Ewalt

The plaintiff brought suit under the provisions of the Usury Law of California to recover treble the alleged amount of interest which she was compelled to pay for a loan of money according to the terms of a promissory note. Judgment was rendered against her upon findings which declare that the challenged note was evidence of only a portion of a larger indebtedness incurred as a part of the same transaction which was not usurious as a whole. From this judgment the plaintiff has appealed.

The appellant and Otis L. Griffin purchased the Chrysler Garage at Santa Barbara. The garage property was subject to an indebtedness of $30,000, represented by two notes held by the respondent, which were executed by former owners of the property and secured by trust deeds upon the garage property. One thousand dollars of this indebtedness was due July 1, 1928. About this time Griffin applied to the respondent for a loan to refinance the debt. After the $1,000 had been paid the appellant and Griffin made a formal written application to the respondent to borrow ' $29,000 to refinance the indebtedness against the property. It was agreed that if the owners of the garage would reduce the indebtedness…