American Exchange Bank v. Arcady Farms Milling Co.

1933 OK 449, 24 P.2d 1002, 165 Okla. 56, 1933 Okla. LEXIS 244
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedSeptember 12, 1933
Docket20758
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 1933 OK 449 (American Exchange Bank v. Arcady Farms Milling Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American Exchange Bank v. Arcady Farms Milling Co., 1933 OK 449, 24 P.2d 1002, 165 Okla. 56, 1933 Okla. LEXIS 244 (Okla. 1933).

Opinion

BAYLESS, J.

The Arcady Farms Milling Company, a corporation, instituted an action in. the district court of Okmulgee county, Okla., on the 26th day of November, 1926, against Citizens Bank of Henry-etta, Okla., and American Exchange Bank of Henryetta, Okla., corporations. The trial of the case resulted in a judgment in favor of the plaintiff below and against American Exchange Bank of Henryetta, Okla., a corporation, from which this appeal resulted, and the parties will be referred to herein as they appeared in the trial court. No judgment seems to have been rendered against Citizens Bank of Henryetta, Okla., and whenever said bank is mentioned herein it is in connection with the evidence in the case and not with reference to any legal liability.

The petition of the plaintiff alleged that on or about the 16th day of November, 1925, it sold to an elevator company at Henryetta one car of feed at an agreed price of $1,175.63, and sent through the Merchants’ Bank of Kansas City a bill of lading with draft attached for said carload of feed; that said Merchants’ Bank in Kansas City forwarded said draft and bill of lading to the Citizens Bank of Henry-etta for collection; that on November 18, 1925, the Citizens Bank of Henryetta collected said draft from said elevator company and delivered to it the draft and bill of lading; that thereafter, and on or about December 4, 1925, the Citizens Bank was declared insolvent-by the State Bank Commissioner, and its assets were taken over by him for liquidation; thait thereafter, and about the 15th of March, 1926, the American Exchange Bank of Henryetta was organized for the purpose of taking over I he business of the Citizens Bank of *57 Henryetta, and through some contractual arrangement, ;the exact nature of which is unknown to the plaintiff, the defendants herein took over the assets of the failed bank and assumed its obligations and had paid all of them except this plaintiff; that after collecting said draft the Citizens Bank converted the money so received to its own use and turned over and delivered the same to the defendant herein; that all of this was without the knowledge or consent of the plaintiff; that the taking over of the money belonging to this plaintiff was wrongful and violated its rights, and that by reason of the fraudulent transfer of the assets of the failed bank to the defendant herein the defendant herein became bound and liable to pay the obligation due this plaintiff; and prayed for judgment accordingly. To this petition the defendant filed an answer in the form of a general denial, and the case was tried to the court without a jury.

The court having heard the evidence and passed upon it, and having determined the issues in favor of the plaintiff, the findings of the court are entitled to the same weight and consideration that would be accorded the findings of a jury, and it is our duty to search this record to see whether or not there is some competent evidence reasonably tending to sustain the judgment in favor of the plaintiff.

A consideration of the plaintiff’s petition makes it difficult to determine whether the action is one to recover the money upon the contract of assumption, or is an action in conversion to recover the money held in trust. However, from the brief filed by the plaintiff, we gather that it contends as follows: A draft sent to a bank for collection constitutes the collecting bank the agent of the forwarder, and the money when collected by the bank is not its property, but is the property of the forwarder, and is held in trust for the forwarder. It further contends that it has the right to trace such trust funds into the hands of the State Bank Commissioner and into the hands of the person to whom the State Bank Commissioner transferred such trust fund, and may recover it wherever it can be found and identified. The defendant contends that when the State Bank Commissioner takes possession of a failed bank for the purpose of liquidating it, his position is analogous to that of a receiver and is governed by the same rules of law, and that a sale of the property of a failed bank by the State Bank Commissioner, with the approval of the district court having jurisdiction, is analogous to a receiver’s sale and passes title to the purchaser free and clear.

We will consider first the allegations of the petition and the evidence concerning the contract of sale and purchase between the Bank Commissioner, acting for the closed bank, and the American Exchange Bank. By the terms of said contract the purchasing bank agreed to assume certain liabilities which were listed in an exhibit attached to said contract, but the plaintiff’s claim was not mentioned in the contract or in said exhibit. The evidence does not disclose any knowledge on the part of the banking department or on the part of any of the officers of the American Exchange Bank of the existence of the plaintiff’s claim. The evidence on the part of the defendant was that there were no records from which it could be ascertained that there was such a claim on the part of the plaintiff. These facts being so, the plaintiff did not have the right to alter or amend the contract entered into, nor can this court read into the contract the assumption of any liability not specifically mentioned therein or one not known to the parties contracting.

We next consider the proposition of the trust fund and the allegation that it was converted. We have held in Shull, Bank Commisioner, v. Beasley, 149 Okla. 106, 299 P. 149, as follows:

“Whether a bank, as to the proceeds of paper held by it for collection, is a debtor or trustee, depends upon the agreement as to the disposition of the proceeds.”

And also:

“* * * but we are of the opinion that where the holder of a check directs the collection and authorizes remittance by bank draft, » * * the relationship of debtor and creditor arises. * * *”

In the cases of Hall v. Sullivan, 123 Okla. 233, 253 P. 45, Kansas Elour Mills Co. v. New State Bank, 124 Okla. 185, 256 P. 43, Thomas v. Mothersead, 128 Okla. 157, 261 P. 363, State ex rel. v. Excello Feed Milling Co., 131 Okla. 100, 267 P. 833, and First State Bank of Bristow v. O’Bannon, 130 Okla. 206, 266 P. 472, we held that instructions given to a collecting bank, “for payment and remittance”; “the draft is a cash item and is not to be treated as a deposit * * *” : “for collection,” and “remit the proceeds”; and “for collection and remittance,” created the relationships of principal and agent in each instance, which continued throughout the transaction, and *58 that the funds so collected, when certain other conditions were made to appear, were trust funds.

The other conditions which we had in mind in the cases hereinbefore decided were those which the claimant had the burden of showing, to wit: That the bank received cash or a check or checks on another bank which were duly paid; or, if it received payment of the draft in the form of a check upon itself, that the drawer of the check had a deposit with it in an amount sufficient to pay the check and that at that time it had in its immediate possession sufficient cash to pay the draft. If either one of these two alternatives was shown in connection with the instructions specified in the preceding cases, we held that the funds of the collecting bank were augmented and that a trust resulted.

In the case of Shull, Bank Commissioner, v.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Farmers State Bank v. Mewherter
1934 OK 339 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1934)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1933 OK 449, 24 P.2d 1002, 165 Okla. 56, 1933 Okla. LEXIS 244, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-exchange-bank-v-arcady-farms-milling-co-okla-1933.