Ellis v. First National Bank

Hart, J.,

(after stating the facts). The defense relied upon in the first paragraph of the answer copied in our statement of facts is that the Ellisville Lumber Company was coerced into selling the lumber for which the drafts sued on were given.

It is claimed that, by intendment at least, this paragraph shows that, by persistent pressure, the Ellisville Lumber Company was compelled to sell the lumber for which the drafts were given, in order to pay its debt to the bank. This did not in any sense constitute duress in law. It is not duress to threaten to do that which a party has a legal right to…