Opinion ID: 1838702
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Is there intent to avoid the usury statute?

Text: If the contract on its face imports usury, the necessary intent will be implied, but if usury is not apparent from the contract itself, the intent must be gathered from the circumstances of the case.... The intent of the parties to an alleged usurious agreement, when not clearly apparent from the face of the agreement, is a question of fact for the jury to determine, considering the whole evidence, but it may be declared as a matter of law if only one conclusion can be reached from the evidence. [42] In the instant case the trial court was the trier of fact and determined that the intent to exact a usurious rate was disclosed on the face of the Agreement involved. This finding does not appear to be unreasonable in light of all the facts, and the reasonable inferences drawn therefrom by the trial court. While this court is not bound by findings of fact in a case where they are undisputed by stipulation, [43] the trial court's conclusions are reasonable. Many of the factors noted by the trial court as indicia that purchases under the Agreement are not in fact time-price sales have frequently been held to be indicia of an attempt to evade the usury laws. [44] For example, once the courts find that the particular transactional agreement is not a true time-price sale, the sale is declared usurious. [45] A statement by the Arkansas Supreme Court in Sloan v. Sears, Roebuck & Co . is in point: Unfortunately, in the case at bar the seller happens to be a company bearing a splendid reputation for its dealings with the public; the amount of interest charged in excess of 10 percent per annum, permitted by the constitution, is not great, but if we should hold that this contract is not usurious, it would be a precedent by which all the sellers of merchandise of every kind and description could add any amount to the cash price as interest, carrying charge, differential or what not, that those whom the constitution and statutes were designed to protect would of necessity agree to pay. And art. 19, sec. 13, of the constitution, prohibiting usury, would amount to nothing more than a scrap of paper. [46]