Bank of St. Mary v. Morton
Bank of St. Mary v. Morton
Opinion of the Court
This suit was commenced by attachment. The property upon which it was levied consists in a certain amount proceeding from the sales of 163 bales of cotton, which, having been sold by Franklin & Henderson, the garnishees, left in their hands, after payment of a draft for $50C0, drawn upon them by the defendant, and paid sometime previous to the sales, a balance of $938 98, the right to which is claimed by Patton, an intervening party, in whose favor judgment was rendered in the inferior court, from which the plaintiffs have appealed.
The record exhibits the following facts and circumstances : It appears that sometime in the beginning of 1844, the intervenor advanced to the defendant, Morton, at Columbus, Georgia, a sum of money, which was invested by' the latter in the purchase of cotton. Morton purchased 163 bales, which were shipped to Preston & M’Clay, of Apalachicola, whence they were reshipped and consigned to the garnishees at New Orleans. On the 7th of March, 1844, the defendant executed to Patton, the intervenor, at Columbus, a receipt for the sum of $7290 80, being “in full for invoice of 163 bales of cotton shipped to Messrs. P. & M. Apalachicola, por steamer Boston, on the 10th of February, and by them reshipped to Messrs. F. & H. New Orleans.” And on the same day, he, Morton, drew a bill for $5000, on the garnishees, payable to the order of the intervenor, which was duly paid. Oh
On the 11th of March,'Morton drew another bill of exchange, or order, upon the garnishees, in favor of R. Patton, to pay the balance of the proceeds of the cotton, to the order of the latter. This bill was endorsed by Patton to E. G. Casey, his agent, who forwarded it to Corning & Co. of New Orleans, his agents, after having, as such agent, endorsed it over to the order of the latter; and the evidence establishes, that Corning having, prior to the issuing of the attachment, met Franklin, (of the house of Franklin & Henderson,) in the street, he informed him, that he had received an order for the balance of the proceeds of the cotton. Franklin answered, that the cotton was not sold, and no further particulars were given by Corning about the order. It further appears, however, that Corning <fc Co. who were the bearers of Morton’s order, as the agents of Casey or Patton, were also the agents of the plaintiffs, and that by direction of the Bank, they caused the present suit by attachment to be instituted. This attachment was levied on the 2d of April, 1844, subsequently to the conversation between Corning and Franklin in relation to Morton’s order in favor of Patton ; and we find, in a letter from Corning <fc Co. to the cashier of the Bank, dated the 4th of April, 1844, that the latter had been previously apprised of the issuing of the attachment. The letter recites : “ Morton had given an order for the balance in favor of Casey, but it was not accepted, and, therefore, the attachment, we think, will hold good.”
The record further shows, that a letter was written by Casey to Corning <fc Co. on the 11th of March, 1844, in which the order for the balance was enclosed, with a request that the proceeds .of both bills, (including that for $5000,) should be remitted
We are satisfied, that the judgment appealed from is correct. Without its being necessary to inquire into the question of ownership of the cotton, the title to which appears to have been transferred by Morton to the intervenor, not only by the order which is the main basis of the intervention, but also by the receipt and invoice produced in evidence, and whieh might perhaps, being in good faith, be sufficient to divest Morton of his title to the cotton, and to entitle Patton to claim the proceeds thereof as his ; it seems to us, that it suffices that said proceeds were regularly transferred by the former owner of the cotton to the intervenor,, for a valuable consideration, before the date of the issuing of the attachment, to give the latter the right of recovering them as against an attaching creditor, provided it is shown, that due notice of the transfer was given to the debtor of said proceeds previous to the levying of the attachment. It is true, the only direct notice of the order proven to have been given to Franklin &, Henderson, results from a conversation which took place between Franklin and Corning, sometime previous to the sale of the cotton ; but the consignees must have also known from the invoice,,
This view of the question of notice, precludes the necessity of examining the two bills of exceptions found in the record, as neither of them has any bearing upon the proof adduced to establish it, with regard to the garnishees or debtors of the funds in dispute.
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The Bank of St. Mary v. William S. Morton
- Status
- Published