White v. Guilmartin
| Decision Date | 11 November 1889 |
| Citation | 83 Ga. 640,10 S.E. 444 |
| Parties | White v. Guilmartin et al. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Usury— What Constitutes.
Where cotton factors advance money to a customer in consideration that he deliver to them for sale for his account one bale of merchantable cotton for each $10 advanced to him, whether more or less than the specified sum, on condition that if he fails to deliver all or any part of the cotton he shall pay them in cash the full amount of advances, with 8 per cent, interest, and $2 for each bale of cotton so pledged as stipulated damages, payable when the cotton should have been delivered, he to repay the full amount by a given day, and also costs and attorney's fees, if he should be sued therefor, it is for the jury to decide whether the stipulations are a cover for usury. Following Callaway v. Butler, 7 S. E. Rep. 224.
Error from superior court, Scriven county; Hines, Judge.
In an action by Guilmartin & Co. against White, plaintiffs alleged that on February 26, 1886, they were cotton factors, doing business in Savannah, and as such consented to make advances to White before the 1st day of September thereafter, not to exceed $1,000. During 1886, and prior to the 1st day of September, 1886, they "advanced more than a thousand dollars, and in consideration thereof, and of $1 to him paid, White promised to deliver to them, or to their order, at Savannah, for sale from their warehouse for his account, at least one bale of cotton, of merchantable quality and weight, for each $10 that they may have advanced to him prior to the 1st day of September, 1886, whether more or less than the sum of advances above named; enough of said cotton to be delivered to them or their order by the 15th of October, 1886, to cover all advances which should have been made to him up to that date, and the balance to be delivered by the 1st day of January, 1887. He further promised that if he should fail to deliver to plaintiffs or their order all or any part of the cotton above pledged, to pay to them or their order in cash the full amount owed them for advances, with interest at 8 per cent, per annum, and $2 for each bale of cotton so pledged that he should fail to deliver, as stipulated damages, therein mutually agreed upon by him and plaintiffs, for his non-fulfillment of said contract; said damages to be due and payable on the dates when the cotton above pledged should have been delivered, and the full amount he may have owed plaintiffs for advances made prior to October 15, 1886, to be payable on that day. He further promised that should the holder of the contract take legal steps to enforce the same, because of his failure to comply with its requirements, to pay all costs and expenses and attorney's fees that might be incurred in the case. He paid the amount advanced to him by them for 1886, and under the contract should have delivered to them 100 bales of cotton at the time therein specified, but has only delivered to them 37 bales, and has failed and refused to deliver the balance, or to pay the $2 per bale on the balance not so delivered, as stipulated damages, as agreed upon. Wherefore they bring suit against him for $126, with interest from January 1, 1887, and attorney's fees.
The defendant pleaded that at the time the contract sued on was executed by him, when plaintiffs...
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Dwelle v. Blackwood
... ... and make the profits on such handling alone, that caused the ... making of the contract. In White v. Guilmartin, 83 ... Ga. 640, 10 S.E. 444, it was expressly ruled that the ... question as to whether stipulations of this kind made in ... ...
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Dwelle v. Blackwood
...it was to handle the cotton, and make the profits on such handling alone, that caused the making of the contract. In White v. Guilmartin, 83 Ga. 640, 10 S. E. 444, it was expressly ruled that the question as to whether stipulations of this kind made in contracts were made as a cover for usu......