Union Machinery & Supply Co. v. Darnell

Citations

• 89 Wash. 226
• 154 P. 183
• 1916 Wash. LEXIS 675

Syllabus

<p>Frauds, Statute op — ■ Promise to Pay Debt op Another — Original Undertaking — Consideration—Actions. An oral promise to pay $1,000 of the indebtedness of the promisee to another, in consideration of a mortgage securing an indebtedness of $4,000 due to the promisor, is an original undertaking upon a valuable consideration, and not a promise to pay the debt of another within the statute of frauds; and an action may be brought thereon directly by the person for whose benefit it was made.</p> <p>Evidence — Parol Evidence to Vary Writing — Rights op Strangers. The rule excluding parol evidence, to vary the terms of a written contract applies to strangers to the agreement in so far as they seek or assert rights based upon the contract, or originating in the contractual relation created by it.</p> <p>Evidence — Parol Evidence — To Vary Writing — Additional Consideration. Where a mortgage, complete and unambiguous in its terms, was given by a failing debtor to secure four certain notes, specifically described in the mortgage, the recital of the amount and character of the debt is invulnerable to parol attack in the absence of fraud or mistake, and it is incompetent to show by parol that, as an additional consideration for giving the mortgage, the mortgagee by a contemporaneous parol agreement undertook to pay the sum of $1,000 upon the indebtedness of the mortgagor to a third person; since it varies the written contract by adding new terms and creating new burdens.</p>