Coker v. Citizens' Bank Of Gainesville, (No. 16861.)

• Decision Date: 20 July 1926
• Docket Number: (No. 16861.)
• Citation: 134 S.E. 355,35 Ga.App. 595
• Parties: COKER. v. CITIZENS' BANK OF GAINESVILLE.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

35 Ga.App. 595

134 S.E. 355

COKER.

v.CITIZENS' BANK OF GAINESVILLE.

(No. 16861.)

Court of Appeals of Georgia,

Division No. 2.

July 20, 1926.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

Error from Superior Court, Floyd County; Moses Wright, Judge.

Suit by the Citizens' Bank of Gainesville against W. H. Coker. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant brings error. Affirmed.

Nathan Harris, of Rome, and J. O. Adams, of Gainesville, for plaintiff in error.

Willingham, Wright & Covington, of Rome, and C. N. Davie and Chas. S. Reid, both of Gainesville, for defendant in error.

JENKINS, P. J. Defendant, Coker, a resident of Rome, Ga., operated a shoe store in the city of Gainesville in a building which he leased from the Imperial Pharmacy, of which J. W. Jacobs was proprietor. His lease was at a monthly rental of $50, and had eight or ten years to run. He approached Jacobs in August, 1922, with a view to securing a cancellation of the lease, and offered Jacobs $1,000 in settlement of some $400 back rent then due, and to release him from future liability, which was refused. Barron operated a restaurant in the city of Gainesville, and on December 5, 1922, Barron and defendant's son, who was operating the shoe store for defendant, went to Rome, where Coker lived, and Barron and Coker entered into a written agreement whereby Barron took over defendant's lease on the shoe store, and defendant took over Barron's lease on the restaurant, and purchased the restaurant equipment, which Barron stated to him was worth $7,000 or $8,000. Coker agreed to pay Barron in consideration of this purchase and exchange the sum of $4,000, of which he then paid $500 in cash. Defendant demanded of Barron the keys to the restaurant on that occasion, and they were delivered, and at the direction of defendant his son took immediate charge and control of the restaurant in Gainesville, and thereafter operated same for the defendant. Coker made a trip to Gainesville on January 5, 1923, and on that occasion executed to Barron a note for $3,500, dated December 6, 1922, and maturing January 28, 1923. Upon the execution of this note, and in fulfillment of the terms of the previous contract referred to, Barron procured the cancellation of Coker's lease with the pharmacy by agreeing to pay the pharmacy $2,150 from the proceeds of Coker's note. It appears that Barron was insolvent, and owed the plaintiff bank the sum of $500, for which it had no security; that the pharmacy also owed the bank $1,000; and that the proprietor...