Case ID: mass_89/html/0340-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "Chapman, J.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

James H. Woodward vs. Jonathan B. Severance.
    Ii successive indorsers of an accommodation note have made no agreement that as among themselves their liability shall be joint, a second indorser who has taken up the note before its maturity may, upon due demand and notice, recover the amount from the first indorser.
    Contract brought by the second indorser against the first indorser of a promissory note, signed by Charles E. Rice and indorsed first by the defendant, then by the plaintiff, and after-wards by another person, all of whom, it was agreed, were accominodation indorsers, with no agreement or understanding among themselves in reference to their interest or liability, except such as would be implied by law. The note was discounted at a bank in Brighton, and before its maturity was taken up by the plaintiff, who again lodged it with the same bank for collection, and it was duly presented for payment, and payment refused, and notice given to the defendant. Upon these facts, judgment was rendered for the plaintiff in the superior court, and the defendant appealed to this court.
    
      J. B. Robb, for the defendant.
    
      F. A. Brooks, for the plaintiff.
   Chapman, J.

Where a note is indorsed by several successive indorsers for the accommodation of the maker, their rights and obligations in respect to each other are determined by the form of the contract, in the absence of any agreement between them. Tn the present case, there being no agreement between them, and the plaintiff having taken up the note, he can recover the amount of the defendant, who is a prior indorser. Clapp v. Rice, 13 Gray, 403. Weston v. Chamberlin, 7 Cush. 404. Sweet v. McAllister, 4 Allen, 354. Judgment for the plaintiff.