Oliver v. Markes
Oliver v. Markes
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
This was an action of covenant by Markes against Oliver and Gilliam, in which there was a recovery below for $1,028 upon this bond: “State of Tennessee. We,
It is admitted in the case that one Trigg was the first, and Markes the second, accommodation endorsers upon the note then in suit. Markes complied with his agreement, and judgment was afterwards obtained against him, and he was coerced, to pay the sum of $1,064 by execution, on the 12th of July, 1858. Whereupon he instituted this action upon the bond. The sum of $128 was remitted, and the judgment reduced to $1,000, the penalty of the bond.
The defences are :
1. That- there is no consideration. The question of a seal implying a consideration aside, it was proved that Markes was accommodation endorser for Brown. That he proposed to confess judgment at the appearance term, December, 1857, for the purpose of taking judgment against Brown, his principal, by motion, who was then entirely good and solvent, but refrained from doing
2. The Court being requested, refused to charge, that before the plaintiff could sue upon this covenant, he was bound to show that he had pursued and exhausted his remedies against Brown, and the estate of Trigg, the first endorser. There was proof that Trigg’s estate was probably solvent, and that he was first endorser upon the note sued upon by the bank. But the Court instructed the jury that it was sufficient to maintain this action, that Brown had no property out of which the .money could be made, and that the plaintiff had been compelled to pay it.
This was correct. The bond contained no such conditions. The undertaking of defendants with Markes, was that, in consideration that he would not adopt the summary course the law allowed him, to make himself safe by subjecting the property of Brown, which was then ample, to the payment of the debt, he should be fully “indemnified” and saved “harmless,” “as endorser;” and these parties obligate themselves “to pay to him all sums of money which he may have to pay in consequence of said suit.” Such is their bond, and no additional terms, by implication, can be inserted.
Let the judgment be affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.