Smith v. Keating

This judgment on a promissory note must be reversed because of the error of the trial court in withdrawing the defense of payment from the jury and directing a verdict for the respondents (plaintiffs).

The note (for $6,750) represented the balance of the purchase price ($26,750) of the plaintiffs’ home under an executory real-estate contract. To that complaint, appellants pleaded payment, and in support of that affirmative defense, produced evidence summarized as follows:

Respondents listed their home for sale with Charles P. Wolf, then a licensed real-estate broker in Seattle. On August 27,…