165 Wis. 537 | Wis. | 1917
Tbe defendant claims that the writing in question is in its terms a guaranty of collection. The words, “I will guarantee your account with Ered Turner up to $250,” clearly indicate that the signer of the instrument intended to make himself responsible for the obligations Turner would incur in running an account for the purchase of goods from the creamery, and the plaintiff so understood it and extended credit to Turner accordingly. Hickcox’s subsequent treatment of the writing accords with .the idea that it is a guaranty of payment. The next clause of the writing, to the effect that settlements of the account were to be made “on the first and fifteenth of each month,” shows that the guaranty was to secure payment of any unpaid part of the Turner account up to the amount of $250, regardless of previous semi-monthly payments during the time credit was extended. The phraseology imports an undertaking by the defendant to pay Turner’s continuing liability under successive transactions on account, and is not limited as to time or to any specific account, and when accepted is operative until revoked.
It is earnestly contended that the court erred in holding that the guaranty became obligatory on the defendant. The court declared that, “although there was no formal acceptance and notice thereof given to TLickcox, it is apparent that the parties dealt with each other as if formal notice had been given.” This finding, if supported in the evidence, is in efi feet one that there was a mutual assent of the plaintiff and defendant to this contract and that the credit in question was extended to Turner in reliance thereon. Can it be said that the defendant had actual notice of the plaintiff’s acceptance of the guaranty within a reasonable time after the plaintiff’s acceptance thereof? The evidence shows that the plaintiff insisted on a settlement of Turner’s account in accordance with the terms of the guaranty on the 15th of August- and
By the Court. — The judgment is affirmed.