Tonne v. Horace State Bank of Horace
Tonne v. Horace State Bank of Horace
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal from a judgment in favor of the plaintiff and from an order denying a motion for'a new trial in an action by the plaintiff as assignee to recover certain moneys alleged to be owing by the defendant. The action was tried in the district court of Cass county before the Honorable A. T. Cole, judge, a jury trial having been waived.
The plaintiff at the time the controversy arose was cashier of the First National Bank of Abercrombie, holding stock in that bank and also in the defendant bank. O. N. Hatlie was vice president of the First National Bank of Abercrombie and president of the defendant bank.
On January 6, 1917, Johnson drew a draft on the Abercrombie Bank for $3,377.55, which amount, according to the books of the Horace Bank, was the amount of its credit in the Abercrombie Bank. When
“That whereas party of the first part now holds in its own right and now has possession of said sight drafts issued and drawn by the Horace State Bank of Horace, North Dakota, through its cashier at that time and whose name was A. C. Johnson and known as such at that time on W. E. Dickson then a resident of Abercrombie, North Dakota, and whereas the First National Bank of Abercrombie, North Dakota, is about to sustain or has sustained a loss of the sight drafts amounting and aggregating to $1,014.63 being three in number, now whereas the*774 party of the second part, Franklin D. Tonne has paid the said sight drafts amounting' to $1,014.03, now therefore for and in consideration of the payment of the said sight drafts (by?) the said party of the second part the party of the first part assigns all its right title and interest and hereby grants, bargains, sells, assigns, transfer’s and conveys to the party of the second part his heirs and assigns all their rights and choses in action of every name and description to the said before mentioned sight drafts . .
The contract between Hatlie and Dickson for the sale of the stock to the latter was rescinded, Hatlie retaining the $1,000 credited to him in the Abercrombie Bank upon a check which though honored had never been paid in fact to the crediting bank. Thus his payment of the $1,0G'0 to the Abercrombie Bank merely restored the status quo. This action is brought to recover the amoimt paid by Tonne in the circumstances stated above.
The cause of action is alleged substantially as follows: That on January 0, 1917 the defendant bank drew its draft on the Abercrombie Bank for $3,377.55, which draft reached the Abercrombie Bank in due course and at a time when the Horace Bank had on deposit therein the sum of $28; that when the draft was presented, plaintiff notified the Horace Bank, through Hatlie, its president, that there were insufficient funds 'and that the draft would be returned, whereupon the defendant, through its president, agreed that if the Abercrombie Bank would pay the draft the defendant would reimburse it; that relying upon this promise the Abercrombie Bank paid the draft; that subsequently the Abercrombie Bank was reimbursed in the sum of $1,362.92. That after the partial reimbursement by the defendant, Hatlie paid to the Aber-crombie Bank, on account of moneys advanced in the payment of said draft, the sum of $1,000 and at the same time the plaintiff paid out upon said draft the sum of $1,014.63 and took an assignment from the Abercrombie Bank of its claim against the defendant bank for the money paid out by it on account of said draft to the extent of the sum of $1,014.63.
On this appeal the appellant advances two main contentions: First, that there is a fatal variance between the allegations in the complaint and the proof offered in support of the cause of action therein alleged;
It will be seen that tbe complaint predicates tbe liability of tbe defendant upon the payment by tbe Abercrombie Bank of tbe draft for $8,311.55 at a time when tbe Horace Bank bad practically no funds on deposit in tbe drawee bank and upon tbe promise of tbe defendant bank to make tbe draft good. Tbe assignment executed by.Ingval Johnson, president of tbe Abercrombie Bank, purports to assign to tbe plaintiff tbe three items, making in all $1,014.63, and its rights and cboses in action incident to these items.
From tbe allegations in tbe complaint it was apparent that a trial of tbe issues would involve tbe relations between the two banks. On tbe record it is also quite apparent that tbe defendant was neither misled by tbe allegations nor unprepared to meet tbe proof offered in their support. But it is contended that tbe allegations of tbe complaint are unproved in their entire scope and meaning so as to amount to a failure of proof under § 1480, Compiled Laws of 1913. We think this contention is not well founded. Tbe evidence shows that tbe Abercrombie, Bank did not, in fact, give tbe Horace Bank credit on its books for the various items heretofore mentioned as they were received from time to time and that, according to its books, tbe Horace Bank bad but a few dollars on deposit when tbe draft for $3,371.55 was drawn and presented. It also shows that some of these items, in tbe aggregate more than $2,000, bad been received by it from the Horace Bank and that they remained unpaid. Had tbe large draft not been paid at all, tbe Horace Bank would have received no credit for those items until they were paid. When, therefore, tbe Abercrombie Bank paid tbe draft it in effect credited tbe Horace Bank on the unpaid items to tbe extent that they already appeared as a credit on its books. In other words, the honoring of tbe $3,377.55 draft, pleaded in tbe complaint, was tbe occasion for the loss to the Abercrombie Bank, but tbe items that measure; that loss are tbe items that were thus in effect credited. From tbe standpoint of tbe Horace Bank, these were' tbe original considerations for tbe large draft, for it must be remembered that tbe latter purports to exhaust tbe balance carried at Abercrombie and obtained as above indicated. Tiffs legal result is not destroyed by the existence of tbe verbal contract alleged whereby tbe Horace Bank agreed to make the
The contention that the evidence is insufficient to support the judgment is based on testimony which establishes that the items going to make up the credit balances in favor of the defendant bank were held by the Abercrombie Bank an unreasonable length of time without dishonor or protest or were carried as cash and that no proceedings upon dishonor sufficient to charge parties secondarily liable were had. It, is also shown that these items came to the Abercrombie Bank through another bank or banks with remittance letters showing that they had been credited to the Horace Bank on the books of the correspondent and that remittance was made in turn by the Abercrombie Bank to the correspondent as though the items were all good, 'thus, it is claimed, discharging the defendant from all liability thereon. The evidence shows that some of the items thus forwarded to the Abercrombie Bank were returned by the latter to the Horace Bank and that they were later forwarded again by the Horace Bank in the same way as before. The evidence as a whole further shows that '‘kiting” was going on between the two banks with a view to swelling the apparent assets of the Horace Bank. The names that were used for this purpose wore those of A. J. Johnson, cashier, and his brother-in-law, Hickson, and it is apparent on this record that when drafts were drawn and used in favor of the drawer bank they were drawn in circumstances that would not justify an expectation on its part that they would be paid. Further, if they were paid, the evidence mades it clear that they were paid for the accommodation of the Horace Bank. In this situation the bank was not entitled to presentation for payment tinder § 79 of the Negotiable Instruments Law, § 6964, Compiled Laws of North Dakota for 1913, nor is it entitled to notice of dishonor under § 114, ¶ 4, § 6999, Comp. Laws,
The judgment appealed from is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- FRANKLIN D. TONNE v. HORACE STATE BANK OF HORACE, NORTH DAKOTA, a Corporation
- Status
- Published