Nebraska Natl. Bank v. Logan
Nebraska Natl. Bank v. Logan
Opinion of the Court
The petition in this case was submitted on demurrer in the year 1890 and the petition sustained. In that case the demurrer was overruled and the cause remanded for further proceedings, it being held that if the facts stated in the petition were true the plaintiff had shown due diligence and Was entitled to recover. (Bank v. Logan, 29 Neb., 278.) Upon the case being remanded, an answer was duly filed by the defendants Logan & Stanton, to which a reply was made. No answer appears to h.ave been filed by McCord, Brady & Co., and on the trial of the cause the case was dismissed by the plaintiff as to them. The parties entered into a stipulation as to the facts as follows:
“It is agreed by the parties hereto that a jury is waived, that this action shall be submitted to the court upon this agreed statement of facts, and that no further evidence shall be introduced, but judgment shall be rendered upon this statement of facts, which the parties agree are all the facts involved in the transaction which is the subject of this action, and which is as follows:
“On Friday, November 16,1888, the defendants Logan & Stanton, at Valparaiso, Nebraska, drew their check as a copartnership for the sum of $481.75, payable to the order
“The suspicious circumstance referred to was this: The
“The said drawee bank continued in business and honored all checks presented over the counter during Monday and Tuesday, the 19th and 20th of November, 1888. Logan & Stanton had funds sufficient on deposit to their credit with the said bank to meet the check on said days. Other checks were presented over the counter drawn by Logan & Stanton on said days.
“ There was another bank in the village of Valparaiso to which said check might have been sent for presentment and collection, but plaintiff had theretofore had business dealings with both banks in Valparaiso and had found the State Bank* of Valparaiso, the drawee of said check, the more prompt in remitting collections.
“At the close of business on Tuesday, the 20th of November, 1888, the drawee bank closed its doors, became insolvent, and never again resumed business, the officers thereof fled to parts unknown, taking all available funds, including the funds of these defendants on deposit for the purpose of meeting said check, leaving no property, real or personal.”
On this statement of facts the court below found for the defendant and dismissed the action.
The statement of facts is very unsatisfactory. It is sought to charge the plaintiff with negligence in sending
Upon the agreed statement of facts it is conceded that a draft in favor of the defendants by the Valparaiso bank had gone to protest in New York city a day or two before the check in question was drawn. That the defendants believed there was danger of the bank’s insolvency is shown by the words written in their letter to McCord, Brady & Co., “to rush this check through.” The only construction that can be placed upon these words is that they believed the insolvency of the bank was imminent. Their explanation that the Valparaiso bank had changed its correspondent at New York is far from satisfactory, particularly as there is no statement that funds had been provided with the new correspondent in that city to meet the defendants’ draft. So in regard to what checks were drawn from the Valparaiso bank on Monday and Tuesday preceding the failure.
The case amounts to this: The defendants had notice of facts which would indicate that the Valparaiso bank was about to stop payment. The plaintiff had no such notice. It can scarcely be said, therefore, that the parties were on an equality, or that the check if presented by a third party on Monday and the cash demanded would have been paid. So far as we can see, the insolvency of the-bank was apparent to the defendants when the check was drawn, and there must have been some reason not stated in the stipulation why the check was not drawn in their favor and presented by the defendants themselves and their funds withdrawn. We need not speculate upon the reason for such failure, but the agreed statement is not sufficiently definite as to the condition of the bank on Monday and
Reversed and remanded.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Nebraska Natl. Bank of Omaha v. Logan & Stanton
- Status
- Published