Dodge v. Cutrer

Supreme Court of the United States
Dodge v. Cutrer, 100 Miss. 647 (1911)
56 So. 455

Dodge v. Cutrer

Opinion of the Court

Smith, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

The written agreement executed and delivered by appellee to F. E. Dodge as a part of the consideration for the deed to her undivided one-half interest in the plantation purchased from her is not simply a promise to indemnify and hold harmless Mrs. Dodge from the payment by her of the debts due by herself and husband, as contended by appellee, but it is an express promise to pay these debts. Its language is “I agree to pay,” etc. This being true, and as the notes sued on are the joint notes of H. C. Dodge and F. E. Dodge, executed by them to appellant for a valuable consideration, appellant has the right to maintain this action in his own name, and consequently the peremptory instruction granted the appellee in the court below was error. Sweatman v. Parker, 49 Miss. 30; 30 Cyc. 67-74, inclusive, and authorities there cited.

Reversed and remanded.

Reference

Full Case Name
D. D. Dodge v. J. W. Cutrer
Status
under the firm name and style of H. C. & F. E. Dodge. Some marital troubles having arisen between them
Syllabus
1. Paiítnbksi-iip. Purchase of interest. Assumption of debts. Rights of creditors. Where the purchaser of a partner’s half interest in partnership property, agreed as a part of the consideration “to pay and hold harmless” the seller from the payment of all debts of the partnership, a partnership creditor could maintain an action against such purchasers in his own name. 2. Same. Such an agreement is not simply a promise to indemnify and hold harmless the seller from the payment pf the partnership debts but is an express promise to pay the debts.