Thornburg v. Moon
Thornburg v. Moon
Opinion of the Court
“This is a suit instituted by G. M. Moon on the 24th day of November, 1914, against Orvale Thornburg. The plaintiff alleged in his petition that on or about the 1st day of March, 1913, J. E. Thornburg, the father of the defendant herein, made,, executed, and delivered unto plaintiff his certain promissory note in the principal sum of $143.12, due six months after date, and payable to plaintiff, with interest at the rate of 10 per cent, per annum, from date until paid, and providing for 10 per cent, additional on principal and interest then due as attorney’s fees, if placed in the hands of an attorney for collection; that by reason of the execution and delivery of said note the said J. E. Thornburg, promised to become liable and bound to pay said note, and, default being made in the payment thereof, it has become necessary,' and plaintiff has placed said note in the hands of his attorneys for collection, and has agreed to pay said attorneys 10 per cent, on both principal and interest now due on said note for their services rendered and to be rendered; that defendant Orvale Thornburg, who is the son of J. E. Thornburg, in order to obtain credit with the plaintiff, who was then and is now engaged in the grocery business in the town of Miami, and in consideration of the advancement, of said credit, promised, agreed, and became liable and bound to pay the said note of J. E. Thornburg, and in consideration of the advancement of said credit to this defendant he adopted and made the said note of J. E. Thornburg his indebtedness; that, in pursuance of the above agreement, plaintiff sold to defendant goods, wares, and merchandise to the extent of $72.3(>, at the special instance and request of the defendant, and, but for which agreement to take up and make his own the said note abbve described, plaintiff would not have parted with the title and possession of said goods, wares, and merchandise; that said J. E. Thornburg is now, and has been since the making of said agreement, notoriously insolvent, and owes numerous and divers bills in the town of Miami and elsewhere, and said defendant knew the financial condition of his father, J. E. Thornburg, and the reputation he had obtained for himself, with reference to discharging his obligations, and in order to clear up and discharge the unenviable reputation of his father, and to better strengthen his credits, was a part of the consideration of the adoption by the defendant of the above-described notes as his own debt,” etc.
From a verdict and judgment in the sum of $262.60, this appeal is prosecuted.
The first, fourth, and fifth assignments assail the action of the court in overruling certain exceptions urged by appellant to appel-lee’s pleading, the substance of which is above stated. These exceptions, when taken together, are simply a general demurrer to the sufficiency of the petition, and under them it is contended that the matters alleged show the agreement to pay the note to be within the statute of frauds, and, because it is not alleged that such agreement was in *960 writing, that it is unenforceable. All of the questions presented under these assignments have been discussed and determined adversely to appellant’s contention by this court in the cases of Harp v. Hamilton, 177 S. W. 565, and Enterprise Trading Co. v. Bank of Crowell, 167 S. W. 296.
What is here said also disposes of .appellant’s twelfth and thirteenth assignments.
Complaint is made in the sixth assignment of special charge No. 1, requested by plaintiff and given to the jury, upon the ground that it is upon the weight of the evidence. We overrule this assignment.
“You are charged that you should return a verdict for the plaintiff upon said open account, an you believe from the evidence that he is entitled to.”
Appellant testified that he did ,not think he owed appellee anything. In the light of this evidence, the charge was improper. If the issues of appellant’s minority, when the promise, was made and his subsequent ratification thereof were raised by the evidence, appellant’s special charge embodying such issues should have been submitted to the jury, and the tenth assignment presenting this question is sustained.
For the errors indicated, the judgment is reversed, and the cause remanded.
On Motion to Strike out Appellant’s Brief.
The motion is overruled.
other cases see same topic and KEY-NUMBER in all Key-Numbered Digests and Indexes
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Thornburg v. Moon.
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published