National City Bank v. Shelton Electric Co.

Citations

• 96 Wash. 74
• 164 P. 933
• 1917 Wash. LEXIS 906

Syllabus

<p>Bills and Notes — Defenses—Forgery— Date of Instrument — Evidence. In an action upon promissory notes made by a corporation, a prima facie case is established by evidence to the effect that the persons signing as officers were officers of the corporation at the time the notes bear date, that they were authorized to execute notes for the company, and that their signatures were genuine, in view of Rem. Code, § 3402, providing that the date of a promissory note is deemed prima facie to be the true date of its execution; and it then devolves upon the defendant to establish its defense of forgery in that the note was not executed on its date, by clear, cogent, and convincing evidence.</p> <p>Witnesses — Impeaching Testimony — Substantive Evidence. In an action on a promissory note, the testimony of a witness in a former suit, introduced for the purpose of contradicting or impeaching his statement that the note was executed on the day of its date, is not substantive evidence of the truth of the matter contained in the contradictory statements.</p> <p>Bills and Notes — Holder in Due Course — Actual Knowledge— Statutes. Under Rem. Code, § 3447, providing that to constitute notice of a defect in the title of the person negotiating a promissory note, the person to whom it is negotiated must have actual knowledge of the defect, the rights of the holder are to be determined by the simple test of honesty and good faith, and it is not enough that the holder was negligent or omitted precautions dictated by prudence.</p> <p>Same — Holder in Due Course — Knowledge—Evidence—Sufficiency. Where promissory notes were signed by J. E. W. as an officer of a corporation, and were payable to the J. E. W. Company, an independent corporation to which J. E. W. had lent his name but in which he had no interest at the time, the fact that, after severing his connection with the maker and acquiring an interest in the payee company, he, as an officer of the latter, indorsed the notes, does not pr