Court Opinion

ID: 9625767
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 07:50:51.827601+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:56:25.982431
License: Public Domain

Chief Justice Bobbitt
concurring in result.
I agree that the record does not support the entry of summary judgment for plaintiff. However, I do not agree that the cited cases holding that parol evidence is admissible to show an agreement that payment is to be made solely in a specific manner or out of a specific fund constitute authority for holding competent the testimony of Brower and Messersmith. Nor am I prepared to overrule or modify our decision in Bank v. Slaughter, 250 N.C. 355, 108 S.E. 2d 594 (1959).
Here, more than one writing is involved. The record shows that the Parrish and Scott notes and agricultural security agreements were made to Smith-Douglass, plaintiff’s predecessor; that neither Parrish nor Scott paid any part of these obligations; and that $7,705.94, the amount of the Parrish and Scott notes, was included in the amount of the notes executed from time to time by Brower to plaintiff or its predecessors. The record is silent concerning the efforts, if any, made either by plaintiff or by defendant to collect the Parrish and Scott notes.
There was evidence that the Parrish and Scott documents “stayed in [Brower’s] drawer there,” as directed by Messer-smith. Whether plaintiff or Brower now has physical possession of the Parrish and Scott documents seems unimportant. The *67important point is that indebtedness of $7,705.94 is evidenced both by Brower’s note to plaintiff and by the notes of Parrish and Scott to plaintiff.
Under these circumstances, I am of the opinion that the testimony of Brower and of Messersmith was admissible on the ground that it was competent to explain the relationship between the Brower note and the Parrish and Scott notes.
Justice Sharp joins in this concurring opinion.