Arthur & Co. v. Burke

Citations

• 83 Wash. 690
• 145 P. 974
• 1915 Wash. LEXIS 732

Syllabus

<p>Limitation of Actions — What Law Governs — Law of Forum. Where a creditor elects to sue in this state, where the debtor had resided ever since the inception of the debt, the statute of limitations of the forum governs.</p> <p>Same — -Defense. The statute of limitations is not an unconscionable defense, but a declaration of legislative policy to be respected by the courts.</p> <p>• Limitation of Actions — Tolling Statute- — Partial Payments— Burden of Proof. Credits of partial payments do not toll the statute of limitations unless a voluntary payment was authorized or ratified by the debtor; mere indorsement is not competent proof of the date of payment, and the burden of proof rests upon the party asserting it.</p> <p>Same — Tolling Statute — Credit on Notes — Intention of Debtor —Evidence—Sufficiency. Indorsements of partial payments upon notes are not sufficient to toll the statute of limitations where it appears that the debtor, then owing $600 on account, without regard to consigned goods, reconsigned the goods held on consignment for sale on commission with directions to credit his account with the proceeds when the goods were sold, and two years later, at the request of the creditor, executed notes for the $600 representing the balance due on account, upon which credits were later indorsed for antecedent sales of the reconsigned goods, the date of which sales were not shown but which must have been more than six years prior to the commencement of the action; since all intention of the debtor to have credits indorsed on the notes was negatived by the fact that the notes were not made until two years after the arrangement for such credits, and that no reference thereto was made at the time the notes were given.</p> <p>Same — Part Payments — Revival of Debt — Evidence — Sufficiency. A barred debt is not revived by part payment unless the circumstances show a clear and unequivocal intention on the part of the obligor to revive the whole debt; and assent to a re