48 S.E.2d 159 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1948
The defendant failed to show any valid defense to the note she admitted signing, and the court did not err in directing a verdict for the plaintiff.
The plaintiff alleged that he was the holder of the note in due course. The defendant's plea and answer denied this allegation and undertook to allege a conspiracy between the original payee and the plaintiff; that the note was signed under an emergency created by the plaintiff and the original payee, which amounted to a fraud on their part in obtaining the note; that the note was for the debt of the defendant's husband, for which she was not liable, which was known by the plaintiff, and that the note was invalid because of total failure of consideration.
The note was introduced in evidence and the plaintiff testified as follows: "I am the owner of the note sued on in this case. I purchased it for value before it became due. I knew nothing of any defense to the note prior to the time I purchased it. I never saw the defendant, Mattie K. Evans, until today in this courtroom. She never talked to me. I am the proprietor of the Cascade Hardware Company. I do not sell roofing or siding." The defendant testified: "I signed the note sued on in this case. A Mr. Wade came to my house and got my husband to sign a contract to put some brick siding on my house. After my husband signed the contract with Mr. Wade, I went to the plaintiff, Mr. Johnson, and told him that I did not want this stuff on my house, that I could not pay for it. That was before this note was signed. He told me I would have to see Mr. Wade. The circumstances under which the note was signed are: My husband had blackened my eyes; they were terribly swollen; I could not read fine print. I signed the note on the representation of Mr. Wade that it was necessary for me to sign the note if I did not want the siding on my house. Only the printed matter was on the note at that time."
It will readily be seen that the defendant's testimony did not show that the plaintiff was not the holder of the note in due course, and did not show any conspiracy between the original *279 payee and the plaintiff, and did not show the signing of the note under such an emergency as would make it invalid, or such as would show a fraud upon her in obtaining the note; and did not show that the note was given for a debt of her husband, or that there had been a total failure of consideration. Her testimony speaks for itself. We do not think it made an issue which should have been submitted to the jury.
"`The holder, as the transferee, of a negotiable promissory note, is presumably a holder in due course. In a suit thereon by him against the maker, where the defendant pleads that the plaintiff is not a holder in due course, the burden is upon the defendant to establish this allegation in the plea.' CairoBanking Co. v. Hall,
Judgment affirmed. Sutton, C. J., and Felton, J., concur. *280