National Mutual Building Loan Association of New York v. Frank Brahan
Decision Date | 04 April 1904 |
Docket Number | No. 158,158 |
Citation | 48 L.Ed. 823,193 U.S. 635,24 S.Ct. 532 |
Parties | NATIONAL MUTUAL BUILDING & LOAN ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK, Plff. in Err. , v. FRANK V. BRAHAN |
Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
This action was brought in the circuit court of Louderdale county, Mississippi, to recover interest, claimed to have been usurious, paid by defendant in error to plaintiff in error upon a loan made by the latter to him. The action was brought under § 2348 of the Code of the state of 1892, which provides as follows:
The case was tried to a jury, which, under the instructions of the court, returned a verdict for the defendant in error, upon which judgment was duly entered. The judgment was affirmed by the supreme court of the state. 80 Miss, 407, 57 L. R. A. 793, 31 So. 840. This writ of error was then sued out.
The plaintiff in error is a building and loan association, incorporated under chapter 123 of the Laws of the state of New York, passed April 10, 1815, entitled 'An Act for the Incorporation of Building, Mutual Loan and Accumulating Fund Associations,' and the acts amendatory thereof, to wit,—chap. 564, passed June 9, 1875; chap. 96, passed April 1, 1878.
The purpose of the association is to make loans only to its members, and for the further purpose of accumulating a fund to be returned to its members who do not receive advances on their shares.
The management of the association is vested in a board of directors, who have power to make by-laws. There is a president and other officers and a standing committee. The latter passes on all applications for loans. Membership is obtained by holding five or more shares of the associations and subscribing for membership. Shares are divided into three classes,—instalment shares, paid-up shares, and interest-bearing paid-up shares. We are only directly concerned with the first class. They are described in the articles of the association as follows:
It is provided, article 10, that dues on cach instalment share shall be 60 cents per month until the maturity of the shares. There is also a provision for fines and for The loan fund and loans are provided for as follows:
It is also provided that loans on real estate shall be secured by a first mortgage on the property offered for security, by promissory notes, bonds, mortgages, and deeds of trust of the applicant, or such other instruments as may be required, 'and for every loan of $100 he shall, in addition thereto, transfer to the association at least one share thereof as collateral security.'
In 1892 the plaintiff in error had an agent in the city of Meridian, Miss., who was authorized to receive applications for stock and loans, and to receive payment of dues, interest, and premiums, and to transmit the applications and payments to plaintiff in error at its office in New York. The domicil of the plaintiff in error was and is New York. The defendant in error in 1892 was a citizen of the city of Meridian, and made application, through the agent of plaintiff in error at Meridian, for a loan of $2,500, and to subscribe for twenty-five shares of stock, as required by articles of plaintiff in error. The loan was granted by the executive committee, under the terms and according to the conditions of the articles of association. Defendant in error made the following payments 'as dues, interest, premium, and fines on said stock and loan, to wit: Advance premium sent the association at New York, $66.25; paid defendant's agent at Meridian, as shown by the receipt book hereto attached, $668.75, and $2,500 paid the association in New York by draft sent them on November 7, 1893, in full payment of said loan of May 21, 1892.'
Defendant in error repaid this loan, but retained his twenty-five shares of stock, and paid his dues thereon for the months of December, 1893, to August, 1894, exclusive, amounting to the sum of $135.
In October, 1894, he withdrew five shares and received from plaintiff in error $73.90, the withdrawal value thereof.
In June, 1894, he withdrew five shares for another loan on his twenty shares, whcih was forwarded to plaintiff in error in New York by C. F. Woods It § agent. The loan was granted by the executive committee, and in consideration of the loan he executed to plaintiff in error a bond, assignment of shares, and mortgage of real estate.
The loan was repaid by crediting thereon the sum of $649.70, the withdrawal value of his shares, payment by draft on New York of the sum of $1,473.96; interest, dues, fines, and premiums, $868. Part of the latter was paid through the agent and part was sent directly to plaintiff in error.
The bond and mortgage given by defendant in error to secure the loan recited that they were given in consideration of such loan, and expressed, as one of their conditions, that defendant in error would repay the sum loaned to plaintiff in error 'at its office in New York city, with interest for the same at the rate of 6 per cent per annum until paid, together with a monthly premium of ten dollars and no cents for eight years, or until the earlier maturity of said shares, should they mature before the expiration of the eight years, and in addition thereto the sum of twelve dollars and no cents for the monthly dues on the said twenty shares, which interest, premium, and dues are payable monthly on or before the last business day of every month, at the office of the association in New York city, until the maturity of the said shares, except the said monthly premium, which is to be paid for eight years only, and also all fines which may be imposed by the said association for default in payment of said interest, premium, or dues.'
To the declaration of defendant in error, plaintiff in error filed the general issue, with notice thereunder that plaintiff in error would give in evidence and prove the facts substantially as above stated. Subsequently, April, 1901, and August, 1901, plaintiff in error made motions for leave to amend its notice under the general issue. The amendments claimed rights under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, also under § 10 of article 1 of that instrument, and under § 1, article 4.
Defendant in error moved to strike out the amendments on the ground that they were filed without leave of the court. The motion was granted.
Testimony was introduced and at its conclusion defendant in error asked the court to direct the jury to find for him the excess paid over 6 per cent on both loans. The instruction was refused. The court, on the contrary, instructed the jury, at the request of plaintiff in error, that the first loan was not usurious. But the court charged the jury that the second loan was usurious, and directed them to find for defendant in error the sum paid by him in excess of 6 per cent on the loan ($2,000), with interest at 6 per cent per annum from July 1899, to date of trial.
Plaintiff in error asked the court to instruct the jury sustantially as follows:
1. Defendant in error, as a borrowing shareholder, was entitled to and did share in the profits of the association, and the contract was, therefore, valid, and not usurious.
2. The contracts were made and consummated in new York, and performable there, and are to be construed by the laws of New York, and under those laws the contract is valid, and not usurious.
3. Under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, defendant in error had a right to become a member and shareholder of the association, to be a borrower from it upon the terms and conditions of its articles, and made contracts with it performable in the state of New York, and reciprocally, plaintiff in error had the right to make the loan, and entitled under said amendments to have the 'contracts considered and their validity determined by the laws of the state of New York,' wh...
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