Taylor Feed Pen Co. v. Taylor Nat. Bank
Taylor Feed Pen Co. v. Taylor Nat. Bank
Opinion of the Court
Findings of Fact.
The appellant executed to appellee its note for $6,500, and a deed of trust on 5842/100 acres of land to secure the same. It brought this suit to cancel said note and deed of trust and to remove cloud from its title to said land. In 1910, the Taylor Cotton Oil Works was indebted to ap-pellee in a sum considerably in excess of the amount that appellee was permitted, under the national bank, laws, to loan to any one customer. Appellee had a mortgage upon the property of the Oil Works to secure all of its indebtedness, and considered the same safe, but desired to reduce said indebtedness to $25,000, in order to comply with the national bank laws. F. E. Ripley was the president and general manager of the Oil Works, company, and a stockholder therein. Ripley was security upon the notes of the Oil Works Company to the bank, amounting to $25,000, but was not security upon the open account due by the Oil Works Company to the bank. Ripley at that time was the owner of the land involved herein, and the president of the bank suggested that Ripley sell said land and use the proceeds in paying the open account of the Oil Works Company. Ripley replied that he did not wish to sell the land, for the reason that it was his homestead, that he intended to build upon it and make his home thereon, but that he was willing to mortgage the same to the bank. The bank declined to take a mortgage on account of Ripley’s claiming the land as his homestead. In further discussing the matter it was agreed .between Ripley and the president of the bank that Ripley would incorporate the Taylor Feed Pen Company, for $9,000, and deed said land to the corporation, taking its stock in payment therefor, and that the corporation would execute its note to the bank for $6,500, securing the same by deed of trust on the land, and that the proceeds of the note should be used in paying the open account of the Oil Works *177 Company to the bank. This was done, and it is to cancel this note and deed of trust that this suit is brought. An entry was made on the books of the Oil Works Company, showing its indebtedness to the Feed Pen Company in the sum of $6,500. The Oil Works Company subsequently became bankrupt, and Ripley, in behalf of appellant, proved up this account against it, and received a pro rata of the funds of the Oil Works Company. The case was tried before the court without a jury, and findings of fact and conclusions of law were filed herein. Without stating such findings and conclusions in detail, it is sufficient to say that the court found that the note and deed of trust executed by appellant formed a part of the consideration for which the land was conveyed by Ripley and wife to the Feed Pen Company, and that said note and deed of trust were binding upon appellant. Further facts applicable to the points decided will be stated in the opinion.
Opinion.
The note and deed of trust of appellant were executed without consideration. The Oil Works Company was indebted to the bank on open account as well as on note. Ripley was not liable on the open account; he did not owe the Oil Works Company anything. On the contrary, the Oil Works Company was largely indebted to him. The Feed Pen Company did not owe the Oil Works Company, and did not owe the bank. The transaction was simply one of a corporation undertaking to secure the debt of another corporation, and, in doing so, to use its funds for a purpose other and different from that for which it was incorporated. This it could not legally do. Article 1164, Rev. Stat.; Transportation Co. v. Pullman Co., 189 U. S. 25, 11 Sup. Ct. 478, 35 L. Ed. 55; Deaton Grocery Co. v. Harvester Co., 47 Tex. Civ. App. 267, 105 S. W. 556; Railway Co. v. Worthington, 88 Tex. 562, 30 S. W. 1055, 53 Am. St. Rep. 778; Bank v. Oil Co., 40 S. W. 330; Lumber Co. v. Pierson, 139 S. W. 618.
For the reasons stated, the judgment of the trial court, as between intervener and appel-lee, is affirmed in so far as it denies the in-tervener homestead rights in the land, and reversed in so far as it decrees foreclosure of mortgage lien against her; and the judgment as between appellant and appellee is reversed and here rendered for appellant.
Affirmed in part and in part reversed and rendered.
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Reference
- Full Case Name
- Taylor Feed Pen Co. (Ripley, Intervener) v. Taylor Nat. Bank. [Fn&8224]
- Cited By
- 5 cases
- Status
- Published