Washington Fire Insurance v. Maple Valley Lumber Co.

Citations

• 77 Wash. 686
• 138 P. 553
• 1914 Wash. LEXIS 965

Syllabus

<p>Usury — Actions—Evidence—Sufficiency—Bonus or Profits on Resale. Under tbe rule that the burden of proving the defense of usury Is upon the party alleging it and that it is necessary to establish an unlawful intent, the defense of usury, in an action to foreclose a mortgage for $25,000, is not established where it appears that the defendant was desirous of purchasing certain timber at $105,000, the owner’s selling price, but was unable to raise any money, when it interested the plaintiff’s president in the matter, who secured the loan of $25,000 from the plaintiff to enable the defendant to handle the matter, under an agreement that he would purchase the timber and resell it to the defendant at an advance of $20,000, represented by four notes for $5,000 each, which were to be paid without interest as the timber was cut, and which sum was conceded to him as his profit in the transaction, although, in consummating the deal, the deed to the timber was made direct to the defendants in order that deferred payments on the purchase price would not appear as liabilities of the plaintiff or its president; the testimony as to the final consummation of the deal indicating that the notes were intended as a profit on the resale and not as a commission or bonus for securing the $25,000 loan.</p>