83 Fla. 66 | Fla. | 1922
Lead Opinion
This is an action brought by defendant in error as plaintiff against plaintiff in error as defendant
“$537.58/100. Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Feb. 11, 1918. One year after date I promise to pay to the order of the Fort Lauderdale Mercantile Company Five Hundred Thirty-seven, 58/100 Dollars at The Fort Lauderdale State Bank, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida; for value received, with interest after date at the rate of eight per cent, per annum until paid. The drawers and endorsers severally waive presentment for payment, protest and notice of protest and non-payment of this note.
“And should it become necessary to collect this note through an attorney, either of us, whether maker, security or endorser on this note, hereby agrees to pay all costs of such collection, including a reasonable attorney’s fee.
Due Feb. 11, 1919. F. A. FORBES.”
The declaration states the cause of action substantially in the form prescribed by statute. The amount sought to be recovered is the principal of the note, less a small payment alleged to have been made thereon, with interest and attorney’s fee as provided for by the note. To the declaration two pleas were filed. These pleas were demurred to by defendant. Upon a hearing this demurrer was sustained by the court. Other pleas were filed by the defendant. Upon motion of plaintiff these pleas were stricken. Thereupon judgment by default and final judgment were entered for plaintiff against defendant.
The orders sustaining the demurrer to the first pleas, granting the motion to strike the second pleas, and the entry of final judgment by the court against defendant are assigned as errors.
The first plea stricken avers that defendant did not promise in manner and form as alleged in the declaration. This plea is inapplicable to an action of this character and was properly stricken. Williams v. Peninsular Grocery Co., 73 Fla. 937, 75 South. Rep. 517; Bemis v. McKenzie, 13 Fla. 553.
The second plea avers that the note sued on was obtained from defendant by fraud and circumvention consisting in a representation by plaintiff’s manager to defendant that it, the plaintiff, held a claim of some sort against Forbes Pioneer Boat Line and requested defendant to give to plaintiff a note for the amount of such indebtedness, that such note would help the appearance of plaintiff’s books and that plaintiff would hold defendant harmless on such note; that acting under and confiding in this promise the note sued on was given.
The rule is that where fraud is relied upon in any pleading the averments must be specific and the facts constituting such fraud must be “specially pleaded.” Rule 66, Rules of Circuit Court — LawActions. If this is not done the plea will be held insufficient. Heathcote v. Fairbanks, Morse & Co., 60 Pla. 97, 53 South. Rep. 950; Langston v. National China Co., 57 Fla. 92, 49 South. Rep. 155; McClinton v. Chapin, 54 Fla. 510, 45 South. Rep. 35, 14 Am. & Eng. Ann. Cas. 365; Mutual Loan & Building Assn. v. Price, 19 Fla. 127.
The third plea avers that the note sued on “was given without any consideration moving from plaintiff to defendant ; that plaintiff by its manager advised defendant that plaintiff company held a claim against the Forbes Pioneer Boat Line, a corporation; that the same was an open account and was long past due and unpaid and that it did not look well upon plaintiff’s books and reflected upon the management of said corporation, and requested defendant to sign a note in the amount stated in said exhibit to plaintiff’s declaration, for the pui’pose of making the books of said corporation look better; that he would look to the Forbes Pioneer Boat Line for the payment of same; that same was not given to plaintiff as a promise to pay the debt to said corporation when made or to personally guarantee the payment thereof by defendant, and that the acceptance of said note by plaintiff was not in consideration
The plea amounts to nothing more than an attempt to contradict or vary the terms of a valid Avritten instrument by averring the existence of a collateral, contemporaneous parol agreement, evidence of which is according to’ the familiar rule excluding it, inadmissible. 2 Enc. of Ev. p. 453; Bacon v. Green, 36 Fla. 325, 18 South. Rep. 870; Haworth v. Norris, 28 Fla. 763, 10 South. Rep. 18; Harrell v. Durrance, 9 Fla. 490; First National Life Assurance
We do not overlook the recognized distinction between motions to strike and demurrers to pleas for the purpose of testing them. Southern Home Ins. Co. v. Putnal, 57 Fla. 199, 49 South. Rep. 922. And while it may have been that the stricken pleas in this case should have been tested by demurrer, they are so clearly insufficient as a defense to the action that a technically erroneous- method of testing their sufficiency cannot be said to have been harmful to the defendant. Charles v. Young, 74 Fla. 298, 76 South. Rep. 869; Hooker v. Forrester, 53 Fla. 392, 43 South. Rep. 241.
The declaration was filed on March 22, 1920. The order striking defendant’s pleas was made on January 6, 1921. On January 20, 1921, on motion of plaintiff a judgment by default was entered against defendant, and on the same day upon proof filed final judgment was entered for plaintiff against defendant. There was no application by defendant to have this judgment by default opened and set aside and writ of error was taken from this court on July 7, 1921, to review the judgment entered. Error is assigned upon the action of the court in entering judgment against defendant. There was no error in this action. Ten months intervened from the date of the filing of the
Affirmed.
Concurrence Opinion
Concurring.
It is a well settled rule that parol evidence is not admissible to vary or contradict the terms of a written instrument, and a written contract which is intelligible on its face must control. McNair & Wade Land Co. v. Adams, 54 Fla. 550, 45 South. Rep. 492; Rivers v. Brown, 62 Fla. 258, 56 South. Rep. 553; Solary v. Stultz, 22 Fla, 263.
A plea which avers a contemporaneous oral agreement that contradicts the promise contained in aii unambiguous negotiable note is not a defense to an action on the written instrument, since the contradictory parol agreement cannot legally be adduced in evidence to prove the averments of the plea. This rule does not exclude pleas averring a want or failure of consideration. 22 C. J. 1164.
The third plea does not aver a contemplated consideration that was not realized, which may be permissible (Odlin v. Stuckey, 76 Fla. 42, 80 South. Rep. 291); but in effect the plea avers that the execution of the note was predicated
In Odlin v. Stuckey, supra, the contemporaneous oral agreement set up in the plea of failure of consideration, did not contradict the note sued on.