Benton v. German-American Nat. Bank of Kan. City

• Decision Date: 19 September 1895
• Citation: 64 N.W. 227,45 Neb. 850
• Parties: BENTON v. GERMAN-AMERICAN NAT. BANK OF KANSAS CITY.
• Court: Nebraska Supreme Court

45 Neb. 850

64 N.W. 227

BENTON

v.GERMAN-AMERICAN NAT. BANK OF KANSAS CITY.

Supreme Court of Nebraska.

Sept. 19, 1895.

Syllabus by the Court.

A married woman and her husband were citizens and residents of the state of Missouri. The wife there indorsed, as an accommodation, merely, the promissory note of the husband, payable to a bank in that state. The statutes of Missouri (Rev. St. 1889, § 6864) in force at the date of the execution of said contract of indorsement provided: “A married woman shall be deemed a feme sole so far as to enable her to carry on and transact business on her own account, to contract and be contracted with, to sue and be sued, and to enforce and have enforced against her property such judgments as may be rendered for or against her, and may sue and be sued at law or in equity with or without her husband being joined as a party.” In a suit at law in this state against the wife, on her contract of indorsement, held:

1. That the contract of indorsement should be construed and governed, and the married woman's liability thereon determined, by the laws in force in the state of Missouri at the date of the execution of the contract of indorsement, and not by the laws of the state of Nebraska.

2. That the evidence established that the contract of indorsement in the state where made was neither void, nor voidable by the married woman, because of her coverture, and was as valid and binding upon her as though she had been a man.

3. The contract having been made by a married woman, a citizen of another state, and being a valid and binding contract under the laws of that state, the fact that it was not made with reference to, or upon the faith and credit of, her separate estate or business, afforded no sufficient reason why the contract should not be enforced by the courts of this state.

4. Evidence that notes deposited as collateral security for the payment of other notes were from time to time renewed, interest collected thereon in advance, and the time of payment extended, will not, of itself, support a finding that the holder of such original notes thereby extended their time of payment.

Error to district court, Douglas county; Davis, Judge.

Action by the German-American National Bank of Kansas City, Mo., against Nellie Frank Benton. Plaintiff had judgment, and defendant brings error. Affirmed.A. S. Churchill, for plaintiff in error.

Isaac E. Congdon and Haff & Van Valkenburg, for defendant in error.

RAGAN, C.

The German-American National Bank of Kansas City, Mo. (hereinafter called the “Bank”) brought this suit to the district court of Douglas county against Mrs. Nellie Frank Benton, on her indorsement of certain promissory notes previously made by certain parties, and delivered to the bank. The notes and Mrs. Benton's contract of indorsement were executed and delivered in the state of Missouri. The notes were payable there, and Mrs. Benton was at the time a married woman, and a citizen and resident of said state. The jury, in obedience to an instruction of the district court, returned a verdict in favor of the bank, and against Mrs. Benton, for the amount due upon the notes. To reverse the judgment pronounced against her upon this verdict, Mrs. Benton has prosecuted to this court proceedings in error.

1. One of the defenses to the action interposed by Mrs. Benton in the court below was that the bank, without her knowledge or consent, had granted to the makers of the notes indorsed by her an extension of time of payment; and it is now insisted that the court erred in instructing the jury to return a verdict in favor of the bank, because there was sufficient evidence introduced at the trial to support a finding of the jury that such extension of time for the payment of the notes had been given by the bank to the makers thereof, as pleaded by Mrs. Benton. The evidence, and all the evidence, is, in substance, that some time after the notes indorsed by Mrs. Benton had matured, some of the makers or indorsers of said notes deposited with the bank, as collateral and additional security for said notes, certain other notes. These...