Mann v. O'Neil
Mann v. O'Neil
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Plaintiff brought this action to recover judgment upon the following written agreement:
$200.00. Waverly, Wash., May 5th, 1898.
On the first day of November, 1899, for value received, I promise to pay E. H. Morrison, James Hayes, and A. D. Thayer, or order, the sum of two hundred dollars, in consideration and upon condition that the Scoto-American Sugar Syndicate, Limited, of Glasgow, Scotland, or its assigns, shall by the first day of November, 1899, erect a factory for the manufacture of sugar from beets, having a minimum capacity of three hundred tons of*117 beets per day, at Waverly, in Spokane county, Washington. B. F. O’Neil."
The complaint, among other allegations, set forth:
“That during the months of April and May, 1898, the Scoto-American Sugar Syndicate, Limited, a corporation, of Glasgow, Scotland, entered into negotiations with the defendant and others, residents of Spokane county, Washington, such negotiations having for their purpose and object the erection by said corporation, or its assigns, of a beet sugar factory at Waverly, Washington, and that said negotiations were had for the purpose of ascertaining whether persons living at and in the vicinity of Waverly would subscribe to said corporation, or its assigns, sufficient land and money to warrant it in erecting said factory.”
It further alleged that for the purpose of inducing said corporation or its assigns to erect such beet sugar factory at Waverly, the defendant made the above agrees ment and delivered the same to the parties therein named, as trustees, for the use and benefit of the said corporation or its assigns; that thereafter said corporation assigned said instrument to' D. O'. Corbin; and that Corbin, relying on the faith of this subscription, among others, erected at Waverly, before the first day of November, 1899, a beet sugar factory having a minimum capacity of 800 tons of beets per day; that thereafter Corbin assigned said instrument for value to the plaintiff, who is the owner thereof. The answer admits, the execution of the instrument, and that Corbin erected the factory at Waverly, and denies all the other allegations of the complaint. The case was submitted to' a jury, and the verdict was. for defendant.
The errors assigned are upon the instructions given by the court, and upon the introduction of evidence, and it is also assigned that the verdict is contrary to, and
Plaintiff requested the following instruction which was refused:
“I instruct you, if you find from the testimony that plaintiff herein advanced money which was, used in carrying out the objects and purposes of the note- and contract sued on herein, and, in advancing the money, relied upon said note for his, repayment, then you must find for the, plaintiff.”
Plaintiff’s testimony tended to prove that he had advanced some money for a right of way for a short railway connection to the factory, for which advance Corbin had assigned the instrument, in question, with others, to plaintiff. But it is apparent that plaintiff
Other minor errors discussed are deemed immaterial in view of the conclusion that the case was correctly submitted to the jury. Affirmed.
Anders, Mount, Hadley, Fullerton and Dunbar, JJ., concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- W. E. Mann v. B. F. O'Neil
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- Syllabus
- SUBSCRIPTION POR SUBSIDY-ACTION ON CONTRACT — -EVIDENCE. In an action upon a subscription contract, tbe admission of parol evidence on tbe part of tbe obligor of tbe purposes of a meeting of tbe subscribers prior to its execution is not erroneous, where plaintiff has given bis version of the meeting. SAME. In an action upon a subscription contract, tbe verdict of tbe jury in favor of defendant is warranted, where tbe evidence tends to show that a foreign corporation obtained subscriptions from defendant and other farmers as a subsidy for tbe erection of a beet sugar factory; that these subscriptions were placed in tbe bands of three of their number as trustees who- were to retain same until assurances of tbe satisfactory construction of tbe factory, when they were to be turned over to tbe obligee or its assigns; that correspondence between the corporation and the committee showed that it had abandoned the proposed factory prior to said assignment because of the fact that a foreign corporation could not hold land in this state; that one member of the committee, without consultation with the others, took said contracts from a safe where they were deposited and delivered them t'o an assignee of the foreign corporation; and that its assignee had duly constructed the factory within the time limited. SAME-EIGHTS OE ASSIGNEE-INSTBUCTIONS. In an action by an assignee upon a subscription contract given for the construction of a beet sugar factory, the court’s refusal to charge the jury that if plaintiff advanced money which was used in carrying out the objects and purposes of the note and contract sued on, and in advancing the money relied upon said note for his repayment, they should find for plaintiff, was not error, where the evidence tended to show that his assignor had no rights under the contract by reason of its non-assignment to such assignor by the original obligee, and the court had fairly and fully covered the ground as to the rights of plaintiff’s assignor in other instructions given.