Brown v. Marmaduke

Citations

• 248 Pa. 247
• 93 A. 1023
• 1915 Pa. LEXIS 555

Syllabus

<p>Negotiable instruments — Promissory notes — Judgment note — Payment by third person — Purchase—Presumption of purchase— Extinguishment — Court and jury■ — Case for jury.</p> <p>1. Where a stranger to a note voluntarily pays and extinguishes the indebtedness, he cannot recover against the maker; where the transaction between him and the holder of the note is a purchase, he can enforce payment against the maker.</p> <p>2. Whether the payment of an indebtedness by a stranger to the creditor is a purchase or an extinguishment of the debt depends upon the intention of the parties at the time the transaction takes place. It is prima facie a purchase. Where the evidence is conclusive, the question of intention is for the court, but where the testimony would warrant different conclusions as to the intentions of the parties, the question is for the jury.</p> <p>3. Both makers of a judgment note, one a principal and the other a surety, died before the amount was paid. Later the widow of the principal paid the amount of thg note to the payee and the note was thereupon delivered to her. The widow then brought suit on the note against the executors of the surety and recovered. In a subsequent action by the executor of the surety, against the widow, as executrix of the principal, to recover the amount of the judgment, the defense was that the widow had paid the amount of the note individually, out of her own money, and that the debt was extinguished. It appeared that there was no assignment or transfer made on the notes but the holder thereof did not declare that he would not sell the note or that it should not be held by the widow as a purchaser with the right to recover from the makers; and two persons who were present and received the moneys for the payees at the time it was paid by the widow testified that at that time she said she wanted to pay the debts of her deceased husband and “that ended the debt” as far as the payees were concerned. Meld, the case, was for the jury