion for a new trial.
In the view we have taken of the case, it will not be necessary to consider the other questions presented by the assignments of error, and discussed in the briefs of counsel.
The judgment of the circuit court, and order denying a new trial, are affirmed.
Reference
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- A chattel mortgage on certain cattle was given to secure the mortgagee for. his agreement to pay certain .notes given by the mortgagor to a third person. The cattle were in the possession of defendant under a contract to care for them for three years for, half their increase, and the mortgagor’s interest in this contract was.assigned to the mortgagee, also for security. The mortgagee never paid any part of the notes, and stated that he took the mortgage for the payee of the notes. Held, that there was no consideration for the mortgage and assignment, so that the mortgagee could not recover from defendant on his turning the cattle over to the payee of the notes with the consent of the mort* gagor.