Nipp v. Parrish
Opinion of the Court
The writ of error in this case was sued out to reverse a judgment upon a guaranty alleged to have been made by J. B. Kipp and Charles Coe, the plaintiffs in error, of the payment of certain mortgage loans made by Dillwyn Parrish and James Brown Potter, the defendants in error, to certain clients of the plaintiffs in error. The defendants in error made the necessary jurisdictional allegations in their complaint, and then averred that in 1887 they were engaged in loaning money on notes and mortgages upon real estate in Kansas; that Edward Austin and Charles Tindkl, who formed a copartnership styled Austin & Co., were their agents to negotiate such loans, and to take notes, mortgages, and guaranties to secure the loans for them; that on June 1, 1887, the J. B. Kipp Land, Loan & Trust Company, which was a copartnership composed of the plaintiffs in error, were engaged in the business of soliciting and obtaining loans for borrowers; that on that day they made a written agreement with Austin & Co. to guaranty to them, for the benefit of their principals, the payment of the principal and interest of all mortgage loans negotiated by them through Austin & Co., the guaranty not to be considered in default until after default for 6 months in payment of the principal, or default for 60 days in.the payment of the interest, and the mortgage bonds, notes, and coupons representing the principal of any such loan to be assigned without recourse to them upon payment of the principal, interest, and charges upon it in full under the guaranty; that under this guaranty the plaintiffs in error procured various loans, the amounts, terms, and securities for which are fully set out, to be made by Austin & Co. for the defendants in error; that default was made in the payment of principal and interest of each of them more than six months before this action was commenced; that the de fendants iff error offered to assign the securities representing them to the plaintiffs in error, and demanded payment of the amounts due upon them under the guaranty, but they refused to pay. 'A demurrer to this complaint _was properly overruled. The plaintiff in error J. B. Kipp then answered. In his answer he admits that he and his partner signed the written agreement of guaranty pleaded in the complaint; but he avers that, at the time they signed it, thére was an understanding and agreement between them and Edwarct Austin, who procured their signatures, that each individual member of the copartnerships of Austin & Co. and the J. B. Kipp Land, Loan & Trust Company should sign the agreement of guaranty, and that
The answer is loosely and inartificially drawn. It pleads the evidential instead of the ultimate facts, and no court would make itself obnoxious to any just- criticism if it became bewildered and lost in the wilderness of its words. But a careful examination and comparison of its seven pages of closely printed allegations and denials has led us to the conclusion that it does deny that the written contract of guaranty on which the defendants in error count was ever completely executed, so that it became an existing agreement, and that it avers that the loans set forth in the complaint were negotiated under a conditional guaranty, the terms of which have not been complied with by the defendants in error. It goes without saying that if no contract of guaranty was ever made, or if the contract of guaranty under which the loans were negotiated contained conditions that were required to be complied with by the defendants in error or their agents before any liability would attach to the plaintiffs in error, and those conditions have not been complied with, the plaintiffs in error have a defense to this action. We are of the opinion that the plaintiff in error Mpp lias pleaded such a defense, and the judgment is accordingly reversed, and the cause remanded, with directions to grant a new trial.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- NIPP v. PARRISH
- Status
- Published