First National Bank v. Hayes & Sons
First National Bank v. Hayes & Sons
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiff below, The First National Bank of Victoria, Texas, brought suit against the defendants, Hayes & Sons, to recover $1,000 it claimed to have deposited for them at their request, with the commissioners of Victoria county, Texas, to protect a bid that had been made by them for eer
The defendants answered, admitting the request, but averring that there was a mistake in their bid; it was for five per cent, bonds, when in fact they intended to bid for six per cent bonds, the only bonds the county had to sell or had offered to sell, the mistake having been made by the stenographer; and that the fact that such mistake had been made was known to the plaintiff at the time it made its deposit.
The case was tried to a jury, and at the close of the evidence on both sides, the plaintiff moved the court to instruct the jury to return, a verdict in its favor, and the defendants made a like motion for a verdict in their favor. On consideration the court instructed the jury to return a verdict for the defendants, to which the plaintiff excepted, but did not request the court to submit the case to the jury for its determination on the evidence. The first question that arises is whether this was error, though there may have been some evidence tending to support the plaintiff’s ease. ' If no motion had been made by the plaintiff and there was any evidence tending to support its case, it would have had the undoubted right to have had the same submitted to the jury, and it would have been error in the court to direct a verdict for the defendants. Of this there can be no question. Here, however, both parties on the termination of the evidence in the case, made similar requests — the plaintiff for a verdict in its favor and the defendants for a verdict in their favor, both parties in this way voluntarily submitting the case to the court for its determination upon the evidence. In Beuttell v. Magone, 157 U. S., 154, where like request had been made, the Justice delivering the opinion says: “This was necessarily a
The question seems new in this state, and is so possibly from the fact, that it will seldom happen, that at the close of the evidence each party will move the court for the direction of a verdict in his favor. But it seems conformable to reason that where it is done, each party must have intended to submit the case to the court for its finding upon the facts as well as the law; and when, as in this case, the party against whom the verdict is rendered does not ask to have the case submitted to the jury, he cannot be heard to' say there was error, because there was some evidence tending to support the issue in his favor. In such case the finding of the jury, in accordance with the instruction of the court, should be given the same consideration as if it had been rendered without such instruction. See, also, the following cases: Trustees v. Vail, 151 N. Y., 463, 467; Clason v. Baldwin, 152 N. Y., 204; Mascott v. Insurance Co., 69 Vt.,
The question then presented by the record is, not whether there was any evidence to support the plaintiff’s claim, but whether upon the evidence adduced, the finding should have been for the defendant. And the question must be determined as if the case had been submitted to the jury upon the issues joined, without a direction to return a verdict for the "defendant ; for it is in fact the finding of the court upon the evidence submitted to it by the act of the parties, that is to be reviewed, and not whether there was some evidence tending to support the plaintiff’s claim; for, as already observed, the omission of the plaintiff, after the court had directed a verdict for the defendant, to ask it to submit the case to the jury, must be taken as a waiver of its right to have the jury pass upon the evidence. And it is more than probable that this was not a mere oversight, and that it was omitted for the reason, it is probable the jury would have rendered the same verdict the court had already directed on the motion of the plaintiff.
Was then the verdict rendered upon the instruction of the court so clearly against the weight of the evidence that it should be set aside and a new trial granted? We think not.
The real question at issue between the parties on" the trial, was whether the plaintiff had deposited the $1,000 with the county commissioners, with the knowledge of such facts as would have put a reasonably prudent person upon notice that there was a mistake in the bid of the defendants, and the deposit would be of no avail to them. It appears from the record that the county commissioners of Victoria eounty, Texas, had on May 17, 1895, authorized the
It is also claimed by the attorneys of Hayes & Sons that the evidence tends to show that there was collusion between the bank and the county officials, and also, that the deposit was not made until after the receipt of the second telegram from Hayes & Sons. Whether there be sufficient grounds for these claims we need not inquire, as we think the record shows that the deposit was made under circumstances that should have caused a prudent agent to have awaited further advices from his principal before making it.
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.