Ramey v. Ramey

• Decision Date: 26 April 1943
• Citation: Ramey v. Ramey, 181 Va. 377, 25 S.E.2d 264 (1943)
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court
• Parties: RAMEY et al. v. RAMEY.

25 S.E.2d 264

181 Va. 377

RAMEY et al.

v.RAMEY.

Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia.

April 26, 1943.

Error to Circuit Court, Clarke County; Philip Williams, Judge.

Action by Lillie Ramey and others against Ida J. Ramey on a promissory note. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiffs bring error.

Reversed, and final judgment entered for plaintiffs.

Before CAMPBELL, C. J., and HOLT, HUDGINS, GREGORY, BROWNING, EGGLESTON, and SPRATLEY, JJ.

George M. Beltzhoover, Jr., of Charles Town, and W. W. Butzner, of Fredericksburg, for plaintiffs in error.

Moore & Williams, of Bcrryville, for defendant in error.

HOLT, Justice.

On December 9, 1919, W. T. Ramey executed this note:

"$4,000.00 Charles Town, W. Va.

Dec. 9, 1919

"On demand I promise to pay to the order of Gertie Ramey Four Thousand (In-terest from date) Dollars. Value received. Payable at the Bank of Charles Town, "Charles Town, W. Va.

"Credit the drawer.

"W. T. Ramey."

On it Mrs. W. T. Ramey appears as an endorser. She is the Ida J. Ramey who is the defendant here.

This note was probably written by Miss Gertrude Ramey. When executed there were present Mr. W. T. Ramey and his wife and the three sisters--Miss Gertrude, Miss Lillie and Miss Laura. Miss Gertrude drew the check therefor; it was payable to the order of W. T. Ramey and Ida J. Ramey, who, as we have seen, was Mrs. W. T. Ramey. These sisters kept a joint bank account in the Bank of Charles Town, Charles Town, West Virginia, and on it each of them had the right to check and did check. That this check for $4,000 was then cashed and its proceeds paid over to Mr. and Mrs. Ramey does not merit further discussion. How its proceeds were used we do not know. Interest in full was paid to December 9, 1936.

Miss Gertrude Ramey died testate in 1932, leaving all of her property to her sisters, Lillie and Laura. W. T. Ramey died in 1940. Had action been brought against his estate, his personal representative would have been obliged to plead the statute of limitations, so it was not brought.

On December 9, 1940, Miss Lillie Ramey and Miss Laura Ramey went to the home of the defendant, Ida J. Ramey. The object of their visit was to have this defendant execute a new and renewal note for the $4,000 of date December 9, 1919. These three ladies, together with Mrs. French Ramey--wife of French Ramey, a brother--went into conference in a room in the defendant's home. All of them remained in that room until their purpose had been accomplished, with these exceptions: Mrs. French Ramey went once to a telephone in another room and there was an adjournment for lunch.

Miss Lillie Ramey produced the new note for $4,960. "Renewal" was endorsed on its face. Mrs. Ramey looked at it and expressed surprise at its amount. The $960, she was told, represented interest which had accumulated on the old note and was unpaid. She said that she had been advised by Mr. Beltzhoover not to sign any notes. After some discussion it seemed advisable to consult Mr. Beltzhoover, and she said to Mrs. French Ramey: "Will you go to the telephone"--She went and returned, giving this account of her effort to reach him: "She asked me to go to the telephone and call up Mr. Beltzhoover and if it was all right with him she would sign it. I went to the telephone, could not get him, come back and told them I could not, that is all I said."

The defendant then went alone into her room upstairs for pen and ink, signed the note, came down and gave it to Miss Lillie. She was eighty-four years old when testifying and quite deaf. This is her account of that incident:

"When the note was presented to me I was shocked and astonished for a minute. I said, 'I cannot, I promised Mr. Beltzhoover not to sign any notes.' She said if he said so will you? I said, 'If he said so I will sign the note, not dreaming he would say so. The next thing I remember--I had the shock of my husband's death--the next thing I think it was Miss Lillie Ramey--I know it was her--handed me the note and I understood her to say he says sign it, so I said, 'I will have to go upstairs, my pen and ink is upstairs': I went up and that is all I remember about it."

Miss Lillie Ramey, Miss Laura Ramey and Mrs. French Ramey all say that Miss Lillie Ramey made no such statement as that testified to by the defendant. Miss Lillie Ramey did not go out of the room during this conference, and there was no telephone in it. She knew nothing about Mr. Beltzhoover's admonition. In these circumstances and in view of the report which Mrs. French Ramey had just made to all in the conference room, it is highly improbable that she made the statement attributed to her. It was the defendant who had requested Mrs. French Ramey, a witness not directly interested, to get in touch with Mr. Beltzhoover. This witness' report was to all of those present. She either heard that report or did not, and if she was in any doubt about it, she should have asked that it be repeated. And it is to be remembered that this defendant is not relying upon what Mrs. French Ramey told her but upon what Lillie Ramey said-- "I know it was her."

In passing, it should be said that Mr. Beltzhoover was not then the defendant's lawyer, and the salutary advice which he gave her was general and referred to no particular note...