Schmitt v. Mellon National Bank
Schmitt v. Mellon National Bank
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
W. A. Coleman was treasurer of the Interstate Lumber Company. On October 15, 1909, he drew a check to the Mellon bank for the sum of $75 on the Eeal Estate Savings & Trust Company and signed the check, Interstate Lumber Company, W. A. Coleman, Treasurer. In the body of the check there were the words “To lift W. A. Coleman’s note to Shriver Lumber & Mfg. Co.” The check was certified by the Eeal Estate Savings & Trust Company. The Mellon bank received the money as agent of the Bank of Monongahela Valley located at Morgantown, West Virginia, who had forwarded the note for collection in payment of which the check in question was given and the Mellon bank in due course sent the money to the forwarding bank. The Interstate Lumber Company was not indebted to any one whose name appeared in the transaction. Admittedly the check was issued to pay Coleman’s personal debt. This suit is brought by the receiver of the Interstate Lumber Company to recover from the Mellon National Bank, the amount of the check, the basis of the suit being that the check bore upon its face the evidence that Coleman was using the funds of his company for his personal debt and that the Mellon bank was therefore put upon inquiry and bound to investigate as to the authority of the treasurer so to use the corporate funds. See Schmitt v. Potter T. & Tr. Co., 61 Pa. Superior Ct. 301. The trial judge in the county court sitting without a jury decided the case in favor of the plaintiff but the Court of Common Pleas took the contrary view and entered judgment in favor of the defendant and from that judgment the present appeal is taken.
Without going into all the questions raised we think the fact that the check was certified, protected the Mellon National Bank from any liability. The Act of May 16, 1901, P. L. 194, Section 187, provides “Where a check is certified by the bank on which it is drawn, the certification is equivalent to an acceptance.” Section 188,
The judgment is affirmed. '
Reference
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- Banks and banking — Certification of check — Certification equal to -acceptance — Act of May 16, 1901, P. L. 19k — Corporations— Treasurer — Check. Where the treasurer of a corporation draws a cheek on his company’s account in a trust company and signs the check with the name of his company and his own name as treasurer, and the check shows on its face that it is to pay the treasurer’s personal indebtedness, and the trust company certifies the check, a bank which subsequently pays the cheek in the course of business is not bound to inquire as to the authority of the treasurer to use his company’s funds. Under the Act of May 16, 1901, See. 187, P. L. 194, the certification of the check was equivalent to an acceptance, and the trust company became responsible for its payment.