Tryon & Carter v. Collins
Tryon & Carter v. Collins
Opinion of the Court
The suit was by appellee Collins against Tryon & Carter, a firm composed of J. L. Tryon and S. F. Carter, Jr., as makers, and said S. F. Carter, Jr., and Lang Smith, as indorsers of a promissory note dated March 19, 1919, for $1,500, interest, and attorney’s fees, payable 60 days after its date to the' order of said Lang Smith, and against said firm as makers and Lang Smith as indorser of a promissory note date February Í8, 1918, alleged to be a renewal of a note dated August 31, 1917, for $3,000, interest, and attorney’s fees, payable, it seems, to the First National Bank of Love-lady. The judgment was in appellee’s favor against the firm and the members thereof and Lang Smith for the amount of the $1,500 note, but he was denied a recovery on the $3,000 note. The appeal was prosecuted by the firm and S. F. Carter, Jr.
The trial was to the court without a jury. He found as facts, first, that the $1,500 note was made by appellant^ Tryon & Carter and indorsed by appellant S. F. Carter, Jr., for the accommodation of Lang Smith, and, second, that' the note was transferred to appel-lee before its maturity and for a valuable consideration paid by him.
*1056 “bona fide for full value, in the usual course of business, before maturity, and without notice of any circumstances impeaching its validity; and that he was the owner thereof, entitled to recover the full amount against all prior parties.”
In the second place, both Lang Smith and appellee testified at the trial that the latter acquired the note before it matured and paid value for it. Lang Smith said:
“I don’t kndw the exact date that I gave this note to Mr. Collins. I know it was after I came back from Houston with the note. I know it was before the maturity of the note. I got valuable consideration for the note. I don’t know ,as it is necessary for me to tell just what it was. I got part of it in overdrafts he had taken care of for me at the bank here, and part in money. I owed him more than $1,600 at that time. * * * I did not owe him personally, I owed the bank. * *. * I got a valuable. consideration for this note in some stuff that he took care of for me, money he paid out. I got $1,600 for it. I told you how I got it. I had some affairs he had taken care of for me personally from time to time, and I had, possibly, an overdraft. I really got it in the way of cash. I didn’t get the money.”
And appellee said:
“I own the $1,500 note made to Lang Smith and indorsed by S. P. Carter, Jr., and Lang Smith. The consideration paid was $1,500. A part of it was paid in money and the other part to take up some drafts that Mr. Smith had out tnat were being returned, coming back. That was paid a short time after he got it. It wasn’t due at that time.”
“I notice that the Lumberman National Bank, which is in print, has some lines drawn through it and Lang Smith is written above it. No, sir; the Lang Smith there is not in my handwriting. I think that is in S. E. Carter’s handwriting. It resembles his handwriting very much.”
And appellant Carter himself testified:
“I gave this note to Mr. Lang Smith for accommodation. * * * I knew when I signed that note and indorsed it on the back that it was to be used for Lang Smith to get money on. That was the purpose of it.”
How it could have served that purpose had it been made payable to the Lumberman National Bank was not explained by Carter. Evidently he intended to make Smith the payee in the note, and we think the trial court had a right to conclude he did so by crossing out the bank’s name and writing Lang Smith’s name therein before he signed and indorsed it.
The judgment is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- TRYON & CARTER Et Al. v. COLLINS Et Al.
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published