D. L. Gillespie & Co. v. Rogers

Citations

• 184 Pa. 488
• 39 A. 290
• 1898 Pa. LEXIS 925

Syllabus

<p>Judgment—Opening judgment—Promissory note—Practice, O. P.— Laches.</p> <p>Defendant filed an affidavit of defense to an action upon a promissory note, averring that the note was given for the accommodation of plaintiffs, without consideration. He subsequently withdrew the affidavit of defense and confessed judgment for the amount of the note. Fifteen months after the entry of the judgment he petitioned the court to open it, averring that the note was a forgery. An affidavit of another person accompanying the petition for the rule averred that the defendant was accustomed to sign notes in blank for the accommodation of the payee of the note in controversy, but that it was understood that the amounts filled in should never exceed three hundred dollars. In his petition for the rule defendant did not deny the genuineness of the signature or mention the agreement referred to in the affidavit. His knowledge of the transaction was the same when he made his affidavit of defense as it was when he presented his petition. It was not denied that the plaintiffs were innocent purchasers for value before maturity, and without notice of the alleged course of dealing. Held, that under all the circumstances of the case defendant was not entitled to have the judgment opened.</p>