Churchill v. Bowman
Churchill v. Bowman
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
This is an action of assumpsit and the question is whether the facts found by the county court constitute a payment of the claim sought to be recovered.
The plaintiffs sold and delivered to the defendants a quantity of old iron amounting to $276.52, of which sum it is claimed by the plaintiffs that $11.65 was due and unpaid at the time this suit was commenced. The defendants admit the sale and delivery of the iron at the price charged, and allege in their notice, of special matter of defence, that at the time of the sale and delivery of the iron to the defendants, Cheedle, one of the plaintiffs, was indebted to the defendants in the sum of $11.65 for a saw gummer, manufactured by the defendants for Cheedle ; that the plaintiffs, before the commencement of this suit, agreed with the defendants to deduct the $11.65 due for the saw gummer from Cheedle to the defendants, from the amount due the plaintiffs for the iron; that they then received of the defendants $264.87 in full payment for the iron, the last mentioned sum being the balance for the iron, deducting the aforesaid claim against; Cheedle.
Several authorities are cited by the plaintiffs’ counsel to show that where the sum due is a liquidated amount, about which there is no dispute, the receiving of a part of such debt, under an agreement that the same shall be in full satisfaction, is no bar to an action to recover the balance. But this case does not come within the doctrine of those cases, for the defence is, in fact, payment and not accord and satisfaction. The county court found that Cheedle was, at the time of the settlement, indebted to the defendants in the sum of $11.65 for the saw gummer, and, although a claim against Cheedle alone, it was competent for the plaintiffs to accept it in payment of their company debt. The plaintiffs’ debt, we think, was paid-in full; they received of the defendants in money and in the claim against Cheedle the sum of $276.52, which was the full price of their iron. The defendants’ argument constituted a promise to
We find no error in the proceedings of the county court, .and the judgment of that court is affirmed..
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Churchill and Cheedle v. Bowman and Mansfield
- Status
- Published