Kiel v. Miller
Kiel v. Miller
Opinion of the Court
In his petition in the court below, filed on June 8, 1921, appellee, Miller, sought to enjoin appellant, Kiel, from collecting any moneys due or to become due him in the conduct of his fish and produce business in San Antonio, and prayed for the appointment of a receiver to take possession of the business and of the stock, fixtures, and premises in use by Kiel in connection therewith, together with all accounts, notes, “bills payable,’’ and uncashed checks in Kiel’s possession, as well as of certain lands belonging to Kiel, without notice to Kiel, and without requiring Miller to give bond, the trial court issued the restraining order prayed for, and had notice issued to Kiel to appear on June 11, 1921, to show cause why a receiver should not be appointed for all the properties. This hearing was had, in connection with a motion to dissolve the injunction, on June 20th, but in the meantime, on June 14th, upon verbal order of the court, Miller filed a $500 injunction bond. Upon this hearing the court entered an order appointing a receiver as and for the purposes prayed for, except as to the lands mentioned, and continued the injunction in force until the receiver qualified and took possession of the properties, which Kiel was directed to deliver to him. All the costs were taxed against Kiel. It is from these orders the latter appeals.
In his petition appellee also alleged that on March 28, 1921, appellant executed and delivered to him his promissory note for $1,250 and interest, payable six months after date, and secured by a chattel mortgage on certain automobile trucks and fixtures used in appellant’s fish and produce business. The note was not then due, but appellee sought to at once mature the same and foreclose the mortgage, upon the ground that the property covered thereby was procured from him by the fraud of appellant, and was being unnecessarily wasted and injured. Appellee also sued on a debt alleged to be due him from appellant in the sum of $1,267.
It was contended by ‘Miller that the property, or at least the two trucks, covered by the mortgage, were being injured and were deteriorating in value, and in support of these contentions Miller alone testified that the trucks were in “good condition” when turned over to Kiel, and were in “pretty bad shape” when he last saw them, and in elaboration of these general conclusions further testified that when he saw the Dodge track last, which was more than a month before, it was “laid up” on account of having “no rubber on its wheels,” and that when he last saw the Ford, about a week before, “it seems like the engine is knocking. I did not test it myself, but I can get a mechanic here pretty quick that overlooked it.” He did not produce this mechanic as a witness, however, and rested his case on his own testimony as above set out. Other witnesses testified without contradiction that at the time of the trial both trucks had been very recently equipped with new tires and were in use in the business, and that both had been overhauled since the sale, and as much as $50 had been spent on renewing the parts in the Ford alone, which had “no knock outside the piston slap that cannot be called a knock,” and that neither track had had any abuse “outside the wear and tear that would come in making deliveries,” and were then in better condition than when received. This testimony does not show such unusual or unnecessary injury or deterioration in condition or value as would warrant the appointment of a receiver in order to preserve the property to secure the payment of the debt for which it is mortgaged. Miller knew these tracks were to be used in the conduct of the business he sold along with them, and, having himself used them for this purpose in that same business, he must have known they were subject to the usual wear and tear incident thereto, and when he accepted them as security for the payment of a debt, the maturity of which he himself fixed at six months, he will not be heard to declare the debt due at an earlier date and invoke the aid of equity to preserve the property in statu quo merely because, in the use to which he knew they were to be put, and as an incident to such use, the tires on one of them wear out, and an unexplained knock develops in the other. No' contention was made that the fixtures covered by the mortgage were being wasted or injured. We hold, then, that appellee failed to show by any testimony that the property covered by the mortgage had been unusually abused or injured, or that it had unnecessarily deteriorated in value so as to warrant the appointment of a receiver for the purpose of preserving them. There was no contention of a waste or deterioration in the stock of fish and produce. All parties agree, in effect, and it is of course a matter of common knowledge, that fish and produce are peculiarly perishable, and that sales thereof must be made quickly, if at all, and that to keep them in stock beyond a few days would destroy their value.
The judgment is reversed, and judgment is here rendered that the injunction be dissolved and the receivership, and injunction preceedings set aside and dismissed. All costs of said proceedings, and of this appeal, will be taxed against appellee.
<&wkey;For otiler eases see same topic and KEY-NUMBER in all Key-Numbered Digests and Indexes
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