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Show QUESTION ARISES imvm lai E. H. Botsford Refuses to Pay Interest Charged hy E. E. Darling. ATTORNEY SAYS CONTRACT IS UNCONSCIONABLE ----VS. Issue Was Argued in Judge Ritchie's Division of Court Wednesday. E. II. Botsford borrowed $100 from E. E. Darling, agreeing to pay $2.50 interest a month until tho note matured in tcu months, and $5 a month thereafter. Ho did not pay tho note when it was due, and Darling instituted in-stituted action for tho sum, although ho had received $37.50 moro than tho amount of the original loan. Botsford objected to paying in tho neighborhood of' $200 for $100. Tu Judge Ritchie's division of tho Third district court, tho case was argued Wcdnesdaj', and tho court took it under un-der advisement. Tho question for tho court . lo consider con-sider is whether it is good public policy to allow tho contract to stand in view of tho usurious interest exacted. There was no law in existonco regulating tho amount, of interest that might be charged when the note in question was executed, and the law of 1907, making notes bearing moro than 12 per cent interest illegal and uncollectible, was not iu force and can not apply to the present case, The court is to decide, therefore, whother it is possiblo for an equity court, not bound by statutory restrictions, to intorposo and declare tho contract betweeu Botsford and Darling Dar-ling illegal, on tho grounds of public polie3'. Botsford does not complain of the $2.50 a mouth interest beforo ihe note matured, but objects to tho payment of $5 a month, or 00 per. cent interest a year, after niaturitj-. His attorney at-torney classes the contract as "unconscionable," "uncon-scionable," and ono which should not be recognized. Darling's attorney says the court has no right to interfere, as Botsford entered en-tered into the contract with a full understanding un-derstanding of tho conditions it imposed upon him. . . Thcro have- been several decisions in similar cases by tho courts, but no rule was set. This is tho first case of its kind in tho local courts sinco tho passing pass-ing of tho Gardner bill, making 12 per cent the maximum interest and providing provid-ing that more than that amount is usurious, and if exacted, shall forfeit both tho principal and tho interest. The passage of this bill has materially reduced re-duced the profits of the loan companies, com-panies, it is authoritatively said. |