Lee v. J. S. Chick Inv. Co.
| Decision Date | 08 April 1922 |
| Docket Number | No. 22815.,22815. |
| Citation | 240 S.W. 129 |
| Parties | LEE v. J. S. CHICK INV. CO. et al. |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Appeal from Circuit Court, Jackson County; Thomas J. Seehorn, Judge.
Suit by Naomi S. Lee against the J. S. Chick Investment Company and others. From a judgment for plaintiff, the defendants Ross W. Latshaw and others appeal. Affirmed.
Counsel for the respective parties have made a statement of the case as required by the rules of this court. Both seem to be a fair and truthful statement of the facts as disclosed by the record, but we adopt that of the respondent because of the great length of that of the appellant's, which would unduly prolong the length of the case; it being 51 printed pages. The facts of the case are as follows:
On the 27th day of September, 1911, the respondent, then Naomi Mackey, purchased from the Chick Investment Company of Kansas City, Mo., a certain negotiable promissory note for $1,700, made and executed by Hunter C. Crist and Odette Crist, his wife, which said note was secured by a deed of trust on certain real estate situated in Kansas City, Mo., more particularly described in the pleadings and evidence. This note bore serial No. 2335 of the J. S. Chick Investment Company. Default had been made in the payment of the interest due on the Crist note, and foreclosure made. The property was sold at public sale under the foreclosure, and a trustee's deed issued to Loyal L. Morrison; said deed being dated the 21st day of June, 1912. On the 21st day of June, 1912, Loyal L. Morrison executed a deed of trust covering the property above described, to a. T. Herrick, trustee for the J. S. Chick Investment Company, to secure the payment of a note therein described of even date therewith for $1,700, serial No. 2439, payable five (5) years after date, with interest at the rate of 6 per cent. per annum from date, payable semiannually, according to the tenor of 10 interest coupon notes thereto attached for $51 each, which said deed of trust was duly recorded in the office of the recorder of deeds in Kansas City, Jackson county, Mo.
On June 21, 1912, Loyal L. Morrison made, executed, and delivered to the J. S. Chick Investment Company the principal promissory note No. 2439 for $1,700, together with coupons thereto attached, and said Chick Investment Company caused said note, together with all coupons, to be indorsed by it. On July 18, 1912, when respondent went to the office of the Chick Investment Company, she exchanged the Crist note for the Morrison note, and received the Loyal L. Morrison note No. 2439 for $1,700 on that date. At the same time, at the request of the Chick Investment Company, the deed of trust covering the property at 1302 East Twenty-Sixth street was left with the Chick Investment Company, who executed their receipt, which receipt, among other things, stated that the deed of trust was held subject to the order of Naomi S. Mackey. Naomi S. Mackey is the same person as the respondent here, inasmuch as she married one Robert Lee after the purchase of this note. Respondent has had the Morrison note, No. 2439, since the 18th day of July, 1912. The first interest payment on the Morrison note held by the respondent was paid by the Chick Investment Company on December 21, 1912, by their check of that date No, 17592, and according to the entry in the cashbook, which showed the payment. This is further evidence that respondent was the holder of this note prior to the time any of the other notes hereinafter referred to were issued or negotiated by the Chick Investment Company.
The transaction with the respondent was handled by Frank R. Henderson, a broker, who, as was customary when a loan was sold, made out a sales slip. This sale slip recites that the Morrison note No. 2439 for $1,-700 was sold to Mrs. Mackey on July 19, 1912, and that the note was delivered to her at that time. The sale slip contains an abbreviated history of the sale of the note, and we respectfully direct the attention of the court to it.
After executing the note and deed of trust, Loyal L. Morrison conveyed the property to the Hiram Estate Company, a corporation, which company had offices with Mr. J. S. Chick and Mr. Colvin of the J. S. Chick Investment Company, and which company was really a holding company for the Chick Investment Company, and assisted that company, apparently, in carrying out its purposes. Thereafter the Hiram Estate Company made a conveyance of the property in question at 1302 East Twenty-Sixth street to Ross W. Latshaw and Edna P. Latshaw, husband and wife, by warranty deed. It will be observed that the description of the $1,700 deed of trust is erroneous as to the book and page where the same was recorded. This reference is corrected by a statement shown at Record, 266, that the correct reference as to where the deed of trust was recorded was Book B-1437.
After the purchase of the property by Latshaw, he paid the interest on the $1,700 note to the J. S. Chick Investment Company, and the Chick Investment Company paid the interest to respondent. A number of months after Latshaw had purchased the property, he ascertained that there were four different notes, all apparently executed by Loyal L. Morrison, bearing serial No. 2439, purporting to be secured by the deed of trust above described, and being owned by Naomi S. Lee, the respondent herein, Albert Parker, F. W. Casner, and Scarritt Bible & Training School. On learning of this situation Latshaw bought the Parker note, which he considered, to use his own language, was "the original note," and which note he states came into Mr. Parker's hands on October 21, 1914, or more than two years after the negotiation and delivery of the note held by the respondent. Latshaw's investigation revealed, according to his own testimony, that the Casner note was negotiated in February, 1913, and that the Scarritt Bible & Training School got their note some time thereafter. All of these facts appear in the record as an admission on the part of the defendant Ross W. Latshaw.
In October, 1913, the defendant Latshaw purchased the duplicate note signed by Loyal L. Morrison for $1,700 from Albert Parker, stating that he paid $550 for this note. Parker, however, who sold the note, states that Latshaw paid him $200 for It, and that there was never any other or further consideration for it. On the payment of this sum Parker delivered the note to Latshaw, and Latshaw in turn delivered the note to Jesse E. James, who, at the request of Latshaw, made a marginal release of the deed of trust on October 29, 1916, on the margin of page 168 of Book B-1437. Latshaw took the responsibility of determining for himself which was the first note issued, and bought the Parker note.
Default then having been made in the payment of respondent's note, she, on investigation, found that the release above mentioned had been entered on the margin of her deed of trust. She also ascertained that the three other notes, all purporting to be signed by Loyal L. Morrison, had been negotiated to the various parties, who all claimed the security of the deed of trust. She then brought this suit, joining Casner, the Scarritt Bible & Training School, and Jesse James as defendants, and requesting the court, in her petition, to determine which party was the owner of the first note issued, and which party therefore was entitled to the lien of the deed of trust on the property at 1302 East Twenty-Sixth street. The petition also prayed, in the event the court found that the respondent was the owner of the first note issued, that the release of the deed of trust...
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