Court Opinion

ID: 9516242
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 23:39:01.372974+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:15:40.767919
License: Public Domain

Mr. JUSTICE GEORGE J. MORAN dissenting: In construing a written instrument, it should be read and considered as a whole. The intention of the parties is not to be gathered from detached portions of the contract or from any one clause or provision standing by itself, but each part of the instrument should be viewed in the light of the other parts. (Martindell v. Lake Shore National Bank, 15 Ill.2d 272.) One clause of the instrument may be modified or limited by another clause, and no word should be changed if, by considering the entire instrument, all parts of it may be interpreted to create one consistent plan. Metcalfe v. First Nat. Bank of Pittsfield, 312 Ill.App. 385. The context in which an ambiguous word is used often determines its meaning. (Saunders v. Fox, 178 Ill.App. 309.) The use of the word “guarantee” does not necessarily import a guaranty contract. Kurth v. Forreston State Bank, 348 Ill.App. 581. “Frequently nuances of meaning of words in a contract are sharply revealed by their association with other words. The ancient maxim of noscitur a sociis’ summarized the rule that the meaning of words may be indicated or controlled by those words with which they are associated. Words are known by the company they keep. * # * Where any particular word is obscure or of doubtful meaning when taken by itself, the obscurity or doubt may be removed by reference to associated words.” 17A C.J.S. 149. A careful examination of the letter in question discloses nothing to suggest that this writing constitutes a contract of guarantee. The word “guarantee” is present, but it is surrounded by language indicating that the letter was meant merely as an introduction, or recommendation, or reference. When the author of the letter in question wrote, “I will personally guarantee the Reese Company,” he completed the meaning by continuing the rest of the sentence without even the interruption of a comma, “and I believe the finest reference I could give you would be Mr. James Lentz, Vice President of the Indiana National Rank of Indianapolis.” In the completed sentence we have a completely unambiguous communication. Its author is emphasizing personal recommendation and supporting it with one obtainable from another apparently prestigious individual. There are not two separate, different thoughts or ideas in this sentence, which would necessarily be the case if plaintiff’s contentions are accepted. Rather it is clear that defendant was repeating in the part of the sentence following the conjunctive “and” the same meaning that preceded it, that is a recommendation or source of reference. “The word ‘and’ in its common meaning expresses a relation, an addition, and whether used to connect words, phrases or sentences, it must be accepted as binding together and as relating the one to the other.” (Hailey v. County Board of School Trustees, 21 Ill.App.2d 105, 112.) This type of inference is customary, and I believe reasonable people under the circumstances would so understand and evaluate it. The next two sentences in the paragraph further clarify the meaning of the sentence in question as one of recommendation or reference. They state that Art Lodge and Dun and Bradstreet are references in addition to the James Lentz mentioned in the previous sentence. Therefore, the consistency and single purpose of this paragraph is established as a recommendation. The first sentence indicates that he is an individual of substance and a person whose recommendation should have great weight. In the next three sentences he furnishes three other business references for consideration of the recipient of the letter. Obviously, this letter could have but one meaning. It is a letter of reference. The first paragraph tells who the officers of the Reese Corporation are. The second contains references, and the last paragraph is another reference: “We will make a fine company for you and if there are any other questions, please feel free to contact me. I am sending a box of our Heath chips as my reference.” The only possible ambiguity is a patent one — the use of the words “personally guarantee”. However, when read in the context of the entire letter, the purpose of the writing is so overwhelmingly clear that any reasonable doubts are quickly dispelled and there is no ambiguity. One of the meanings of the word “guarantee” is “to vouch for”. A reasonable person, and in particular a business person, would see only a letter of reference emerge from the present writing. Plaintiff has, throughout the course of litigation, as evidence by his own complaint, contended that his case rests on a written contract guarantee. Since the writing which constitutes the alleged contract unambiguously presents itself, upon a common-sense examination, as a letter of reference, the order of the trial court dismissing the complaint as to Heath is correct and should be affirmed.