Mkt. & Fulton Nat. Bank v. Sargent

Decision Date16 March 1893
Citation85 Me. 349,27 A. 192
PartiesMARKET & FULTON NAT. BANK v. SARGENT.
CourtMaine Supreme Court

(Official.)

Exceptions from supreme judicial court, Waldo county.

Action on a promissory note by the Market & Fulton National Bank against Francis T. Sargent. Plaintiff had judgment and defendant brings exceptions. Exceptions overruled.

R. F. Dunton, for plaintiff.

W. H. Fogler, for defendant.

WHITEHOUSE, J. This was an action on a promissory note for $785, brought by the plaintiff bank as indorsee of Earl B. Chace & Co. against the defendant as maker of the note.

The defendant seasonably filed his affidavit that the paper declared on had been materially altered since it was executed.

The facts were not controverted. The defendant had signed a prior note for the accommodation of Chace & Co., which was outstanding and overdue at the time of the signing of the note in question. At Chace's request he agreed to sign three other accommodation notes to take up the overdue note, each to be for one-third of the amount; but, when the parties met for the purpose of executing this agreement, the amount of the overdue note was not definitely known to either of them, but was understood to be between $600 and $650. Thereupon, at Chace's suggestion, the defendant signed three printed blank notes, and delivered them to Chace, who agreed to fill them out with the requisite amount specified in each, when ascertained, and use them for the purpose of taking up the overdue note. The note in suit is one of the three notes thus signed; but instead of making it for one-third of the overdue note, according to his agreement Chace fraudulently wrote in "Seven hundred and eighty-five dollars," and indorsed the note to the plaintiff bank before maturity in the ordinary course of business, receiving therefor the full amount of the note, less $15.96 discount thereon. It is not claimed, however, that Chace made any alteration in the printed terms of the blank thus delivered to him. He simply inserted in the blank spaces such words and figures as were necessary to constitute the instrument a complete promissory note. There is also positive testimony from the plaintiff's discount clerk that at the time the note was discounted, the bank had no knowledge of any equities existing between the defendant and Chace, but took the note in the usual course of business. Upon this evidence the presiding justice directed the jury to return a verdict for the plaintiff for the amount of the note in suit.

This instruction was correct. The court may properly instruct the jury to return a verdict for either party when it is apparent that a contrary verdict could not be sustained. Heath v. Jaquith, 68 Me. 433; Jewell v. Gagne, 82 Me. 431, 19 Atl. Rep. 917; Moore v. MeKenney, 83 Me. 80, 21 Atl. Rep. 749.

It is well-settled and familiar law that, if one affixes his signature to a printed blank for a promissory note, and intrusts it to the custody of another for the purpose of having the blanks filled up, and thus becoming a party to a negotiable instrument, he thereby confers the right and such...

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21 cases
  • Downs v. Horton
    • United States
    • Missouri Court of Appeals
    • 25 de fevereiro de 1919
    ...Bank v. Flath, 10 N. D. 281, 86 N. W. 867. Maine: Kellogg v. Curtis, 69 Me. 212, 31 Am. Rep. 273, 275; Market National Bank v. Sargent, 85 Me. 349, 27 Atl. 192, 35 Am. St. Rep. 376, 378. Ohio: Davis v. Bartlett, 12 Ohio St. 534, 80 Am. Dec. California: Hall v. Wells, 24 Cal. App. 238, 141 P......
  • Glendo State Bank v. Abbott
    • United States
    • Wyoming Supreme Court
    • 17 de julho de 1923
    ... ... due course. (Chapman v. Rose, 56 N.Y. 137; ... Biddeford Nat. Bank v. Hill, 102 Me. 346, 66 A. 721; ... Jewelry Co. v. Darnell, 135 ... third group are included Market etc. Nat. Bank v ... Sargent, 85 Me. 349; 27 A. 192, 35 Am. St. Rep. 376; ... Henry v. Sneed, 99 Mo ... ...
  • In re Hopper-Morgan Co.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Northern District of New York
    • 7 de junho de 1907
    ... ... its management. The claimant, First National Bank of ... Northampton Mass., was and is a duly organized ... 'In ... consideration that the Vermont Nat. Bank of Brattleboro, ... Vermont, has agreed to buy a ... Grover, 99 Cal. 194, 33 P ... 889; Market and Fulton Nat. Bank v. Sargent, 85 Me ... 349, 27 A. 192, 35 ... ...
  • Young v. Chandler
    • United States
    • Maine Supreme Court
    • 15 de dezembro de 1906
    ...is authorized to direct a verdict for either party when a contrary verdict could not be sustained by the evidence (Bank v. Sargent, 85 Me. 349, 27 Atl. 192, 35 Am. St Rep. 376; Bennett v. Talbot, 90 Me. 229, 38 Atl. 112; Coleman v. Lord, 96 Me. 192, 52 Atl. 645; Thompson v. Missouri Pacific......
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