Home Finance Co. of Rome, Georgia, Inc. v. Bank of Lafayette
Home Finance Co. of Rome, Georgia, Inc. v. Bank of Lafayette
Opinion of the Court
The Bank of LaFayette sued Home Finance Company of Rome, Georgia, Inc., to recover the amounts of two checks dated December 10, 1957, drawn on The National City Bank of Rome, by Home Finance Company of Rome, Georgia, Inc., and payable to Mavity Motor Company. The petition alleged that Mavity Motor Company endorsed said checks “for deposit only .to Mavity Motor Company” and deposited the checks to the credit of Mavity Motor in The Bank of LaFayette. The petition further alleged that at the time Mavity Motor Company endorsed and deposited said checks in said bank, the bank credited the full amount of the checks to the general account of the Mavity Motor Company without restriction and that thereafter on the same date the bank, relying upon the, checks, allowed Mavity Motor Company to check, and that said Mavity Motor Company did check, against said deposit in the full amount of said checks, and that after the defendant had made and delivered said checks and after they had been deposited in the plaintiff bank and the Mavity Motor Company had been allowed to check against said deposit the defendant ordered and directed the drawee, The National City Bank of Rome, not to pay the same, and that upon presentation of the said checks to The National City Bank of Rome for payment they were dishonored by the, drawee and were not paid for the reason that the defendant had countermanded payment of the checks. Under the authority of Pike v. First National Bank of Rome, 99 Ga. App. 598 (109 S. E. 2d 620), the court did not err in overruling the general demurrer to the petition.
We have been unable to find an authoritative ruling which fits the facts in this case but we think that the special concurrence by three justices in Faughnan v. Bashlor, 163 Ga. 525 (136 S. E. 545), states the correct rule and we think that the principle stated therein controls under the facts of this case. The concurring opinion in the above cited case states: “One of the defendants filed a motion to dismiss the petition for lack of service upon her. She likewise demurred generally to the petition, but filed the same subject to her motion to dismiss, reserving the right to insist upon this motion. Thereafter the demurrer was heard by the trial judge, and it does not appear that the de
The evidence .showed without dispute that C. M. Gilbert, the vice-president of the plaintiff bank, was in charge of all departments of the bank except the loan department, and that he, on December 10, dishonored, rejected and returned a check for $8,592.75, drawn by Mavity Motor Company to' the order of Home Finance Company, because the Mavity Motor Company did not have sufficient funds to cover the check. Mr. Gilbert further testified that he, on the next morning, permitted Mrs.
The first ground of the amended motion for new trial complains that the court erred in permitting the vice-president of the plaintiff bank to testify: “We paid absolutely no attention to it; that is a form put on there by the printer and every deposit ticket in the world has it there and we don’t pay any attention.” The objection to this testimony was that it varied the terms of the contract contained in a deposit slip. The form provision in the deposit slip provided that as to items for collection the bank acted only as collecting agent for the depositor subject to final payment in cash or solvent credits. The court technically erred in admitting this testimony as it tended to' vary the terms of the contract contained in the deposit slip. Under the facts this was harmless error as the facts show that the bank became a holder in due course provided it acted in good faith.
In special ground 2 the defendant complains that the court
The court did not err in overruling the defendant’s general demurrer to the petition or in dismissing the plea in abatement and traverse of service or in denying the defendant’s motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict, but did err in denying the motion for new trial as amended.
Judgments affirmed in part and reversed in part.
070rehearing
On Motion for a Rehearing by Bank of LaFayette.
The Bank of LaFayette contends that the ruling in Citizens & Southern Nat. Bank v. Johnson, 214 Ga. 229 (104 S. E. 2d 123) controls this case. All the Supreme Court held in that case was that under the facts there might have been a. mistake in judgment and that a mere mistake of judgment did not amount to bad faith. The court there stated in different words what we understood the rule to be, to wit: “To constitute bad faith by a purchaser of a negotiable instrument before maturity he must have acquired it with actual knowledge of its infirmity or with a belief based on the facts or circumstances as known to him that there was a defense or he must have acted dishonestly.” (Emphasis supplied.)
The bank also contends that Code § 37-116 was superseded by that section of the Negotiable Instruments Law, now Code § 14-506. Code § 37-116 provides: “Notice sufficient to excite attention and put a party on inquiry shall be notice of everything to which it is afterwards found such inquiry might have led. Ignorance of a fact, due to negligence,, shall be equivalent to knowledge, in fixing the rights of parties.” The rule before the passage of the uniform act in 1924 was embodied in Code (1910) § 4291 which provided: “Any circumstances which would place a prudent man upon his guard, in purchasing negotiable paper, shall be sufficient to constitute notice to a purchaser of such paper before it is due.” The gravamen of the old rule
Rehearing denied.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- HOME FINANCE COMPANY OF ROME, GEORGIA, INC. v. BANK OF LAFAYETTE Et Al.
- Cited By
- 5 cases
- Status
- Published