Cunningham v. First National Bank
Cunningham v. First National Bank
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The Bank of Pittsburg accepted a check for $2,TOO drawn by the plaintiff on the First National Bank of Indiana, the defendant, payable to the order of C. M. Johnston, and bearing what purported to be an indorsement by the payee and a subsequent indorsement by one McQuaide. The Bank of Pittsburg, having an open account on its books with the Delmont National Bank, presumably at the direction of the last indorser, credited the latter bank with the amount of the check, and, having indorsed it with an express guarantee of the genuineness of the prior indorsements, forwarded it to the Bank of Indiana, where it was charged up against the deposit account of the drawer. The check had never been in the hands of the payee ; it had been left by the drawer in the hands of his attorney to be delivered over to the payee for or upon the satisfaction of a certain mortgage. Instead of being so applied the check, with a forged indorsement of the payee’s name, was presented to the Bank of Pittsburg, and was by it accepted and credited to the account of the Delmont National Bank, of which McQuaide, the plaintiff’s attorney, was president. A year later, May 1, 1906, Johnston, the payee, told the plaintiff that ho had not indorsed the check. To assure himself that he had drawn the check payable to the order of Johnston and not to the order of his attorney, plaintiff the same day procured the check, and upon examination found that it was payable to Johnston’s order, and that it bore an indorsement purporting to be Johnston’s. Six weeks thereafter he exhibited the check to Johnston, who positively repudiated the indorsement. The same day the plaintiff notified the Indiana bank of the forgery, and made demand for reimbursement. This brief statement of the facts is sufficient for an understanding of the only assignments of error in the case which it is necessary to consider.
In view of plaintiff’s admission that he was informed by Johnston as early as May 1,1906, that he had not indorsed the check which plaintiff then knew was drawn payable to Johnston’s order, and that he had not notified the defendant bank of such denial for six weeks thereafter, defendant offered evi
Judgment reversed, and venire facias de novo awarded.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Cunningham v. First National Bank of Indiana
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Banks and banking — Checks—Forgery—Notice. Where a check is. paid on a forged indorsement and the drawer of the check after discovering the forgery delays for six weeks in notifying the bank thereof, the drawer' cannot recover from the bank the amount of the loss, if it appears that the bank in which the cheek was first deposited had failed in the meantime, and that if the bank upon which the check was drawn had had timely notice, it could have saved the loss by recourse to funds of the other bank.