Payne v. Clark

• Decision Date: 31 March 1856
• Citation: 23 Mo. 259
• Parties: PAYNE, Respondent, v. E. W. CLARK & OTHERS, Appellants.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

23 Mo. 259

PAYNE, Respondent,

v.E. W. CLARK & OTHERS, Appellants.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

March Term, 1856.

1. A certificate of deposit made “payable to the order of the depositor on return of the certificate, sixty days after date, with interest at the rate of six per cent. per annum,” will bear interest after maturity as well as before. (LEONARD, J., dissenting.)

Appeal from St. Louis Circuit Court.

This is a suit upon the same certificate of deposit as that involved in the suit of Payne v. Clark & Bros., formerly in this court, and reported 19 Mo. 152. The object of the present suit is to recover the amount mentioned in the body of the certificate--$1014. The only question now presented is as to what amount of interest the plaintiff is entitled to recover. The certificate is as follows:

“Banking House of E. W. Clark & Bros.

No. 760.

St. Louis, Mo., 26th Feb'y, 1851.

L. P. Payne has deposited in this office one thousand and fourteen dollars (in funds as below), payable to the order of himself, on return of this certificate, sixty days after date, with interest at the rate of six per cent. per annum.

$1014.

Currency,

$404 00

Cash,

1010 00

$1414 00

E. W. CLARK & BROS.”

The finding of the court is as follows: “That the defendants, on the 26th day of February, 1851, executed and delivered to the plaintiff the certificate upon which this suit is founded, being for the amount of money on that day deposited by the plaintiff with the defendants at their banking-house in the city of St. Louis, as set forth in the petition; that some time in the month of July, 1851, the plaintiff caused the said certificate to be presented for payment at said banking-house, but, instead of demanding the sum justly due thereon, the agent who presented the certificate claimed the sum of $1414, together with interest thereon, which amount defendants refused to pay; that a few days only previous to the commencement of this suit plaintiff again caused said certificate to be presented for payment at the same banking-house, when the agent of the plaintiff claimed of defendant the principal and interest on said certificate at the rate of six per cent. per annum up to the time of such last mentioned presentment or demand; but defendants refused to pay the amount so demanded, but were ready and willing and offered to pay the amount of principal and interest thereon up to the maturity of the certificate or for sixty days only, that being, as they stated, their understanding of the terms of the contract; which sum plaintiff's agent refused to receive, and the certificate still remains unpaid. At the time of the first presentation, no tender was proved by the defendants, but there was only a refusal to pay the sum demanded; but the defendants, at the time of the maturity of the certificate, and always since, had on hand, at their banking-house, funds sufficient to meet this and all other liabilities, and plaintiff could at any time, either at or after the maturity of the certificate, by presenting the same at the banking-house of defendants, have procured the amount of principal and interest for the sixty days only, that is, in the aggregate, $1024.65, defendants regarding that as the extent of their liabilities.

Upon the facts as thus found, the court orders and adjudges that plaintiff do recover of the defendants the amount of principal upon the said certificate, with interest from the date of the same to the present date (to be computed by...