Farmers & Merchants Bank v. McLaughlin
Farmers & Merchants Bank v. McLaughlin
Opinion of the Court
Wliere a written agreement between a bank and its depositors, made in consideration of mutual benefits and to enable tbe bank, which, had been taken over for liquidation by the superintendent of banks, to continue operations, provides that there shall be deducted from the amount of each depositor’s deposit his pro rata part of the appraised value of described assets of the bank which are worthless and doubtful, and which the depositors, by this arrangement, agreed to purchase, but that the agreement shall not become binding unless depositors and creditors of the bank whose claims aggregate $150,000 shall have executed “this or similar agreements,” the “similar agreements” provided for are agreements of similar import between the bank and other depositors and creditors, i. e. agreements in which the depositors agree that there shall be deducted from the amount of their deposits their pro rata part of the assets described in the contract. There is such agreement where a depositor having a certificate of deposit accepts from the bank only a portion thereof in full payment of the deposit, and agrees that the bank apply the balance to the depositor’s pro rata part of the assets described in the contract.
2. In a suit by a depositor against the bank to recover an alleged amount due by the bank to him as a depositor, where the bank denied liability upon the ground that by virtue of an agreement between the bank and the depositors, such as indicated above, the unpaid amount of the plain
3. Although the contract provided that there should be deducted from the deposits of the depositors and creditors who were parties to the contract their proportionate part thereof for the purchase of the assets of the bank described in the contract, and that these assets should be transferred by the bank to the depositors and creditors who were parties to the contract, the bank had the right, upon the execution of the contract by the required depositors and creditors, to withhold from them such pro rata share of their deposits. In a suit against the bank by a depositor to recover the amount of deposit which represented his pro rata part of his deposit to be applied towards the purchase of the assets described in the contract, where it does not appear that the bank had failed or refused to transfer the assets to the depositors and creditors who were entitled to them by the contract, it is not essential to the bank’s right to withhold the deposit that the assets of the bank had
4. The court erred in excluding from evidence the original contract which was in writing.
5. The court did not err in excluding other testimony which was inadmissible as being conclusions of the witness and hearsay.
6. The court erred as above indicated in excluding evidence offered by the defendant, and in directing a verdict for the plaintiff.
Judgment reversed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.