McKinney v. United States Nat. Bank of Centralia
Opinion of the Court
(after stating the facts as above). The account between the Olympia bank and the Centralia bank shows the following: That the Centralia bank, between August 20th and September 9th, and including those dates, received in cash from the-Olympia bank $38,498.91, all of which was sent to Seattle and Tacoma banks at the instance of the Centralia bank, except $2,203.91, which was sent to the Centralia bank, and that between August 20th and September 17tb the Olympia bank received from the Centralia bank $12,500. This result is reached after eliminating from one side of the account the fictitious charge of $48,000 against the Olympia bank, representing the color of credit obtained in the Centraba bank by that bank, and from the other side of the account $12,500 and $24,-050, which took the form of drafts for the payment of Hays’ indebtedness on his notes, and $9,500, representing the three Blumauer notes, which never came into the possession of the Olympia bank. With the elimination of these false items, the balance stands in favor of the Olympia bank in the sum of $25,998.91, as found by the court below.
Gilchrist said “he would buy it at the price X mentioned, providing that, after an examination, conditions were found all right — note all right. He and Mr. Daubney came up there and made an examination of the records, and he said he would take it, and he sent Mr. Daubney up there, and I went to ■Olympia to organize this bank, and did organize it.”
“He and Air. Daubney came up there, and looked over the paper, and didn't object to it. CCliey thought that some of it might be slow, but they didn’t refuse it, and it was after that examination that he agreed to take the stock.”
Daubney took the place of Hays in the Tenino bank. For that purpose he left his employment in the Union Roan & Trust Company of Centraba, a company closely allied with the Centraba bank. Gilchrist testified:
“We had sent Air. Daubney up to assist in managing the Tenino bank.”
Gilchrist did not deny that he had agreed to purchase Hays' stock, but he said that the negotiations were pending, and- not consummated. It thus appears that Gilchrist was interested in the welfare oí the Tenino bank. However that may be, the controlling facts are that the Centalla bank was indebted to the Tenino bank. The Olympia bank was not. The Tenino bank called upon the Centraba hank for funds, and Gilchrist instructed the Olympia bank to remit funds to Seattle and to Tenino for the benefit of the Tenino bank.
It is true that on the hooks of the Tenino bank, according to the testimony of Blumauer, only the first $6,GOO of the funds so furnished by the Olympia bank were credited to the Centralia bank. Blumauer testified that:
As 1lie Tenino bank had money due it from tile Centralia bank, it asked the Centralia bank to see that it got the money there, “and we got it through the United States National Bank of Centralia; they telling us that they would have it there to our credit, and have it sent by the Olympia bank, although the Olympia bank did not owe us the money.” -
lie further testified that:
The $2,000 remittances were similar transactions, and when the money was sent he did not know how to credit it; “it was due from one bank, and we got it from tiie other, and I had to make some entry to offset that, so we wouldn’t pay over that $2,000 and not know who to credit it to, I had to credit it to one or the other, without any instruct ions. I knew it would be straightened out between Mr. Gilchrist and Air. Hayes. As long as we got the money it didn’t make any difference to us who we got it from, but as I said before it wasn’t due to us from the Olympia bank — it was due us from the Centralia bank.”
The funds so remitted were properly chargeable against the Centalla bank, as evidencing an indebtedness from that bank to the Olympia hank, and it follows that the claim of the Olympia bank against the Centralia bank should be allowed as against its assets.
As to the suit of the receiver of the Tenino bank against the receiver of the Centralia bank, we find no error in the decree of the court denying the claim of the complainant based upon certain drafts, aggregating the sum of $2,500, which were issued by the Tenino bank to the Centralia bank, directing it to pay a Portland bank, and to charge the amounts thereof against the Tenino bank’s account, nor in denying the claim in the sum of $5,000 charged to the Tenino bank by the Centralia bank on account of Hays’ note to the Centralia bank.
We think that the decree of the court below should be so modified as to allow the claim of the receiver of the Olympia bank for $10,000 as against the assets of the Centralia bank, and the further sum of
The cause is remanded to the court below, with instructions so to modify the decree. In other respects the decree is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- McKINNEY v. UNITED STATES NAT. BANK OF CENTRALIA REINHART v. SAME LANGLEY v. SAME
- Status
- Published