Flynn v. J. M. Radford Grocery Co.
Flynn v. J. M. Radford Grocery Co.
Opinion of the Court
The appellee instituted this suit against the Bangs Mercantile Company, and the members composing that firm, E. H. Flynn and A. E. Duff, and also C. W. Gill, to recover upon two promissory notes given by said Gill to said mercantile company each for the sum of $750 and each reserving a vendor’s lien on the property described in the plaintiff’s petition. The defense was, so far as necessary to state, that the Bangs Mercantile Company was indebted to the ap-pellee company in the sum of about $1,500, and that to secure the same, appellant and his partner, A. E. Duff, conveyed to C. W. Gill, a collecting agent of appellee, the property described in the petition, taking therefor the said Gill’s promissory notes, which were immediately assigned to appellee, and which are the notes sued on in this case. Appellant alleged that at the time of the transactions indicated the property in question constituted his business homestead, that he was the head of a family, and that his wife had not joined in said conveyance to Gill. The case was submitted to a jury upon the following special issues and one other not necessary to notice, viz.:
“First. Was the deed from the Bangs Mercantile Company to C. W. Gill intended by the parties thereto as a deed of conveyance or as a mortgage ?”
To which the jury answered:
“Deed of conveyance.”
“Second. Was the property the business homestead of E. H. Flynn at the time the deed to Gill was executed?”
To which the jury answered:
“Was not business homestead of E. H. Flynn.”
Upon the verdict so rendered the court entered a judgment for the plaintiff in the suit in accord with the prayer of its petition, and E. H. Flynn has prosecuted this appeal.
The sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict on the issue of homestead vel non is challenged in the first assignment of error. While the evidence is not entirely satisfactory, yet after a careful review, we feel unable to disturb the verdict. The testimony of appellant would undoubtedly have supported a verdict in his favor. He testified, in substance, that he bought the lot in the village of Bangs, upon which he erected a business house some time thereafter, in the *903 year 1901 or 1902; that from the time stated until the conveyance to Gill he occupied the premises as a place of business; that he is now using the storehouse as an office as city tax collector—
“we were using a part of it as a grocery store when this deed was made; there were two buildings on the lot, I was using one of the buildings at the time the deed was made. The deed was made in April, I believe, or May, and in the latter part of May we opened up a grocery store in the other building, the one that we were not occupying, so then we occupied both buildings on the lot. I never intended to abandon that in any way as a homestead. I went into the business as a member of the partnership early in the year 1910. We bought goods from Radford on credit. At the time we made this deed to Mr. Gill I was in my storehouse, the house involved in this controversy. Q. Isn’t it a fact that at the time you made the deed to this piece of property Robertson and Wilson were occupying this building? A. There were two buildings, and they were occupying one, and we were occupying the other.”
It is further shown without dispute that appellant was the head of a family, and that his wife did not join in the conveyance to Gill.
A. E. Duff testified that the only property the firm had at Bangs was the property conveyed, and that at the time of the conveyance it was not occupied by the Bangs Mercantile Company, but by Robertson and Wilson. “Nor was Mr. Flynn occupying it.” In answer to the question of how many buildings were on the lot Mr. Duff testified:
“There was an old warehouse at the back end of it, I believe; and if it was there at that time, we were occupying it and using it in connection with our business.”
That the warehouse was later torn down and built south of the other store.
“I don’t remember whether that warehouse was on that property when he deeded to Mr. Gill, but if it was, we were using it. * * ⅜ At the time Flynn and I sold the building to Mr. Gill we were in the mercantile business in another house. The other house that I am speaking of was nearly south but a little west from the other house facing the street and running south in front of us. This other building faced the north.”
The date of the deed to Gill was April 12, 1911, and appellee offered in evidence a letter from appellant dated 5/15/11, addressed to C. Gill, referring to the property as “your house here that Messrs. Robertson and Wilson were occupying when you bought same from us,” and offering to lease the same for a term stated at $15 per month. The proposed lease was later executed by the Bangs Mercantile Company “per E. H. Flynn.” On September. 30th thereafter the lease was renewed. On January 19, 1912, the Bangs Mercantile Company, per Flynn, wrote the Rad-ford Grocery Company a letter, in which it was stated, among other things:
“If it will suit you, we would like to buy back our storehouse that we sold to Mr. Gill. We can pay no cash on it, but we will give two notes, one due in the fall of 1912 and one in 1913. This will give you the Y. L. notes that you may handle to your advantage. * * * Please let us hear from you about the purchase of the storehouse.”
Appellee also offered a financial statement submitted to the appellee company by the Bangs Mercantile Company, dated December 21, 1911, in which the assets of the Bangs Mercantile Company was, among other things, stated as “E. H. Flynn, homestead; A. E. Duff, homestead; one-half interest in store building $950.” Mr. Flynn testified that the homestead referred to in the statement related to his residence, and that the one-half interest in the store building mentioned related to “the building that the larger class of mercantile company was carried in that we bought from Martin.”
“We must reject all evidence favorable to the plaintiffs in error and consider only the facts and circumstances which tend to sustain the verdict, and if the jury, in an honest and impartial effort to arrive at the truth, might have reached the conclusion embodied in this verdict, this court cannot set it aside.” Cartwright v. Canode, 171 S. W. 696.
Appellant’s second assignment of error is to the effect that “the undisputed evidence” shows that the conveyance to Gill constituted a lien or mortgage. Mr. Duff testified that:
“When we sold that property the way I understood it we were selling that whole property where the store building was as far back as it came. ⅜ ⅜ * We deeded that to Mr. Gill is the way X understood it and that was my intention when X signed that deed. * ⅜ * X know that I signed, and I understood that it was sold, and we got credit for it. ⅜ * * Pie [Mr. Flynn], explained it to me that we were selling Mr. Gill the property and getting credit for it.”
G. W. Gill testified, in substance, that he bought the property, took the deeds, and gave his notes, and that the notes were assigned to the Radford Grocery Company in payment and settlement of the like amount of the indebtedness of the Bangs Mercantile Company to Radford. He denied ever saying to Flynn that the deed and notes in controversy was a mortgage. Among other things, Mr. Flynn testified that:
“I told Gill that it was our homestead, the only business homestead I had, and it was not for sale, and he said it would suit him better to take a straight transfer to the property; that he could handle it better that way, I told him that would be all right, with the understanding that he would give me a written agreement that he would transfer the property back to us when we repaid the $1,500 we were owing Radford Grocery Company: that he agreed to do.”
Mr, Flynn also testified to other circumstances tending to show that the real transaction was for the purpose of securing the indebtedness due to the Radford Grocery Company.
All assignments are accordingly overruled, and the judgment affirmed.
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